Monday Meal Madness has returned after a three-week hiatus!
It’s going to be quite comfort food-laden, I warn you.
With all the hostessing I did over the holiday break, I was curious to try out some easy recipes for my family, like this crock-pot mac and cheese I kept seeing on Pinterest. It sounded too good to be true – butter the pan, dump in a few things – including hard macaroni noodles – and cook it on low for a few hours.
My skepticism was rewarded with the most delicious, custard-y, Southern-style mac and cheese ever. And I barely had to do anything.
It was so good that I made it to go along side the crock-pot ham (yep!) I made for the Christmas dinner we hosted for my husband’s family. It was everyone’s favorite. Yay, Pinterest!
Not to be out-done by a crock-pot, my husband made us macaroni with bleu cheese and leftover Christmas ham after the big day. We loved it. His friend Adam loved it {I love when someone comes to dinner!}.
The kids? Not so much. Kids and bleu cheese rarely seem to like one another.
I made my favorite fried rice, but added some chicken thighs cooked in fresh ginger. Then I threw in some cashews. Amazing combo!
I got this idea from Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories
New Year’s Eve saw us drinking Dirty Shirlies {the adults, not the kids!} and eating homemade pizza. Mr. Fresh Scratch let us each assemble our own. Green peppers and black olive is my absolute fave type of American pizza. You?
My favorite dough recipe is here, and my favorite sauce recipe is here, in case you’re new around these parts.
On New Year’s Day, I cooked up an enormous batch of this penne pasta with spinach, my slow-roasted tomatoes, and lots of cheese. There was enough for four families, so we ate one and gave three to friends or family who could use a little reprieve from making dinner. Nothing like starting the new year with giving people dinners for their freezer!
In the spirit of eating light in January {I don’t really know much about this, myself}, Mr. Fresh Scratch made us a whopper of a Caesar salad. Then he added some nice, fat olives and a delicious baguette.
I got out the butter…
I cooked up my first pork loin over the weekend. After searing the medallions, it cooked atop some apples and onions. It smelled {and tasted!} so good! I threw some applesauce on the side so that the kids would actually eat something besides their rolls.
This was yet another recipe from the trusty The Working Parents Cookbook: More Than 200 Recipes for Great Family Meals
I finally pried my copy of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
That about catches you up. There were, of course, way more than these meals cooked and eaten at our house over the holidays, but it was very nice to relax and step away from the camera some. Hope you don’t mind!
Crock pot macaroni and cheese….with peas on the side?! Heaven. My favorite pizza is plain cheese with roma tomatoes. Delish – as all of your recipes look. I wish I lived closer so I could pull a chair up to your dinner table!
Now that would be fun!
But could we also have Dirty Shirley’s?
You know it!
Those were total comfort foods and I loved hearing about them. Very tempted by the crockpot Mac cheese. It was really that good?? A busy month of activities coming so will try it.
It really was. Maybe add a bit more salt. Good luck!