Mac and Cheese for a Crowd

I just love it when I do a make-ahead dish for a crowd. I came up with this variation when we were having a crab feasty at our house. There were some young kids coming and they requested Mac & Cheese for the little ones. Seems to me the adults there enjoyed it just as much as the kids did. This was perfect because it stayed hot while the people straggled in to eat. It's makes for a flexible meal schedule. Who doesn't need that these days. Enjoy!

Macaroni & Cheese for a crowd

• 1 16 oz. box elbow macaroni
• 1/2 cup salted butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt 
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 
• 5 cups milk
• 4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

You will need a crockpot with a warm setting and a removable crock. Cook pasta according to package directions
adding 4 minutes to longest suggested cooking time. This will make your Mac & Cheese more tender.

Meanwhile place crock into oven then preheat oven to 350 degrees leaving crock to heat up with the oven.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Then blend in flour, salt & pepper; gradually whisking in milk. Add cheese and stir until cheese is melted. In a very large bowl mix together cheese mixture with cooked pasta.

Remove preheated crock with hot pads and be careful not to get burned. Spray crock with cooking spray;  add Mac & Cheese to crock.

Place crock back into the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Then remove from oven and stir mixture together well, you will notice some separation; place crock into heating element and turn onto warm setting. This will feed a large crowd and stays hot in the crockpot. A great make ahead side for a get together.

Gouda and Babybel Snacks

OK, Feasty Fans, we're double dipping this week with two recipes. They both taste the same so you pick which one you would like to try. If you want a quick and easy appetizer that tastes delicious, then this baby is for you. I managed to cut back on the fat and sugar without compromising the flavors. Maybe a little wine to go with your cheese appetizer. Enjoy!


Mini Encrusted Baked Gouda Pouches

• 8 light Babybel cheeses, unwrapped
• Pillsbury Reduced Fat Crescent Rolls
• 1 egg, beaten
• optional dip #1: Smucker's sugar free Blackberry Jam
• optional dip #2: Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile unwrap plastic and wax from Babybel's and set aside. Open crescents and divide into 8 sections. Then wrap one section around cheese circle pinching seams together carefully and covering completely on crescent dough. Space evenly on ungreased cookie sheet and with a pastry brush on egg on top of crescents to make dough golden brown. Then bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown.

Tip: You may use the mustard or jelly as a dip after baking or you may put 1/2 tsp of mustard or jelly on dough before you wrap cheese with crescent and bake the jelly or mustard in it. They are very good left plain too. Makes 8 mini baked cheeses.


Mini Baked Babybel Cups

• 8 light Babybel cheeses, unwrapped
• Pillsbury Reduced Fat Crescent Rolls
• Smucker's sugar free Blackberry jam or Dijon mustard

You will need a mini muffin pan for this recipe. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Open the cheeses, cut then in half (like a half circle) and set aside. Then open Crescent rolls and divide into 8 sections, then cut each section in half (not in half long ways).  Place dough into mini muffin wells and add either 1/4 tsp mustard or jelly onto dough, then top with cheese half. Bake for 9 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 16 mini cheese cups.

Chicken & Cheese Enchilada

Fall is here and so is the damp chilly weather and this is the best time to make food to warm you up. What I love about this recipe is that it is high in fiber and low in fat, but you would never know it when you taste it. So trick those fat cells into singing. May your fat cells sing.

Chicken & Cheese Enchilada

• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 med. sweet onion, diced
• 2-3 jalapeno peppers, diced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped garlic, from jar
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 (10 oz.) cans Campbell's 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
• 1 (4 oz.) can chopped mild green chiles
• 1 (16 oz.) container fat free sour cream
• 2 (12.5 oz.) cans of chicken breast packed in water or 3 cups cooked chopped chicken
• 6 (10 inch) flour tortillas
• 1 (8 oz.) bag grated reduced fat Sargento's Mexican style cheese
• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large 12 inch nonstick skillet over medium heat add olive oil. Then sauté onion, jalapenos, garlic and cilantro for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile mix together soup, green chiles, and sour cream, mix well. Add to above mixture and cover and heat over med/low heat to simmer for 10 minutes. Open and drain canned chicken if using this and crumble with fingers to break up large chunks. 

Add 3 cups of the  soup mixture to chicken and add the cheese as well. Reserving the rest of the soup mixture for the next step. Spread out tortillas on counter and evenly divide chicken mixture between the tortillas, about 2/3 cups each plus a little more.

Spray a 10 x 13 inch pyrex dish with cooking spray and roll up tortillas and place into baking dish. Spread the remaining soup mixture on top of enchiladas and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Enjoy!

Baked Figs Stuffed With Cheese

There is something special about the sweet taste of a fresh fig. You can not compare these to dried figs or Fig Newtons. Also they are hard to find because they need to ripen on the tree. I love them so much that it prompted me to grow my own fig tree. This tree is only 2 years old but I am getting about 6-8 ripe figs per day off of it. I read that by the time my tree is 3 years old that I will get 3 bushels of figs. It is the easiest tree to grow and fall is the perfect time to plant one of these treasures.

Baked Figs Stuffed with Cheese

• 12 fresh figs
• Gorgonzola crumbled cheese about 1/2 cup
• Pam olive oil spray
• kitchen scissors

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile using scissors cut off fig stems then cut halfway through fig twice in a X pattern. Gently open up fig and place on a pyrex glass baking dish. Gently place about 1/2 to 1 tsp of cheese into X opening of fig. Spray figs with Pam olive oil spray and bake for about 10 minutes. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Browned Mozzarella Sticks

I have my son Matt to thank for this creation (Thanks, Matt!). He calls it poor man's Halloumi. He discovered that you could brown this certain brand of string cheese (Kroger's CowPals Light), and I experimented and found two more brands that work as well (Weight Watchers and Cheeseheads Light). Other brands I tried melted and did not brown. This is the quickest and easiest appetizer that you could ever make. It is so good, and I know you will not be able to eat just one. I could hardly wait until I was done taking the pics so that I could eat it. Here we go for a party or a football game, you name it. Be the first one to show your friends and family this amazing treasure. It's like fried mozzarella sticks without the breading and oil. It's simply good. Enjoy!


Browned Mozzarella Sticks

• 1 pkg. light Mozzarella string cheese sticks individuallly wrapped*
• Spaghetti sauce for dipping

You will need to heat up a nonstick skillet over medium heat, do not coat with oil. Unwrap cheese sticks and place in skillet, as cheese begins to brown in about 2-3 minutes start to turn with tongs to brown all sides. CowPals holds its shape better than Weight Watchers, but Weight Watcher cheese browns well too. Serve immediately with some spaghetti sauce for dipping. Eat before cheese cools down and becomes a little tough.


*The best brands to use are Frigo Cheese Heads light string cheese, Kroger CowPals or Weight Watchers. The Frigo and Kroger brand work the best. I tried this with a lot of different brands and so far these are the only three that brown and do not melt.

Spicy, Grown-Up Mac & Cheese

• 1 (14.5oz) pkg. Ronzoni Smart Taste Penne Rigate
• 3 Tbsp. Smart Balance margarine
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 2 cups milk
• ¼ tsp. ground chipotle chile
• ¼ tsp. cayenne
• ½ tsp. onion powder
  
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) grated, reduced-fat mild Cheddar
• 8 oz. Raclette Cheese (Swiss variety), rind removed and cubed
• ½ cup grated Asiago, plus 1/3 cup
• 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. Smart Balance margarine (optional)
• cooking spray

In a large pot bring water to boil. Add pasta and bring to a boil again, cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Overcooking the pasta makes for a tender Mac and Cheese. Ten minutes later preheat oven to 350 degrees and over medium heat melt margarine in a sauce pan, then whisk in flour. Add milk to flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Whisk slowly until mixture thickens. Turn heat off of burner, then add chilpotle chile, cayenne, onion powder, and salt, whisk together well. Add the Cheddar, Raclette, and ½ cup of Asiago. Stir well with a rubber spatula until well blended, cheese does not need to be melted completely, just mixed well. Place in a 2 ½ qt. glass baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Then stir pasta and cheese mixture together and place in a 2 1/2 qt. glass baking dish sprayed with cooking oil.

You have 2 options for your topping. Option #1: evenly dust top of Mac and Cheese with 1/3 cup Asiago. Option #2: Melt 2 Tbsp. margarine in the microwave. Then to meduim size bowl add panko bread crumbs, 1/3 cup Asigo and the melted margarine, mix well. Dust mixture evenly over top of Mac and Cheese. If you like a crunchy topping on your Mac and Cheese then option #2 is for you. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned on top and bubbly.

It is up to you as to whether or not you use high fiber pasta, lower fat cheese and a healthy margarine in place of butter. I also used fat free milk and it is absolutely delicious. I like to cut fat and add fiber where I can without sparing flavor. The creaminess of the cheese gives a nice balance to the spices.