Last week I was totally craving homemade mac & cheese.  I am not really sure what triggered the need for this dish given I haven’t had it in ages.  In any event mac & cheese was going to happen in my belly!  This super cheese homemade mac & cheese is a serious comfort food dish.  According to the husband and a friend who joined us for dinner they said this mac & cheese recipe is a winner!  Just looking at the picture makes me want to eat some.  YUMMY!!

Recipe inspired from A Cup of Jo and The Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients:

1 box pasta
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground/dry mustard
12 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350*

Cook pasta until al dente and drain.  Remember to salt the water before adding the pasta!

In a sauce pan, melt butter and add in the flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly.

Slowly add the milk and continuing whisking.   Add mustard and reduce the heat to low.  Add in cheddar cheese a handful at a time and only add more once the cheese is completely melted.  Add the grated parmesan last.   Pour cheese/milk mixture over the pasta and stir to combine.  Pour pasta into a baking pan.

In a separate bowl combine the bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of parmesan and then  pour over the pasta as evenly as possible.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and the top is golden.

Serve and most important enjoy!  This dish is a great main meal, side dish and makes wonderful lunches.

Happy Cooking!

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

1 – Sorry to start on a somber note, but I feel like I must touch on this.  I haven’t posted anything online about the tragedy that occurred Monday at the Boston marathon.  My thoughts and prayers have been with those impacted by this all week, but I find at times when people do horrible thing I am at a loss for words.  Even just saying thoughts and prayers doesn’t seem to do justice to how I feel or what I really would want to convey.  I grew up and Massachusetts and feel lucky to have so many wonderful friend/family who reached out to ensure my loved ones were okay.  Like I said I have no words …. I mean really what is wrong with people?

2 – A friend of mine shared this article with me … 22 Things Happy People Do Differently.  Although I can see the value in a lot of the items there’s just no way I can get up at the same time every day.  I like to sleep in on the weekends =)

3 – Sometimes cooking an “old” recipes that I haven’t had in a long time makes me rediscover my love for it all over again.  This week I made spicy meatballs for the hubby.  We both were laughing about how much we enjoyed them and why we hadn’t thought to make them in a while.  Welcome back to the rotation spicy meatballs!

4 – I played Bocce for the first time ever this week!  Our team is a lot of fun and even though I thought I might be terrible at it … it turns out I was able to score the winning point for my team.  Not bad if I do say so myself!! Have you ever played Bocce do you like it?

5 –  Have any of your been watching The Americans on FX?  The hubby and I are loving the first season and let’s be honest it is always a HUGE win when we can agree on a TV show.  We are also hooked on Scandal!  Any good shows you and your man agree upon that you would recommend?

6 – I know it’s a really old and over played song at this point, but I still get excited when “Call me Maybe” comes on the radio or on my ipod.  Can’t really pin point what about this song I like so much … it must be the beat … yeah let’s go with that.  =)

7 –  Planning a bachelorette party?  Check out these two super cute (and affordable) ideas from The McBaileys … party boxes and party tanks.  I love both ideas!

8 – Sophi, our dog, met my friend’s 7+ week old baby yesterday!  Sophi was very curious and wanted to sniff/see the baby, however once we started pay attention to only the baby she was less than thrilled.  The poor dog was JEALOUS, but luckily by the end of the visit I had my friend’s baby in my lap and Sophi laying next to us.

9 – After killing my herb garden after one of the early snows last year, I have begun my quest to conquer the black thumb … again.  I am hopeful I will have better luck this time.  So far we have basil, chives, mint and thyme.

10 – I’ve been toying with the idea of becoming a brunette.  I have always been a blonde and I’m not really sure where this idea is coming from.  Random right?

What tidbit do you have to add this week?

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with making truffles. Right before Easter my friend came over to hang out and was interested in learning how to make truffles.  I had been dying to try out this new truffle recipe and decided it was the perfect time.  I told her we had to document the process as this was a recipe I had been planning to blog about.  So …. we collected all the ingredients, got the camera ready and the truffle making began!

Although I do really enjoy cooking by myself, having someone to chit chat with and lend that extra hand makes the process that much more fun!  I’ve been trying to think of a clever/fun name for these truffles, but haven’t come up with anything good yet.  I was considering PB&R, but that reminded me too much of the beer PBR … pout.  Any good name suggestions out there?

If you decide to go for the larger portion of peanut butter these truffles kind of become a fancier and more decedent version of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups with a hint of Raspberry.  Either way the feedback on this little dessert was very positive so it will definitely be staying in the make again (and again hahaha) pile of recipes.

Here we go … it’s truffle yummilious time!!

Ingredients
10 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract
1/4 cup peanut butter (if you are peanut butter LOVER do 1/2 a cup)
10 oz of chocolate for coating like melting chocolate

Directions
Chop the chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl.

Bring the heavy cream and butter to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat.

Pour cream/butter mixture over the chocolate and let sit until melted, about 10 minutes. Stir with a rubber spatula or whisk until smooth. (If necessary, microwave in 20-second intervals until the chocolate melts.)

Stir in the vanilla and raspberry extracts.

Then stir in the peanut butter. Stir until the ganache is smooth and shiny.

Pour into a shallow baking dish (or leave in the glass bowl as I did) and refrigerate until firm, 1-2 hours or overnight.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the ganache into 24 balls, then return to the refrigerator for at least an hour.  Heat your melting chocolate in a double broiler or in a chocolate melting pot.  Drop each truffle into the melted chocolate and cover completely.  Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Place in the refrigerate until firm.  Store is airtight container until ready to serve.  I like to let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving to ensure the center is nice and gooey!!

I hope you like this new tidbit!!! I’ve created an easy print recipe card for this recipe.

Click here for a 3×5 index card recipe card.

Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine.

Happy Cooking!

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

I was rereading the about page for Life’s Tidbits the other day and started thinking about ways to share more random tidbits.  Specifically I was focused on “life is a compilation of the small things, tidbits…”.  So here goes nothing.  Below is a collection of some very random tidbits from the past week or so …

1 – I’ve taken butter out of the refrigerator to soften three days in a row and end up putting it back.  I keep meaning/wanting to make sugar cookies, however I think it’s best for my waist line if I don’t have 2 dozen cookies laying around for me to eat … I mean the last time I had them around I started eating them for breakfast on a Friday! Truth!!

2 - Texts You Don’t Want To Get From Your Parent - #5 is pretty darn funny!  #7 is fabulous.  #8 goes out to my sister … :) and omg please don’t miss #12 … scratch that read them ALL!!  90% of these made me LOL … I am laughing so hard that the dog is confused and is barking at me.

3 – I have been battling a case of writers block over the last couple of weeks.  I feel like I’m finally coming out of it, but blogger writing block is a first for me.  I found it really frustrating that the words just weren’t coming to me.

4 – Revenge has become one of my favorite TV shows and I don’t really know anyone else who watches it.  Literally I’ve been trying to recruit people to watch it for a few months now so I can chat about it with someone.  I managed to get my sister all sucked into the show, but haven’t been successful with anyone else.  Do YOU watch Revenge?  … oh my I think I’ve taken to recruiting via blog posts (hang head in shame)!

5 – I think my new recipe for March is going to be a Chocolate Peanut Butter and Raspberry Truffle.  I wanted to call it PB&R, but that kind of reminds me of the beer PBR instead of of the PB&J sandwich I was going for.  Any suggestion for a cute name for my new truffle?

6 – Lightroom is my new favorite photo editing software thanks to my friend Sara.  Don’t get me wrong I am certainly not ready to part ways with PhotoShop, however Lightroom makes editing photos super fun and easy.

7 – Lofty goals of getting back into running came to a screeching halt after just one run.  In just a few short weeks there will be no more “it’s just so cold outside” excuses …  hopefully the spring weather will help my running motivation levels!

8 – One of my oldest friends is coming to visit me next week!!! She did this horrible thing about a year ago and move all the way to the west coast.  It just isn’t the same without her in DC.  I am super excited to spend some quality time with her next week.

9 – When I learned that Google Reader was “closing its doors” (so to speak) on July 1st I kind of freaked out.  Google Reader has been like an iv for reading blogs, new and trashy celebrity gossip.  I use the mobile app as well as the bower based version more than once a day.  Not to worry I found a replacement I do believe (… more to come).  Were you as upset as I was to learn Google Reader will be no more?

10 – This post has zero pictures. I wonder if anyone is going to read it … I mean everyone likes a little eye candy.  Maybe I should add some pictures in next week … thoughts?

BONUS TIDBIT – Once tomorrow’s blog post goes live I will have blogged 4 (YES FOUR!) times this week.  I think that’s a new record.  I’m pretty stoked. =)

What random tidbit do you have to add this week?

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

More often than not I am rushing around the house in the morning getting ready for work.  The morning routine includes all the normal things one normally does plus walking the dog and making lunches for me and the hubby.  Despite being in the kitchen doing the lunches I often forget to take meat out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator.  Does that ever happen to you?  Forget to take the chicken, beef, pork or fish out of the freezer to properly prepare for dinner that evening?  Since I make this mistake often I will sometimes go to the store on the way home from work and purchase what I need.  Other times I get home and slap the meat on the counter and pray it defrosts quickly so I won’t have to nuke it.  For some reason defrosting in the microwave seems to always “pre”cook the meat, which I don’t find appealing.

Recently my mother-in-law taught me a great tip for defrosting meat quickly …. place the meat on a metal cookie sheet.

Source

I’m not really sure why this works, but it does so I’m not going to fight it!  Next time you forget to take dinner out of the freezer in the morning to thaw go ahead and slap it on a metal sheet pan.  Wait a little while and flip the meat.  The quick defrosting time will definitely not disappoint.  What’s your tip for defrosting meat quickly?

Happy Cooking!

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below.  Don’t forget you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.