Homemade Mac and Cheese!

Here's another cooking adventure with friends.

We bought a 1 lb. block of cheese from my local cheese shop.  (We got Quebec Cheddar, aged 7 years)  We cut it into cubes, and added it to the pot with simmering half and half.  A little bit of flour helped thicken up the sauce a bit.  It was still very thin, but tasted great in the end.

Pour the sauce over cooked pasta, and pour everything into a casserole dish.  Top with panko breadcrumbs and a little bit of shaved cheese. (we used BelGioioso Salad Blend)

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Baked Chicken

I got this recipe from Pinterest.  The original pinner pinned it from This wonderful blog.  After discovering this recipe and reading more of her posts, I'm hooked.

I used Onion powder instead of garlic powder (since I didn't have any garlic powder on hand)  I also didn't have any seasoning salt, so I used Trader Joe's "Everyday Seasoning"  (which happened to have garlic in it as well as most of the ingredients in Seasoning Salt).  I also used Monterey Jack cheese in place of the parmesan.  (I forgot a lot of the ingredients that her recipe called for, so I used what I had on hand.  It worked out well. 

Pull-Apart Bread (looks like a Bloomin' Onion)

I got this recipe from Pinterest.  It was originally from this blog.

I used some substitutions.  I couldn't find thinly sliced Monterey Jack cheese, and the line at the deli was insane,  so I opted for Sargento's thinly sliced Provolone cheese.  The recipe called for 12-16 oz, so I bought 2 7 oz packs.  I didn't even use the whole first pack, because I couldn't fit anymore cheese in the slits.  Stop and Shop was out of scallions, so I used the chopped (dried) chives from the spice cabinet.  I also used sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds.

I was thinking about it and there are so many options for fillings.  You could do a pizza bread, a cinnamon apple bread, or any kind of cheese.  The possibilities are endless!