Power boost for sports: macaroni and cheese

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of pasta

2 tbs butter

2 tbs flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups grated cheese

Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the bag. Drain out any excess water and set aside. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until it bubbles. Whisk in the flour for  1-2 minutes until the mixture turns golden. Whisk in the milk until combined well. Cook 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is thick.  Stir in cream cheese until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the grated cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup at a time, until melted.

Pasta is a good boost of energy because it contains both complex carbohydrates and a moderate amount of protein. Carbohydrates make glucose, which is crucial fuel for your brain and muscles. It also contains vitamins and minerals that are necessary for everyday life, these include iron and several B-vitamins. Also, pasta is low in sodium and cholesterol-free.

 

Reject the canned pumpkin monopoly with this fall recipe

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, bringing with it a plethora of pumpkin-based dishes and a truly extraordinary amount of revenue for the canned pumpkin industry. This year, why not stick it to the proverbial canned pumpkin man and try this molasses-based recipe instead? These kind of monopolies are no good for the economy, you know.

What you’ll need -

Dry Ingredients:

 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

Wet Ingredients:

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the wet ingredients until fluffy.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

4. Sift and stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to make the dough.

5. Form the dough into inch round balls. For taste, and to keep them from sticking to the cookie sheet, drop each individual ball in some white sugar before you put it on the sheet.

6. Bake on a cookie sheet for 7-8 minutes. Once they’re out of the oven, drop the cookie sheet onto the counter. This will give your cookies the distinctive cracks.

8. Let cool and enjoy.

Chocolate chip cookie sandwiches

This week, I have a very short and easy recipe for ya’ll. I was looking a magazine a while ago and I found this recipe for ice cream sandwiches. Now this recipe was made with double chocolate chip cookies, but the recipe given, I found that it was not as palatable. I decided to use my own chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Now the second best thing about this recipe is that coffee ice cream is shmushed between two chocolate chip cookies. Coffee ice cream might be one of the best things in this world. Everybody else thinks I am crazy because I like it, but it tastes just like a mocha frappachino from Starbucks.

Ingredients:

Chocolate chip cookies, which you can obtain here http://www.mvnews.org/blogs/2011/10/14/melty-chocolate-chip-cookies/

1 pint of coffee ice cream, I used Häagen-Daz, delish

Directions:

Make the cookies according to the recipe and wait for them to cool.

While they are cooling go ahead and take out the ice cream so that way it is nice and soft when ready to assemble.

Now that the cookies are cooled, go ahead and take the ice cream scoop and put it on the underside of one cookie. Now take another cookie and with the underside, shmush the ice cream down to where it looks like a sandwich. You now have a chocolate chip cookie coffee sandwich.

And now the best thing about this recipe, you can eat the rest of the ice cream straight out of the carton too.

That’s what’s cookin’ this week, check back next week for a new recipe.

An Asian classic

This week on What’s Cookin’, I decided to make the most classic Oriental dish, fried rice.

Ingredients:

1 cup of rice

2 cups water

2 eggs

1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables

soy sauce

Directions:

First start with the rice and water. Put them in a saucepan and boil. When boiling, cover the saucepan with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes. It should be light and fluffy when done.

Next, get out a big skillet and scramble the eggs on medium heat. When cooked, add the mixed vegetables until they are thawed out.

Add the rice, soy sauce and as much salt and pepper as you would like.

That’s what’s cookin’ this week and be sure to check back next week for an all new recipe.