Despite all my efforts, my kids are just like all kids.  They could happily subside on hot dogs and macaroni and cheese forever.  When I make chicken nuggets from scratch, they eat them but complain most of the time that they like the “other kind” better.  While macaroni and cheese isn’t something I want to eat a ton of, sometimes it is nice to have a meal end with clean plates and full bellies.  I always serve this with some broccoli on the side and occasionally an extra salad or corn bread for the grown-ups.

Macaroni and Cheese

• 16 oz small shell pasta, or elbows or any other pasta shape you like
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 1/4 cups low-fat milk
• 1 lb deli American cheese, grated
• salt

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
2. Add a sprinkle of salt and your noodles.
3. Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet.
4. Sprinkle flour over, stir and cook for several minutes.
5. When butter and flour have cooked several minutes and the mixture is golden brown and bubbly, stir in milk.
6. Stir and cook until smooth and thick.  Season with salt to taste.  You can also add mustard, cayenne, Tabasco, lemon pepper, etc.. to taste at this point.
7. Stir in cheese until smooth and fully combined.
8. Drain cooked noodles, stir into hot sauce.  Serve.

American cheese is creamy and mild and melts wonderfully.  I buy a block of it from the deli which is the least processed version, I don’t recommend using sliced American cheese.  If you don’t have a source of good deli American cheese then I would recommend going with a mild cheddar.  Finally, I always have both 1% and whole milk in the house and I have made this with both and there is no difference between the two, so use what you like!

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One of my absolute favorite fall treats is hot apple cider.  I love the cinnamon apple smell and the steamy mug.  Most store brand apple ciders are too sweet for me without any distinguishable cider spice.  I like to make apple cider from scratch, a tradition my kids look forward to as well since they do most of the work.  Like many homemade things it isn’t hard to do at all, just takes some time.  But when the snow and cold keep you inside for the day and your pile of orchard apples are past their prime, homemade apple cider is a wonderful activity that yields an even greater reward.  My recipe is here.

Another way we make apple cider, when we don’t feel like waiting for a pot of apples to simmer all day, is by keeping the adorable cider beetles you see above on hand.  Making them is a really fun activity which yields a dozen little beetles you can keep in the cupboard or give away to friends.  To make cider from a beetle you simple warm up a couple quarts of apple juice and drop in one of your pre-made cider beetles and simmer a few minutes.  The recipe for these cute treats is here.

Apple cider or hot chocolate?  Which one is your favorite chilly weather beverage?

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Halloween is almost here!  Surprise your loved ones with this spooky fun breakfast.  These sausage kolaches can be made anytime of year but for Halloween they make the cutest little undead breakfast treats ever.  Make as many or as few as you want, just match the number of sausages with the number of crescents you have.

Mummy Sausage Breakfast Kolaches

• 12 breakfast sausage links, cooked, any flavor (maple, spicy, etc..)
• 12 crescent dough pieces, canned, refrigerated
• mustard for mummy eyes

1. Cook your sausages.  Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, cut your crescent dough into long strips.
3. Wrap each sausage in strips of dough leaving a space towards one end for the mummy’s face.  You may have leftover crescent dough.
4. Bake kolaches for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
5. When ready to serve, use a toothpick or knife tip dipped in mustard to make two eyes.

You can make ketchup eyes too but they don’t stand out as well.  You can also do this with party sausages or hot dogs for finger food.  If you don’t have time to make these in the morning before running out to school or work, you can make them at night, refrigerate, and reheat them in the oven for a few minutes.  The microwave works too, for an even faster option, but they will be softer.

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I love to cook. My wife isn’t a fan. When we got married 6 years ago, Amy and I made a deal. I’d cook. She’d clean up. So for the past 6 years, I’ve cooked most of the meals. I plan them out each week and even make the grocery list…and yes, even go get the groceries. I like it. Is that weird?

We eat at home most nights of the week and we both work long days. That said, I’m always looking for quick solutions for dinner. I’ve also been trying to lose weight so I’m always looking for healthy alternatives to the foods that I love.

I could eat pizza every night! But when you’re trying to lose weight, pizza is not your friend. All that dough, sausage, pepperoni…that’s a TON of calories! Knowing that, I decided to come up with a pizza that had all of the flavor and lot less calories. It’s not ground breaking or anything but it’s TASTY! More importantly, you can whip ‘em up in less than 20 minutes. If you have kids, have them help you out. Pizza is easy to make and kids love helping out. Right? I don’t have any…just two dumb cats so I’m guessing here. 

Margarita Pizza

Serves 1, prep 10 minutes, cook 10 minutes

• 1 Whole Wheat Tortilla
• ½ cup Pizza Sauce (any brand but I use Trader Joe’s)
• Chiffonade of fresh Basil (4-5 leaves)
• 3-4 fresh tomato slices
• 8 slices of small pepperoni or 3 slices of big pepperoni (from the deli)
• ½ cup of Sargento 6 Cheese Italian Blend (any brand will work but this tastes GOOD)

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Place tortilla on counter
3. Spread pizza sauce on tortilla
4. Stack 4-5 Basil leaves, roll, slice in tiny little strips (what fancy chefs call a chiffonade)
5. Sprinkle Basil on top of the pizza (under the cheese or else it will burn)
6. Next, add cheese!
7. On top of the cheese, add tomato slices and pepperoni (if you want the calories and awesome taste. If not, skip the pepperoni)
8. Place little pizza on a pizza stone or other pizza cooking device
9. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until the cheese bubbles and the edges of the pizza get crispy
10. Eat.

This little pizza is about 470 calories. If you skip the pepperoni it’s under 400 calories. Easy. Quick. Tasty. The only thing that would make this dinner better is a cold beer. Is there a better combo than pizza and beer? I think not.

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Don’t you just love popcorn?  I think popcorn is one of those few perfect snacks.  It is high in fiber and protein, it counts as a whole grain serving, it is fun to eat and quick to make, and you get a lot of it for not too many calories.  Between myself and the kids we could easily go through a couple boxes of microwaveable popcorn a week.  That is not cheap and those bags sometimes contain some questionable ingredients.  I recently experimented with buying actual popcorn kernels and making kettle corn on the stove-top.  I was surprised and pleased by how easy and delicious it was-and the fact that you didn’t need to buy a popcorn popper!

The kettle corn is a wonderful treat but with 1/4 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of sugar it isn’t the healthiest of snacks.  Also, getting out a heavy pot and shaking it over the heat for ten minutes or so to make the popcorn is pretty time consuming when the kids are whining and you just want a quick snack.  This method is great.  You get the ease and convenience of microwavable popcorn with the nutritional benefits or air-popped popcorn and all this for the low price of a bag of popcorn kernels ($2 for 20 oz. organic) and a pack of paper bags (which you can re-use by the way).  Update:  This method also work just fine with just a glass bowl.  Place the bowl in the microwave with the kernals inside then cover it with a glass lid or a microwaveable plate.  One bag of pop corn kernels will make you between 11-14 bags of microwaveable popcorn depending on how much you want per bag.  My generic pack of paper bags cost $1.50 for 50.  So each bag of popcorn costs about 20¢.  If you consider that the process doesn’t damage the bag and you could re-use it multiple times that price gets even lower.

Microwaveable Air-Popped Popcorn

• 3 tbsp popcorn kernels
• paper bag
• stapler or scotch tape if desired

1. Add popcorn kernels to a paper bag or a glass bowl.
2. Close bag. You can fold it over once or twice, you can tape it closed, or you can even staple it.  We have tried all of these methods and they all work the same. If using a bowl, cover.
3. Microwave the popcorn as usual for approximately two minutes.  I found that ours was usually done after about 1 minute and 45 seconds.  By two full minutes the popcorn was starting to burn.
4. Open the bag, carefully if you plan to re-use it, and season to taste or eat plain. If using a bowl, handle it carefully as it will be hot.

We tried adding salt and pepper to one bag but the seasonings just don’t stick, even if we spray the kernals lightly with spray oil.  So season the popcorn once it is finished popping (or eat it plain like we do).  What I like is this method is just as portable and convenient as the store-bought bags.  Just portion out the popcorn kernels, staple the bags closed and store them in the pantry or in your desk drawer.  Each bag has about 100 calories and no creepy ingredients!

You can also use a glass bowl with a lid instead of the paper bag.  Just place the popcorn in the bowl and then then place it in the microwave.  Cover the bowl either with a glass lid or with a microwaveable plate (this just keeps popcorn from flying all over the microwave) and pop until there are two seconds between pops.  The bowl will be hot so use a towel or mits to handle it and transfer the popped popcorn to another bowl for serving.

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