Carrots and Mac N Cheese

Mac n Cheese is one of my all time favorite comfort foods. But, let’s be honest- it’s not healthy. This version cuts out a lot of the cheese and other dairy like milk and butter and adds in purred carrots for the mouth feel of a baked mac n cheese. I made a short video explaining this dish, so take a peek here: You Tube

Ingredients:

• 5 large carrots
• 1 yellow onion
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• ziti noodles, macaroni, etc- I used 1/2 of a box for 2 people
• 2 cups grated cheese
• optional chopped kale

Preheat oven to 350

Peel carrots and cut into inch long pieces. Peel and quarter onion and break up the layers. Arrange the carrots and onion on a sheet tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast until golden ~ approximately 30 minutes.

Boil the pasta, drain, return to the pot and drizzle with olive oil to prevent them from sticking.

When the carrots are roasted, puree in a food processor with a little water until they are smooth.

Assemble all of the ingredients in a baking dish, reserving a little cheese for later, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Add the remaining cheese and bake for another 5 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Dinner at Nathan’s

When a classically trained chef/baker/chocolatier invites you to dinner at his place, just say yes.  It’s that simple. Nathan Miller hosted a little soiree and I did not leave hungry.  There was food for nibbling, lots of wine, beer, brie, bread, cheese and charcuterie.  Then Nathan’s roommate made some proscuitto goat cheese flatbread.

Nathan had started a meat sauce with onions, peppers, carrots, and tomatoes that he let simmer for a while before serving us.

Pasta with a chunky sauce that brought my taste buds back to living in Spain with my host mom.  She made a sauce like this.  Nathan topped our bowls with celery, fresh herbs, spinach, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Homemade goodness.

Now, we all know Nathan is the mastermind baker for The Tasterie Truck and owner/chocolatier of Nathan Miller Chocolate.  That means dessert was bound to be good.

He started to make a dry caramel sauce, which apparently is made more quickly than traditional caramel.  I’ve never made caramel sauce, so I saddled up next to the chef for a little Q&A while he worked.

There’s definitely butter in caramel sauce.

Grapefruit topped with vanilla ice cream, graham crackers, and caramel sauce. Yes please, and Thank You!

Pasta from Scratch at the Culinary School of the Rockies

I am really becoming a big fan of the Culinary School of the Rockies here in beautiful Boulder, CO. I learned some knife skills, how to make rustic bread, and pasta from scratch. I am well on my way to being VERY self sufficient in the kitchen and purchasing fewer and fewer pre-made items in my quest to be a whole foods, start-from-scratch home cook.

Walnut Pesto