Sweet potato and bacon Mac and 5 cheeses

One of my favorite foods is Mac and cheese.  In fact, in my food pyramid, bacon and Mac & cheese are their own food groups! And then there is another group dedicated to mixing these two food groups together in as many ways as possible! Mac and cheese is really just a great vehicle for almost anything.    But anyway enough about how great Mac and cheese is, I'm sure you already know that...

I love sweet potatoes all year round but since fall is sweet potato season, it seemed appropriate to make this delectable dish that I had tried out over the summer.  It is so creamy, with a great spicy kick! And if you'd like it to be even hotter, add some a couple tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce.  Then there's that crunchy, sweet graham cracker topping that really puts it over the edge!  There's no sense in blabbing anymore, this recipe speaks for itself! 

Sweet potato and bacon Mac and cheese

Yield: 1 9x13 baking tray

2 TB olive oil

1/2 medium red onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced 

2 cups milk

2 cups sweet potato, cubed

1/2 teaspoon cayenne 

1 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon pure chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup white cheddar, grated

3/4 cup manchego, grated

3/4 cup gruyere, grated

3/4 cup fontina, grated

1/4 cup Parmesan, grated

1 pound of pasta (your choice, I think elbows or pipettes are best for Mac and cheese)

6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

1/4 cup scallions

3 graham crackers, crushed

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion and cook for about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and continue to sauté for another 2 minutes.  Add milk and sweet potato cubes and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, until sweet potatoes are soft.  Meanwhile, cook pasta according to manufacturer's instructions, drain, and set aside.  Combine salt, cayenne, chili powder, and paprika in a small bowl.  Grate cheeses and set aside.  Preheat oven to 375F.  When sweet potatoes are soft, add contents of saucepan to a blender and pulse until smooth and creamy.  Stir in spice mixture and cheeses.  Pulse mixture until smooth.  Pour over reserved pasta in a baking tray, add chopped bacon, and stir well. Pour crushed graham crackers over top of mixture evenly.  Sprinkle with scallions if desired.  Put tray in oven for 10-15 minutes, until top is crunchy.

Apple pie

It is apple pie season!! I love apple pie! It's one of the few fruit based desserts I live for (carrot cake? Come on seriously, who are you kidding? Carrots don't belong in cake!). Furthermore, for the past few weeks, there have been around 75 apples in a bag in my kitchen.  Nick, Excalibur, and I went apple picking a couple weekends ago and have been slowly making it through these apples.  Don't worry, recipes for apple pie pancakes and apple pie French toast will follow.  I've been rather negligent in my blog posting lately.  I've been doing the cooking, just not the posting.  

Anyway, Nick's great aunt was turning 90 so we decided to bake an apple pie for the party.  It got great reviews.  I'm always a little nervous that I've over spiced it because I prefer more spices and less sugar but others like it sweet.  I guess I finally found the balance!

Amazingly delicious apple pie 

Yield: 1 party-pleasing pie 

6-7 baking apples, peeled and diced 

3 TB flour 

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sugar (or 1/4 cup Splenda or truvia baking  blend)

2 TB lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

A pinch ground cloves (unless you have an 1/8 teaspoon measure)

2 pie crusts (I used pillsbury, sure homemade is better but I was lazy...)

~2 TB butter

1 egg, lightly beaten

Extra cinnamon  and sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 375F.  Mix flour, vanilla, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves in a large bowl.  Slowly add apples to mixture, evenly coating apples.  Use one pie crust to line bottom of pie dish.  Add apple mixture to dish.  Dice butter and dot the top of the pie with the pieces evenly.  Using a pizza cutter, cut strips of the other pie crust to form a lattice on top of pie.  Using a basting brush, coat the lattice with the beaten egg.  Finally, sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top (To make cinnamon sugar, mix 2 TB white sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon).  Bake for 50-60 minutes.

I messed up the crust a little bit so it looks a little lopsided but it tasted phenomenal! We even put some Ben and Jerry's vanilla blueberry graham cracker Greek frozen yogurt on top! It was heaven!