Pumpkin Mac n Cheese and S'more-tini

The weather is slowly starting to feel like Fall so I am excited to start cooking with all of the amazing Fall flavors.  This time I put together a good old comfort food, mac n cheese, and a popular Fall flavor, pumpkin to create Pumpkin Mac n Cheese!

Ingredients:

1 small pumpkin
1 box (16 ounces) pasta ( I used rigatoni)
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons butter (I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light)
3 tablespoons fresh sage
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups reduced fat milk
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese
1/2 cup white cheddar
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Panko
Pinch of Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste

Start with the pumpkin.  Cut it in half, and roast in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  I removed the seeds, but left the remaining "guts" on the pumpkin to add moisture during the roasting process.

The pumpkin will be done when you can easily pierce through the flesh and skin with a knife.  Once done, remove from oven, let cool, remove the remaining guts, and cut up into 1 inch cubes while removing the skin.

Then season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Combine the Panko, 1 tablespoon of fresh sage and half of the Parmesan and set aside.

Cook the pasta as directed.  While the pasta is cooking begin on the cheese sauce.

Start with combining 2 tablespoons of sage and butter, until the butter browns.

Add in the flour until combined, then mix in the milk, nutmeg, dijon mustard and cheese.  simmer until all the cheese has melted.

 

Next combine the pasta, cheese sauce, and pumpkin.  Then transfer into a greased baking dish (I used Pam)

Top with the panko mixture, spray with cooking spray, and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

And Enjoy!

Now for the S'more-tini's!!

Ingredients:

Vodka

chocolate liquor

crushed graham crackers

marshmallow creme

marshmallows

Half and Half

Step One: Chill glasses in Freezer

Step Two: Rim glasses with marshmallow creme, and then in crushed graham crackers

Step Three:  Combine vodka, chocolate liquor and half and half in shaker.  Shake until chilled, and pour into glasses

Step Four:  Prepare garnish!   Roast a marshmallow( I used a creme brulee torch) and place in glass to garnish

  

Oven Baked Macaroni and Cheese

For martini night I wanted to cook something hearty, but still on the healthier side.  Believe it or not, I made a healthy version of macaroni and cheese, a staple in comfort food.

Ingrediants:

Whole Wheat Macaroni Pasta, Fresh Broccoli, Low Fat Cheddar Cheese, "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter- Light", Flour, Skim Milk, Fat Free Chicken Broth, Bread Crumbs, Red Onion, Parmesan, Salt and Pepper, and Cooking Spray

While I cooked the macaroni and broccoli, I sauteed the red onion with butter.

Once the onion was cooked I mixed in the flour and then added in the milk, and chicken broth until thick.

Once the mixture was thick, I removed it from the heat, and mixed in the cheese!

Once the cheese was mixed in,  I combined the cheese sauce with the pasta and broccoli and transfered the entire thing to a baking dish, and topped it with breads crumbs, parmesan and a little cooking spray.

Then it went into the oven for 15 minutes, followed by the broiler for 3 minutes.

Then it was time to serve!

Now for the martini's..........

This week we did the Journalist martini which included Gin, Sweet Vermouth, Dry Vermouth, Triple Sec, Fresh Lime Juice, and Angostura Bitters.

The Angostura bitters was the unique ingrediant in this martini, this was the first time I have ever tried bitters, so I taste tested it on its own, and it was actually pretty good!

For the garnish we used candied ginger.  We also taste tested this, and it definitly has a kick to it!

After we prepared the garnishes we shook all the ingredeiants together and were ready to taste!

And the result: We really enjoyed this martini, and would definitly make them again!

Sweet N Spicy

Due to Thanksgiving, we rescheduled martini night from tonight to last night!  This week was the "Sweet and Spicy" martini.


Ingrediants:

Cinnamon Vodka, Sweet Vermouth, and Orange Liqueur

We made cinnamon vodka by infusing vodka with cut up cinnamon sticks for a couple hours.

This worked out perfectly, in the final prodcut you are definitly able to taste the flavor of the cinnamon.  

As for the garnish we went with figs and cinnamon sticks.

I quartered the figs, and then cut slits into the back of them so that  I could slide them onto the rim of the martini glass.

Here are the Final Products:

 This martini was AMAZING!  We really enjoyed it, and will definitly be making it again!

Thanks-Tini

In watching an old episode of "How I Met Your Mother" we came across an interesting martini for Thanksgiving.  They called it the "Thanks-tini." 

Ingrediants:

Potato Vodka, Cranberry Juice, and a Bouillon Cube

Thanksgiving dinner in a glass!

For the garnish we used a sweet potato to represent the yams in this Thanksgiving dinner!

Honestly, it tasted just like a vodka cranberry as the bouillon cube did not dissolve.  You can only taste it in the last sip, and even then it just tastes salty.



Saturday's breakfast consisted of a cranberry scone and an Egg Nog latte

Pumpkin Martini

This week we wanted to do a not so sweet martini, but I still wanted to do one that was kind of Halloween themed.  I thought about how delicious the zucchini-tini was, and came up with a recipe to duplicate that, but using pumpkin instead.

We used the same ingrediants- gin, saki, simple syrup, and then used "pumpkin water."

Getting the pumpkin water was a bit more challenging than it was with the zucchini.

It took us a few tries, but we managed to get enough juice out of the pumpkin to make it work!  We ended us using about half of a three pound pumpkin.


For the garnish I used a few of the pumpkin seeds, and then I cut the top of the pumpkin in half, cut some slits and put them on the rim of our glasses!

It did not taste quite as good as the zucchini-tini, but very close.  It was fun to try something new, and to put our own creative twist on a favorite recipe!

Last weekend we went up to my in-laws, and they sent us back with a bunch of home grown squash.  So I came up with another creative way to utilize these and made squash tacos for Taco Tuesday!  It may sound odd, but trust me, they were delicious!! I steamed the squash until tender, and then let them continue to cook in red enchilada sauce for 10 minutes, and that was all it took!