Southwestern Chicken Mac and Cheese

Hello again!

I have another post inspired by the great and wonderful Fiance J, made from ingredients we had around after he got home from work one day. Let's go!!

The arsenal- the ranchero cheese turned out to be unusable for us, but the idea is to sprinkle that on top!

Cook your pasta most of the way in a pot of water. Make a beschamel and then add cheese in, stir.

Add in salsa to your cheese sauce for a southwestern flair.

The finished sauce and cheese.

Pour your sauce over your pasta, then bake!

Meanwhile, take whatever chicken your have on hand (we had some rotisserie that we shredded).

And don't forget to fry up a few onions and hashbrowns/matchstick potatoes.

And then put the browned chicken, onions, and potatoes on top once it's done!

Your finished product! Yumm!

Southwestern Chicken Mac and Cheese
-This is more of a process or idea than a recipe, so go with what you have and what you like!
-Make a beschamel, starting with equal parts flour and butter. Add milk, then cheese, to the consistency that you like it.
-Meanwhile, boil your pasta until just barely under done, so it can cook a tiny bit more in the oven.
-Add salsa to your cheese sauce, to your taste.
-Pour your sauce over your pasta in a pan that fits it, then bake at 350 F until browned.
-While cooking, brown up some chicken, onions, and hashbrowns to put on top. You can also put the chicken in the sauce if you do not want it crisp!
Have fun with this, experiment- it's hard to go wrong. Enjoy!

(thanks J!)
Savor it!
love, rue

Individual Pavlova

Hey everyone!

I have to share the credit for this one with my Fiance J again- I had the idea, and then he was the one who executed it- and the one who chose to make individual ones instead of a large layered one- they were perfect and delish both ways we made them!

All the parts to assemble- meringues in individual size, whipped cream, sliced peaches and nectarines, and a very nice balsamic vinegar for drizzling...

And here is the assembled peach-nectarine-balsamic pavlova- amazing and so simple!!

Later J and I had the idea to caramelize some apples and make a pavlova with that and one of the leftover meringues- it was amazing, so really use your imagination here!

Pavlova isn't all too complicated and J went off of this recipe here :)

-Whipped cream and fresh (or cooked) fruit for topping- your choice and use your imagination on this- so many options!

Savor it!
love, rue

Fried Battered Bacon

Hi again!

The other morning, my fiancé J made some pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then took his brilliance to a whole new level by battering some bacon in pancake batter and then frying it up. There's no real recipe, just use your favorite batter and bacon- Check it out!

Step one: fry up some bacon.

Step two: dunk cooked bacon in pancake batter to completely coat it.

Step three: return bacon to pan with some of the remaining bacon grease.

Flip it when it turns golden brown...

Step four: ENJOY!

Savor it!
love, rue (and J!)

Shortcake

Hi everyone,

This is a really quick post to share some Shortcake I (and my fiancé) have been making. We've been using the recipe from the Food Network website, and it is simple and easy- find it here! It's especially easy because you make it in one pan as opposed to cutting out rounds, as I had always done before. The other change we make is putting butter then sugar on top, which makes the shortcake sparkly in looks and taste!

But let's go make some shortcake!

Here's the dough being mixed- you just dump in the dry ingredients and either sift them together or just give them a good whisk- that's what I do! Then pour in your cream and mix until just all together.

Pat the shortcake out into an 8x8'' or 9x9'' pan.

Drizzle with approx. 1 tablespoon butter. (My fiancé J's contribution- not a step to miss!)

Brush butter on shortcake evenly.

Then sprinkle with approx. 1 tablespoon granulated sugar.

Bake 18-22 minutes or until just starting to brown and a tester comes out clean. Enjoy!

Savor it!
love, rue

Cheesecake Dip for Fruit

Hi everyone,

This one's a little brief as I do not have too many pictures. The other day my Fiance J made this really good Cheesecake dip for fruit from a recipe I've been holding onto for a long time. But I've got a feeling a lot of people have come up with this simple "recipe", so I'll go ahead and share so you can make it too- perfect for all of the delish summer fruit!


Cheesecake Fruit Dip
-8 oz. cream cheese, softened (1 block)
-1 cup white sugar
-1 teaspoon - 1 tablespoon vanilla, depending on how much you love vanilla.
-8 oz. cool whip (small container)
-8 oz. marshmallow fluff (small container)
Cream the cream cheese with the sugar and vanilla, then fold in the rest. Enjoy with cut up fruit (or on anything you think of- it's wonderful!)

Here's the delish dip all finished and with cut up fruit! Thank you, J!!

Savor it!
love, rue