I throw my hands up in the air sometimes

singing "HEYO! I MADE MAYO!"

I think that's how the song goes.
Maybe not.

Awhile ago I ran out of mayonnaise. This is a tragedy for me as I love tuna sammiches.

So I went to my trusty AllRecipes.com and found one for homemade mayo.

I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil and I didn't really like it.

The consistency is awesome, but the flavor is too strong.

SO

I'm trying again. It can be a tricky process, therefore I'm doing a step-by-step instructions to make sure you have a good idea.

STEP 1:

Gather ingredients-
1 egg
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp prepared yellow mustard
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt and Peppa to taste

1 Blender {if you have a hand blender, USE IT. It will save you an insane amount of time. I've included instructions for both regular and hand blender}

STEP 2 HAND BLENDER:

Place all ingredients in a tall container that will hold the ingredients and be less than 1/2 full.

STEP 2 REGULAR BLENDER:

Combine the egg, garlic, lemon juice, and mustard in the blender and blend until smoooooth.

STEP 3 HAND BLENDER:

Place blender in bottom of the container and turn it on. Slowly pull the blender upwards to incorporate all ingredients. If there is still some oil hangin out on top, keep moving the blender up and down and stir it around a little.

STEP 3 REGULAR BLENDER:

this step is important to go slowly...patience is a virtue that pays off here!

Turn blender to low speed and S-L-O-W-L-Y pour oil in a fine stream as the mixture emulsifies and thickens.

STEP 4 REGULAR BLENDER:

Once all the oil is added and your mayo is thick and luxurious, use a rubber spatula scraper thing to scrape down the sides and make sure the whole thing is well mixed with no oil pockets.

STEP 5 BOTH BLENDERS:

Turn off the blender and transfer your mayo to a storage container. I used a mason jar and lid, but you can also use gladware, tupperware, baby food jars, even ziploc bags. As long as it seals well and can be refrigerated, it'll work.

I wanna celebrate and live my life singin' "Heyo! I made Mayo!"

Yeah that's totally how it goes.

♥ K8

Macky Cheese

Enlarged to show texture

So my two year old talks fairly well for her age...but she has a hard time saying Mac and Cheese.

Sometimes we can get "maca-oh-ni", but it's usually Macky Cheese.

She loves it.

I felt a little guilty giving her the boxed stuff all the time because, well lets face it, that stuff ain't exactly healthy.

So after several trial and error dinners I made my own Macky Cheese.

You can make as much or as little as you want depending on the amount of noodles you cook, but the sauce recipe is usually good for about 3 or 4 good sized bowls.

Sauce:

2 cups milk
6-8 slices American Cheese
1/2 cup grated Cheddar Cheese

Heat milk in a sauce pan over medium heat, break American cheese slices into quarters and add 2 slices at a time. Make sure you stir REALLY well and all cheese is melted before you add the next slices...keeps the sauce nice and creamy and smoooooooth. Once all the American cheese is added and melted, add the Cheddar cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Turn heat to low. Cook and drain your elbow macaroni and return to pot. Dump the cheese sauce into the noodles and give her a good stir. Yup, just like with the chili. You can add more grated cheddar or even some mozzarella if you want. If you want to fancy it up a little, you can use Gruyere or swiss cheese as well, or in place of, the cheddar.

To make a thicker sauce, either do less milk or more American Cheese. To make a thinner sauce, do the opposite of what I just said.

For some reason kids love this stuff and so does my husband. As was stated in my previous recipe, I am a cheese fiend...so you know I be grubbin' on this bizness.

♥ K8

Ooh La La

I have a new digital camera so I'll start posting pictures to go along with my recipes soon. However, I'm posting a Google Picture for this one because I won't be making it for awhile. See, today's recipe is French Onion Soup. Onions make you very gassy (tmi? perhaps.) and when you're nursing a baby, they eat what you eat. So for my own sanity and sleep schedule, I'm not eating that many onions while I'm still nursing Chancho.

This recipe skill level is medium and it takes quite awhile to make. It's very much worth the effort and makes for a fancy date night meal when served with a spinach salad tossed in balsamic vinaigrette.

1/2 cup butter (REAL butter, not margarine)
4 onions sliced in half circles
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
2 thyme sprigs
1 cup white wine (i like the 4 packs of mini bottles for cooking, that way you don't have to open a huge bottle for one recipe)
3 Tbl flour
2 quarts chicken broth
1 baguette
1/2 pound gruyere cheese grated

Melt butter, add onions, garlic bay leaves, thyme. Cook until onions are very soft and DARK brown. Add wine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until onions are dry. Dust with flour and stir. Turn heat to medium and cook 10 minutes. Add broth and simmer 10 minutes.

Slice bread and toast. Ladle soup into bowls on a cookie sheet and float a slice of bread in each bowl. Top with cheese and broil until golden and bubbly. I like to COVER the bread/soup with cheese, but you can add as much or as little as you want. I'm kind of a cheese fiend.

CAUTION: the bowls will be hot when you take them out of the oven.













Bon Appetit mes amis!

♥ K8

Rainy Day Friday

I was going to post recipes on Wednesday and Thursday...

No really, I was.

But then I got tired.

So I didn't.

It's raining and cloudy and chilly today and that means one thing.

Soup.

Behold, a delicious chili recipe perfect for a chilly day.
(you like that play on words, I know you do.)

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 can kidney beans
1 can white kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package taco seasoning
1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup water

Cook hamburger and onion until browned, add beans and tomatoes including juice, add taco seasoning, chili powder and cinnamon, add water. Give it a good stir. Go on, don't be shy with it. REALLY put some muscle behind it. Whoa, not that hard. There you go. Bring to a boil, cover, simmer on low for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

You can sprinkle some cheddar cheese or do a dollop of Daisy. I like to serve it up with some cornbread. Don't get fancy, I just use the Jiffy mix.
Hint: if you don't like crumbly cornbread, just add an extra egg!

Enjoy your heart (and hand) warming meal my friends.

♥ K8

p.s. high five for 2 followers!

Sweet Tooth Tuesday

Ever have a craving for something so sickly sweet you just smell it and you have a cavity?

Yeah. Me too.

That's how I feel about Cinnabon. I call my dentist and let him know I'm about to eat a Cinnabon and he pencils me in for the next morning.

I don't have a recipe for Cinnabon, but I have something pretty darn close that is faster and easier to make.

Cinnabon Tortillas

Flour tortillas
Butter
Sugar
Cinnamon
Mini marshmallows

Generously butter one side of a tortilla and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, top with marshmallows and roll up taquito style. Microwave on high for about 30 seconds.
You can experiment to find your ideal balance of sugar and cinnamon, for me I like more cinnamon than sugar.

CAUTION: filling will be HOT and eating more than one will result in a destroyed diet.

Devour.

You're welcome.

♥ K8

Comfort Food

Fried chicken, a hot casserole, good ol' mac and cheese.

Comfort food.

Makes a rainy day cheerful and can heal a broken heart. I figured I would start with my favorite comfort food:

Meatloaf

My husband thinks it's a waste of meat. I think it's incredible. This one is a very straight forward recipe with nothing spectacular...except the sauce. The sauce makes this meatloaf extraordinary. I pair it up with some mashed potatoes (instant is A-OK with me) and gravy and green beans.

Makes about 4 servings (2 slices per serving)

2 lbs ground beef (can also use ground turkey)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup oats (can use quick or old fashioned)

Mix it all together and shape into a loaf in loaf pan or baking dish.

Sauce:
1/3 cup ketchup
2 Tbl brown sugar
1 Tbl mustard

Mix together and spread over top of loaf. Bake at 375 degrees for an hour. Let it rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

Another thing I love about this recipe is by using spaghetti sauce, you get some veggies in there. It also makes AMAZING sandwiches the next day!

♥ K8

Once Upon a May

It's easier to pop open a blog these days than it is to open a book. Is that what's wrong with society? I don't know, I'm here to cook. I'm not a magnificent cook, but I've got a few faves that I figured I could share and I'd rather copy and paste a blog address than type out a recipe 4 or 5 times to various people. I love having my little netbook in the kitchen with me to reference as I cook, bake, broil, boil, and stew. My husband cringes every time I bring my laptop in because he just KNOWS I'll spill something and there goes $300. Oh well, I like it. If these computers weren't meant to serve as little cookbooks then they shouldn't have made them so small and portable. Right off the bat I'll tell you my favorite recipe finder is AllRecipes.com. I'll post my first recipe tonight or tomorrow. If you make it, let me know how you like it or any changes you made! Like I said, I'm not aspiring to be Julia Childs (Julie and Julia...anyone? anyone? buehler?) and I'm always open to suggestions and new things. If you have a recipe you want me to include on here, the more the merrier!

Let's start a blogging revolution.

Or just a fun little recipe circle.

That'd be cool too.


❤ K8