Skillet Goulash

I was at AllSpice, saw some paprika and thought to myself, hey, I could make some goulash, so I bought some paprika and I did.

This was pretty good, I think I've made it before, and it turned out well then too.  So I mixed about half and half with hot and sweet paprika, added a bit of heat, but remained creamy and good, but amped it up a bit.

Cowgirl Creamery's Mac & Cheese

So I couldn't leave well enough alone, and added some leftover prosciutto, and a bit more topping.  I gotta say, the topping was awesome.  It left these near cracker like crusts that had the savoriness of parmesan and the Prairie Breeze, nom nom.  Now I suppose Cowgirl Creamery would've wanted me to use their cheeses, but it didn't work out that way (and it would've made this silly expensive).  The rest of it?  Really good to.  You would think that people that work with cheese a lot would know how to make a good mac & cheese, and they do.

Easy Cream of Tomato Soup with Grilled cheese of an alpine cheese that I tasted on Saturday that I hope I can dig up in my head by Monday or Tuesday.

I'm pretty sure that the Spicherhalde Alpkase was the cheese that I was looking for.  But to figure it out, I tasted a bunch of cheeses (rats! (sarcasm)), So I broke out some Country Italian bread from Gateway and toasted it up nice and simply.  The grilled cheese turned out fantastic.

For the tomato soup I added a bit more cream than the recipe called for and the rest of the defrosted pumpkin puree that I made (I had made some pumpkin bread loaves).  The soup turned out well.  Even with the addition of the pumpkin, I was able to balance it and keep the extra creaminess, while keeping the soup nice and consistent.

The two together?  It was a warm embrace of food.  Like you remember from being a kid, except it clearly tastes better.  It's the nod to remembrance, but not using those ingredients.  Cause really, Campbell's tomato soup would probably taste like a salt like to me, these days.  Honestly I don't know, cause I haven't bought it in years, but just looking at the sodium content...

Anyways.  Good stuff, go get some Spicherhalde Alpkase.

Rotisserie Chicken Tacos with Refried Beans

So this was weird.  I forgot to take out the salted pork...yes...me...forgetting the pork!  I am shamed deeply.  So I replaced it with some extra vegetable oil.  It still tasted good, but I'm sure it would've been better with pork fat in it.  I'll have to make the beans again.  The tacos as a whole turned out well, I was pretty happy.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Had some buttermilk, used the buttermilk, nom nom nom.

Cookie Time!

So most of the get togethers I do are more geared towards adults, they're still generally kid friendly, but not so much.  And it is not because I don't do well with kids, because I generally do, but once in a while you have to do something for my friends and all the things that come with them.  So we missed out last year, because the timing just didn't work out, but this year it worked out a lot better (though I still wish I wish I could've gotten the timing right to work for the Jerry & Nay and their youngins, but for events you have to balance what is good for you and what is good for the most people, it can always be a bummer). The age started at -1 week (due date in the next week) and when up from there (he counts, right?).  And fun was had by all.  A few bumps and cries from the youngsters, but mostly without incident.  Though by the end, most of the kids were truly amped up (I wouldn't expect any less from kids filled with sugar).  It was nice to see everyone (some who I haven't seen for a long time).

After cookie time, the clean up was pretty easy, though I did feel mildly wasteful.  we used disposable everything, and I just pulled up the tablecloth (plenty of colored stains on it) and took everything else out to the trash.  Easy.