Macaroni Cheese Casserole

Casserole comes to my rescue at the time I have no clue about what to cook. It is especially for my son who is a picky eater. According to Wikipedia, a casserole is a word from the French, meaning "saucepan” which is a large, deep pot or dish used both in the oven and as a serving dish. In America, many family serve casserole during many festive celebrations. There are many kinds of casserole; green beans and cream of chicken casserole, broccoli and tuna casserole, lasagna and of course, macaroni cheese casserole.

Even though I don't fancy casserole as much as any Indonesian dishes, I love making casserole because my husband and son like it. For my picky eater's son, casserole is a perfect dish as he will swallow everything in it, the meat, the cheese and the vegetables. It is also convenient to make casserole since it will not smell my kitchen though I don't mind the smell...:)

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Macaroni Cheese Casserole
Ingredient
1 pound of ground beef
1 box (6 oz) chicken stuffing mix
1 box 6 oz macaroni and cheese

1 can of spaghetti sauce
1 onion (chopped)
celery (chopped)
mix frozen vegetables
salt
pepper
Shredded cheese

Direction

Cook macaroni and cheese as the direction on the box. Do the same to the chicken stuffing. Put it aside.

In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium heat until cooked.

In a baking dish, layered cooked macaroni, cheese, ground beef, frozen vegetables, onion, celery and stuffing. Pour one can of spaghetti sauce over then sprinkle shredded cheese on the top.

Bake, uncovered, at 375F for about 25-30 minutes or until cooked.

Cheese
Is one of my son's favorite. In every food he wants cheese in it:)

BBQ Pulled beef and coleslaw on KAISAR roll.

It was very hot afternoon day. Here my family was enjoying the sun and eating something simple on the picnic table in the back of our house. We tried to enjoy summer as much as we could as not long from now summer will be over. Oh dear so soon!

This is my first entry for SncakShots# 6 “SANDWICH” hosted by GREEDY GOURMET.

Most people like to make sandwich with cold meet, I don’t. It is simply because I am not fond of any kind cold meet. I make sandwich with cold meet only if my clock is running out in the kitchen or I am totally lazy to cook. Instead I cook bbq pulled beef and homemade coleslaw. Those two things are my favorite for making sandwich. No social protest in the family when I make this sandwich *big smile*

BBQ Pulled Beef

Beef cut for stew (cut)
Bbq sauce

Cook beef in the crock pot with low heat for about 8 hours. I started to cook at night before bed then the next morning the beef will turned out tender.

Take the beef out from the crock pot.

Pull the beef apart into long shreds using two forks. Add the bbq sauce to the meat; stir to combine then return the meat back into crock pot. Cook for about 10 minute in high heat.

Coleslaw
Recipe from Food Network

1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 fluid ounces plain yogurt
2 fluid ounces mayonnaise
1 tablespoon pickle juice
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
Kosher salt, as needed
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Generously salt the cabbage and drain in colander for 3 hours. Rinse thoroughly and dry.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the cabbage and carrot. Whisk to combine evenly. Toss the cabbage and carrot with the dressing.

Yield: Preparation time: 3 hours and 30 minutes Easy of preparation: easy

Portion beef evenly on rolls (Kaiser Rolls) then top with coleslaw.

For the drink I made raspberry ice tea. I didn’t make it from the scratch instead using ready mix iced tea. All you need is to mix the iced tea with cold water.

Raspberry Iced Tea

Beef Soup

I cooked this beef soup a while ago, just don’t have chance to put the words together on the blog. The recipe is adopted from William Sonoma. Who doesn’t like his recipe and all those beautiful pictures? Never get bored to read his book over and over again.

I did some changes of the recipe though.
Beef Soup

Ingredients :
3slbs of meaty beef
3 large yellow onions, chopped
6 pcs of carrot, peeled and chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup of tomato puree
1 can of sweet whole corn
1 potato, peeled and chopped
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 lb fresh cremini mushrooms, brushed clean and sliced
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
salt and ground pepper to taste
4 tablespoons of chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
6 tablespoons of sour cream

Place the beef in a saucepan and add water to cover generously. Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming often to remove any foam that forms on the surface. Add about two-thirds of the chopped onions, for about 1 hour. Add the tomato puree, carrot, potatos, whole corn and continue to cook over low heat.

While the soup is cooking, a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the remaining chopped onions and sauté, stirring occasionally, until pale gold, 10-12 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the mushrooms. And sauté, stirring often, until softened, 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic, reduce the heat to medium, and sauté until soft but not brown, about 3 minutes longer. Season with salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoon of the dill.

Remove the beef from the pan and, when cool enough to handle, cut the meat.

Add the mushroom mixture and the beef to the pan and stir to heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle into warmed bowls and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons dill and the parsley. Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.