Macaroni and Cheese (A Microwave Recipe)

When I helped them move into their first house and outfit the kitchen, That Girl's husband couldn't understand why anyone would want a large microwave oven.  "You don't cook in it; it's just for heating up food for the kids."

I beg to differ - I COOK in the microwave all the time!

This recipe is adapted from a book that came with my very first microwave (1984!).  The cheese sauce is cooked totally in the microwave.  The macaroni is cooked on the stovetop, the sauce is added, then it's all finished in the microwave.  It's a big favorite at our house, usually served with smoked sausage and a vegetable.


Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

1 pkg (14-16 oz) elbow macaroni
1/4 c butter
6 T flour
1 t salt
2 c milk
4 c (1 lb) shredded cheddar cheese (OR 1 lb Velveeta, cubed)

Cook the macaroni according to the package directions to just al dente.  You don't want the macaroni to cook to mush once it's added to the sauce.  Drain, then place in a 2-quart casserole dish.

While the pasta cooks, in a 1-qt microwave-safe bowl microwave the butter 30 seconds until melted.   Blend in flour and salt to make a paste.  Gradually stir in milk.  Microwave 4-6 minutes, stirring after each minute, until thick and creamy.  Stir in the cheese.  Add gradually to the drained macaroni, stirring to mix well.  Microwave at 50% power for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes.


For an everyday meal, I use a 2-qt Pyrex glass measuring pitcher to make the sauce, then add the macaroni and do the final cooking in the pitcher.  One less thing to wash after dinner.  I'm all about making as little mess as possible.

Bee-have!!!

Disclaimer:  Yes, I know that ALL bees are pollinators and we really shouldn't kill bees, however, when they are chewing up my house, all environmental considerations are off!

--------------------------------------

I'm spending a lot of time lately on our front porch.  Not lounging around drinking wine spritzers (well, maybe a LITTLE).  I’ve been working on carpenter bee damage off and on for over ten years,  and I’m finally making headway.

We made a major addition to the house, including adding a big front porch, twenty-six years ago.  It held up pretty well for a long time, but about ten to twelve years ago, we had a problem with carpenter bees divebombing anyone who came up onto the porch.  They weren't really aggressive, but it's pretty disconcerting to have helicopter-sized bees buzzing around your head.

A typical bee hole.
They are perfectly pencil sized!

They had bored holes in the porch railings, and you could watch them arrive and depart all day long.  If it was quiet when you sat on the porch you could hear the little creeps munching on the wood.   I bought some bee spray and attacked them in their holes.

It worked - temporarily.

A couple of years later, they were back in force.  Ugh.

Since then, we've tried various approaches.

Spraying every year is a pain in the bee-hind, so that was abandoned fairly quickly.

The beginnings of a couple of holes.

Then That Man discovered carpenter bee traps!  They're basically a block of wood with a few inviting pencil-sized holes drilled into its sides at an upward angle.  There's a larger diameter hole drilled straight upward from the bottom of the block of wood that intercepts the smaller angled holes.  There's a Mason jar attached to the bottom of the block where the captives end up.  You empty it by unscrewing the jar and dumping out the dead bees.  We caught a lot of bees, but it seems that the traps, just like Japanese beetle traps, tend to attract even MORE bees to your vicinity.  Not good.

A couple of years ago, a family of pileated woodpeckers decided to tear up a portion of the porch railing.  They were going after the bees' larvae, and they threw chunks of wood all over the place.  To discourage this bee-havior, I put a metal baking sheet over the spot until I was able to repair the holes.

This is where the bee tunnels broke
through the railing.  The entry hole is
on the underside of the railing.

This year I read on a local neighborhood website that some people had tried a dummy hornet's nest to discourage carpenter bees because hornets and other wasps are their natural enemies.  So I stuffed a brown shopping bag per instructions I found online and hung it on the porch.  The carpenter bees just flew circles around it and when they tired of that, crept into their holes in the railings.  Good grief.

After all that, I was fed up.  Stick a fork in me; I'm done.

So the major household project this summer is repairing all the carpenter bee damage and staining the porch.  A big project, but I'm approaching it like eating an elephant - one bite at a time.

I bought a couple of cans of Spectracide Carpenter Bee and Yellow Jacket Killer.  It has a long thin tube to attach to the spray nozzle so you can get the spray up into the cavities.  I hunted for entry holes and sprayed like mad.  I've used up three cans, and they aren't small!


One of my friends gave me instructions on how to fill the holes so the bees wouldn't want to reenter - stuff steel wool into the holes as far and as tightly as possible, cover the openings with wood putty, sand it all smooth, then stain or paint.  I had been using a regular old pencil to stuff the steel wool into the holes, but for the bottom rail, there wasn’t enough clearance to get a normal-sized pencil, so I broke it in two, to make it short enough to fit.  A custom-made steel wool stuffing tool!


The problem is I keep finding more and more holes.  I’ll think I’ve found them all, but there will be more.  So frustrating!  Just when I'm SURE I have them all filled, I find another.  They aren't new; I've just missed them.  UGH. 

So I feel a bit like Sisyphus, continually rolling his boulder uphill, only to have it roll back down just before he neared the top, probably rolling OVER him on the way down!

I'm making progress, and I WILL get it done.  I swear it.

Think good thoughts while I'm sanding and staining during this weekend of sweltering mid- to high- 90s temperatures! FUN.

A comparison between before staining (left) and after (right).  A HUGE difference.

Deviled Eggs (From Mom's Recipe Card File)

Summer is cookout, pitch-in, and picnic season, and there are certain foods you just kind of expect to see on the table - fried chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, brownies, baked beans, potato salad, watermelon, corn on the cob, and deviled eggs.  Whenever we'd have a family get-together, That Man's sister would make deviled eggs for an army, and The Girl and I would be in hog heaven.

Here's my mom's recipe for deviled eggs (my favorite).  Be sure to measure the wet ingredients.  You don't want the yolk filling mixture too soft - it should be able to hold its shape.  If you're making a large quantity, you can use a stand mixer for mixing the yolk filling.  Even That Man said they were "pretty good" last time I made deviled eggs.  Coming from him, that's high praise, indeed!



Deviled Eggs (1/2 dozen whole eggs)

Notice the mid-1970's
Tupperware - oooooh, vintage!

6 hard cooked eggs
2 T Duke's or Hellman's mayonnaise, or Miracle Whip
1 t vinegar
1 t yellow mustard (you can be fancy schmancy and use Dijon, I guess)
1T sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 t paprika

Halve the eggs lengthwise, and put the yolks in a bowl.  With a fork, break up the yolks until they are fine and mealy.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Spoon yolk into each egg white cavity, mash down slightly with a fork and sprinkle with additional paprika.


Instead of a spoon, you can fill a cake icing bag with the egg yolk mixture and pipe it into the egg white.  Refrigerate!

Peanut Butter Cookies (From Mom's Recipe Card File)

Peanut butter cookies are very popular in our house, the kind that are basically chocolate chip cookie dough with peanut butter flavored chips instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  There is no peanut butter in the dough!  What???  How can those be considered peanut butter cookies?   (I actually have a recipe for those, but this isn't it!)

Here's the recipe for REAL peanut butter cookies - the ones my mom used to make - 1960s-style.


Traditional Peanut Butter Cookies (about 2 1/2 dozen)

1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4  t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Cream together butter and peanut butter.  Add sugars gradually and cream.  Add egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.  Add gradually to the creamed mixture.  Cover the bowl and chill dough 15-30 minutes.  It will be fairly soft.

Roll into about 1-tablespoon dough balls with your hands (I use a cookie scoop to measure).  Roll in additional granulated sugar (you'll need about 1/3 cup) and place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Flatten slightly with a fork in a criss-cross pattern (to about 1/2 inch thick).

Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.  Let sit on the baking sheet about 5 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack.  Cookies will be tender-crisp, not soft.

This recipe can be doubled.

Senate Bean Soup (A Non-Trendy Comfort Food Recipe)

In the past few months, I've made a lot of soup.  This is my quick and easy version of good old fashioned ham and bean soup, the soup served every day in the U.S. Senate restaurant since 1903.


Senate Bean Soup

1 T butter
1-lb package frozen mirepoix mix (chopped onions, celery, carrots)
1/2 lb ham pieces
3 or 4 15-oz cans navy pea beans, rinsed and drained
1 bay leaf
salt to taste

Saute the mirepoix in butter in the bottom of a stock pot about 3 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and just barely cover with water.  Bring to a boil and simmer about 30 minutes.  Remove bay leaf before serving.


We always eat cornbread with this, with lots of butter!