Recipes

Tried two new recipes on Sunday and both were a waste of time.  I'd been saving them for several months, with great anticipation, so it was a real let down.  I'm always looking for a tasty low-fat version of Macaroni & Cheese, something nostalgic but healthier than the real thing.  It needs to be orange, creamy, cheesy and with the right "mouth feel".  Although I love Mac & Cheese, Ron has cholesterol issues (and had a quintuple by-pass years ago) so it is not something that I am comfortable serving.  He enjoys Amy's brand Macaroni & Soy Cheese, and although it smells delicious, it is NOT like the real thing.

This recipe used a creamy base of Vidalia Onion, garlic & Greek yogurt, along with low fat Cheddar, whole grain pasta, seasoning, plus Parmesan and Panko on top.  It was rather a bother to make and the resulting mess was pasty, curdled, pale and bland.  It was edible but definitely nothing like the real thing.  Amy's would definitely win a taste test over this disaster.

The Black Bean & Corn Salad also sounded tasty, and I thought the lime juice & olive oil dressing would have a much better flavor than it did.  Different seasoning might help it, but I'm not going to bother playing around with it.

The dogs will enjoy the last of the Mac & Cheese for breakfast, but the salad will hit the trash.  What a waste.  Oh well, I've got a  whole drawer full of recipes to try this winter and a few of them will get added to my list.  For those who asked, . . .

No-Crust Pumpkin Pie (with the changes that I used too).

• 3 eggs (I'm going to use Egg Substitute next time)
• 1 c. sugar (I used 2/3 brown, 1/3 white)
• 1 c. milk (because we only have skim, I used fat free condensed milk which has more substance)
• 4 T. flour
• 1 16-oz. can pumpkin (just pumpkin, not pie mix, and the cans are actually about 14 oz.)
• 1/2 t. salt (left it out)
• 1 1/2 t. vanilla
• 1/2 t. cinnamon - I used lots more.
• 1 t. pumpkin pie spice - again, I used more.

There were no mixing instructions, so I mixed it up as you would a regular pumpkin pie.  Used a deeper glass pie plate (would use a tiny bit of Pam next time) and baked it for an hour at 350 degrees which was perfect.  I liked it both warm and cold, for dessert as well as breakfast, with whipped cream or plain.