Cowboy Boot Makeover

A very long time ago I took an old pair of boots and switched them up. 

These boots are leather but they happen to have a cute western fabric lining so it was easy to fold them down. 

Then I went through my old belts and bandanas and stuck them on there. 

They don't have to match. Mine don't its just fun! 

I've seen people do this with boots that are thick leather and in order to do this the have to cut a line down the back. Yikes that scares me. But it is an option. 

"Tomato Bisque" Pasta

I'm calling this Tomato Bisque Pasta because when I was making the sauce Last night my beau said it looked like "tomato bisque" he was ready to eat it like soup. 

I wish I had some pretty herbs on top but it was thrown together pretty quickly. At least it's on fiesta ware that makes it kinda pretty. 

Anyway these are the ingredients 

2lbs fettuccine cooked according to package

2T olive oil

1 large onion chopped 

8 garlic cloves minced ( I feed a lot of people) 

Pinch Salt 

Pinch Pepper 

Dash Sugar 

1-2 jars of tomato sauce 

1 pt heavy cream 

2c parmesan cheese or other Italian cheese ( I used a blend of parm, romano and asiago.) 

Add oil to skillet. 

Add onion and garlic and  let cook for a minute

Then I added salt and pepper 

Next the tomato sauce -1 jar -and some sugar

Then in goes the heavy cream 

Then I added more tomato sauce until it looked tomatoey enough for my taste. 

Finally I added the cheese and let it melt as I stirred the sauce. 

I pour the sauce into the pot and coated the pasta. I served Hot Italian sausage with it but I didn't put then in the sauce because I wanted a creamy cheesy sauce not one that tasted totally like sausage. 

It was pretty good and easy. I usually think of spaghetti at home and the fancier kinds at restaurants but this was easy enough to do at home on a busy night. 

Amazing Cajun Mac and Cheese

I recently posted a recipe for lobster Mac and cheese but if I could only eat one Mac and cheese for the rest of my life it would definitely be this one. This Mac and cheese contains Cajun seasoning which is my secret ingredient in a lot of things. I can't get enough of it. 

With the holidays coming up this is the perfect Mac and cheese recipe because it feeds a good amount of people. 

Ingredients

2lbs elbow mac cooked and drained 

1lb sharp cheddar cheese shredded

1lb extra sharp cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (I have tried both) 

2lb block of velveeta 

2c whole milk

4 large eggs beaten

Salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning to taste

1c butter cut into thin slices

Take shredded cheese and mix both kinda together in a bowl 

Pour milk into larger sauce pan and warm

Cut up velveeta and add to milk

Stir continuously until the velveeta melts (it's easy to burn and get brown bits in it) 

If it gets too thick add a little more milk 

Remove from heat 

Beat eggs in separate bowl 

Add a little cheese sauce to the eggs while whisking to temper them then add them to the sauce 

You will need a huge casserole dish for this but I don't have one so I use two smaller ones 

Butter then dish and pour in half the mac 

Add salt, pepper and a bunch of Cajun seasoning over the top 

Then add half the butter slices over the top

Next sprinkle on half of the shredded cheese mixture

Then pour on half of the velveeta cheese sauce 

Then repeat 

This mac and cheese had people asking me for the recipe and it is now a family favorite :) 

Comfort Breakfast

Yes that is a Peter Rabbit plate from when I was a baby. Yes it is a divided plate but hey this is comfort food. 

With Thanksgiving coming up we are all about to have left over mashed potatoes sitting in our fridge. 

My mom is used to take the potatoes and shaped them into cakes and put them in a pan with some butter to brown them on each side and then serve them with over easy eggs. 

Today I had it for the first time in a very long time and it was amazing. It is truly breakfast comfort food forget the biscuits and gravy. 

You don't even need a recipe for this one :) 

Creamy Lobster Mac And Cheese

My Beau loves all seafood but if you mix it with cheese he is hooked. 

I recently made lobster Mac and cheese for him. 

I have looked at a lot of recipes for this dish and I always feel like it is packed with a ton of stuff. This one doesn't have fancy expensive cheeses in it but it is so creamy and so good. 

Ingredients 

1/2c butter 

1/2c flour

1/2t salt

1/2t pepper

1/2t ground red pepper

1/2t granulated garlic 

2c half and half

2c milk 

2 10oz blocks of sharp cheddar cheese shredded 

1 10oz block extra sharp cheddar shredded

1lb elbow Macaroni cooked

Lobster tail steamed and chopped

Melt butter and whisk in flour 

Stir constantly for 2 mins 

Add salt, pepper, red pepper and garlic 

Whisk in half and half and milk

Stir in half of sharp cheddar and all extra sharp until smooth 

Remove from heat 

Combine cheese sauce with macaroni and chopped lobster 

pour into buttered dish

Top with rest of sharp cheddar 

Bake at 350 for 35 mins

I made this as a side dish but this is just half of my recipe I made a ton! We had left overs and it heats up fine so double it, triple it whatever it's so good on a cool fall day :) 

S'mores

A lot of people seem to think that s'mores are a summer thing but I think they are a fall thing. There's nothing better than heat from a fire to warm the cold air. 

I went camping last weekend and well when you camp you need to pack a lot. By using these cookies for s'mores I didn't have to take both graham crackers and chocolate. 

I know it didn't save that much room in my bag but these cookies just taste amazing with a marshmallow in the middle. 

These ones just happen to be dark chocolate but the milk chocolate ones are really good too. 

It's a fun spin on s'mores and the cookies make them extra chocolatey because each cookie has chocolate on it. 

It's just a fun thing to try :)

Easy but Impressive Apple Tarts

A little while back I went to this fancy restaurant where I had and amazing apple tart. It was much lighter than the usual apple crumble you find on most dessert menus. 

This is how I will be eating apples from now on. 

Ingredients 

3-4 apples cores and sliced 

1c brown sugar 

Juice of 1/2 lemon or a spurt of that bottle stuff 

Frozen Sheet puff pastry cut into 2-3 pieces 

Optional toppings

Chopped pecans 

Caramel sauce

Mix the apples in a bowl with brown sugar and lemon juice 

Cut puff pastry into 2-3 long strips 

Place apples overlapping  in a line on the puff pastry 

Bake at 425 for 20 mins 

Add toppings and serve! 

It's perfect for fall. It's easy but pretty enough to serve to company :)