Quickie Italian – Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Quickie Italian

Now, add your flour in equal amounts to your fat. When mixed, it should have the consistency of wet
sand. You have now made a roux! The second picture is a good example of what I mean.

Stir the roux consistently for about 2 min. Cooking it this long will remove the flour taste without
browning the flour. I am also slicing the cheeses while this is happening.

When cooked for two minutes, turn down your heat to low, and add some of your Milk and Half and
Half to the roux.

Stir this mixture until well combined adding more milk if needed to get to the thickness you desire. You
want your sauce thick, so don’t add too much of the Milk and Half and Half in the beginning. You can
always add more later. You have now made a Bechamel Sauce. Over time the sauce will continue to
thicken, so keep your Milk handy. Be sure to continue to stir your sauce now with a whisk from time to
time to remove any lumps. Still slicing cheese while the sauce heats.

This is Mac N’ CHEESE!

Add ~1 Cup of your White Cheddar Cheese to the Bechamel Sauce.

And add ~1/2 Cup of the Asiago cheese to the sauce. Now you have made a Mornay Sauce.

Slicing the Parmesan Cheese

And add ~1/2 Cup of the Parmesan cheese to the sauce. This is also great as a Fondue sauce to dip
bread and vegetables into. Stir your Mornay sauce with your whisk until the cheese is thoroughly
melted and well combined.

While still melting the cheese, add your dried Italian seasoning to the sauce…

Then add your dried Oregano to the sauce.

Another nice closeup picture Julie!

Here you can see the cheese is melted and the other ingredients are well combined. Taste the sauce to
see if you need to add more seasoning.

Here, I am adding the Mornay sauce to a large mixing bowl, then adding a few Tbsp. of butter to enrich
the sauce. This will also provide a little more flavor and silkiness.

Stir in the butter well.

Add your well drained pasta to the sauce as shown.

Use a rubber spatula to remove every drop of the sauce from the pan.

Then gently mix the sauce and
the pasta together.

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Add your freshly cracked Black Pepper to the bowl…

Then add your salt. Himalayan salt isn’t as salty as table salt, which is why you can add so much as the
milk products and pasta in this dish are very bland. Stir to combine. Taste the pasta to see if you need
to add more seasoning.

Now, preheat your oven to 400’F.

Add your Mac N’ Cheese to a casserole dish or dishes that have been sprayed with a non-stick cooking
spray.

Fill the dish almost to the top.

Here I am shredding more of the three cheeses to the top of each casserole dish.

Add as much or as
little as you like.

They are now ready to go into my preheated 400’F oven.

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You may want to place the casserole dishes onto a cookie sheet just in case your casserole spills over
during the baking process. (Although we didn’t.)

Here I opted not to as the cookie sheet isn’t large enough to hold both casserole dishes.

Bake the Mac N’ Cheese for about 25 minutes or until the top is well browned.

If needed, you can always turn your oven’s broiler on to brown the top as shown in this pic.
This was a somewhat complex dish to make, which does make enough for two meals.

We hope you give
this “from scratch” Italian inspired Mac N’ Cheese a try… we are sure you will love it!

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Red And Green Pasta Sauce w/ Plant Based Meatballs

This Quickie Came From My Idea of Wanting Red and Green Pasta, with Red and Green Sauce

Simple Really

It’s just a Red Pasta Sauce, and a Green Pesto Sauce

Heating the Sauces, Boiling the Pasta

Proceed to Mix the Sauces with the Pasta…

Bake the Veggie Meatballs as Directed…

Then Combine! 🙂

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Spaghetti and Meatball Sub Sand

The four things that I love the most are Spaghetti, Plant Based Meatballs, Bread, and Cheese.

Something Easy and Delicious to do with Leftover Spaghetti Pasta

Bake the Plant Based Meatballs, (According to package directions), Butter the Hoagie Buns and then Bake them to brown up a bit in the oven. You can always use the Broiler.

Buttering The Breads

A Sprinkling of Garlic Salt…

Plant Based Meatballs Into The Oven

Buttered Hoagie Breads Into The Oven

Leftover Spaghetti Pasta…

Adding the Red Sauce…

Heating Up The Sauce in the Microwave

Heating Up Some Sauce for the Hoagie Buns

Spreading The Sauce In The Buns

Now, Adding the Heated Up Spaghetti Pasta and Sauce…

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Now, Add The Plant Based Meatballs…..

…Some Shaved Parmesan Cheese…. Fresh Parsley…..

Top with a bit of the Red Sauce

DONE!

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My Favorite Spaghetti Sand

I didn’t grow up in a particularly sophisticated family where food was concerned. Oh, my grandmother that took me under her wing knew the fine arts of southern hospitality, and did teach me those, but for some reason my mother rebelled against such things and didn’t pass any of that knowledge on to me. I think it was because she married my step-father and he was the one that rebelled against such things. She just did whatever he wanted her to do.

I believe that sophistication was looked down upon in my family when I was growing up so we ate like poor people did. After all, my step-father, the surgeon, grew up poor in Texas so we did tend to eat like poor people did, even though there was money to eat like upper middle class people ate.

Having said that, sometimes my tastes do gravitate toward the more humble eating classes.

We didn’t grow up having our Spaghetti or Pasta Dinners with some lovely Italian Bread, it was always our Sandwich Bread smeared with some Butter and Garlic. I have since added some Paprika to it as well.