Domesticated

Well hello there, world wide web. It's been a while. And I apologize.

But you see, in this wonderful town of Spanish Fork that my husband and I reside in, there is jack squat that goes on, and even less to do. So there really isn't much to blog about.

We go to work.

We come home.

We have dinner, maybe watch a movie or an episode of Brothers and Sisters or Revenge.

We go to bed.

Yes, there is an occasional dinner at the sibling's house, date night, or random drive somewhere pretty. But we live a pretty boring married life.

One thing that I do love, however, about not doing anything all the time, is it gives me a chance to cook! Yes, I get burnt out on cooking every once in a while, but I enjoy it 6 days out of the week. I'm not extravagant or 5 star quality with lamb and filet mignon, and I make a lot of less-than-desirable meals, but I do try my darndest.

I guess one reason why I love cooking so much is because I watched my grandma cook everything that tastes like a piece of heaven, and I grew up with my eyes glued to my dad while he was in the kitchen, trying to pick up on everything I could. They are both the best cooks I know. (If you haven't tried my dad's bbq sauce that he makes from scratch and not to mention won first place in a Tucson competition, then you haven't lived. Seriously. Go get some!!)

I have noticed that you don't always have to buy boxed foods for meals. Take for instance macaroni and cheese. I HATE the Kraft kind. Yuck. And it doesn't help that we would need to make two boxes because for some reason, it seems as though they keep putting less and less in those little rectangle boxes. So. I make it from scratch. Now, I have tried countless recipes and of course, the one go 'round that my husband loved, I didn't have a recipe and instead just threw things together. I have yet to replicate it. Such is life. Making mac and cheese wasn't as easy as I thought. I had read things on Pinterest (of course) that you could make it by adding milk and cheese to pasta and the cheese would melt into gooey goodness and wrap those macaroni noodles with creamy delight. Oh boy was that wrong. I turns into a disgusting, clumpy, milky-watery mess. NASTAY. I learned the hard way that you have to make a roux.

A what??

Roux [roo] - noun

A cooked mixture of butter or other fat and flour used to thicken sauces, soups, etc.

Who knew that a cheese sauce would need flour? And one thing I learned, is you should ALWAYS cook flour and NEVER add it to something in it's raw form. (To some mothers, especially my grandmother, I must sound so dumb because I'm just learning all of this.) I had seen that tip on Master Chef a while ago and had no clue what it meant, until it happened to me. I was making a roux for mac and cheese and the sauce wasn't thick enough [it will always be thick enough, just be patient and let it cook!!] so I decided to add more flour at the end, after I had put in the milk and cheese. Then it was TOO thick...and tasted like flour. I didn't cook the flour with the butter. It literally was like I just threw a bunch of flour in my mouth and then took a bite of mac and cheese. Needless to say, I learned my lesson.

Melt butter and add equal parts flour and cook for five minutes, or until a nice golden brown.

Slowly add in milk, cooking for an additional five minutes. It WILL thicken up.

Add grated cheese.

Add pasta.

Badda bing, badda boom.

You've got macaroni and cheese.

Another thing that we love in the Memmott household, is mashed potatoes. We do have the box of instant potatoes, but after a huge failure in the taste bud department, as well as the check book, we opted out for regular, straight-from-the-potato mashed potatoes. Heck, I just bought a 15 pound bag of potatoes for $2. Score? I think YES. The only thing that sucks about making them from scratch, is we do not yet have a potato masher. Yay for forks and whisks!! Haha. But seriously though. All you do is wash a few potatoes, chop them up, boil them, mash them, then add butter and milk. If you're going for a five minute dinner, this isn't for you. But if you want more bang for your buck, or a better alternative to those grainy, mushy, disgusting "instant" potatoes, then give it a try!

Lastly, I will never buy frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts. What a waste of money! Instead, I buy bone in, skin on chicken from the meat section. Not only is it a whole dollar cheaper per pound than the skinless, boneless chicken in the meat section, it's $1.50 if not more cheaper than the frozen kind. So, I come home with skin on, bone in chicken, take the skin off, and freeze it myself. Why should I pay someone to freeze my food for me when I can do a perfectly good job myself? Exactly. Not to mention that the bone gives the chicken so much more flavor! And it doesn't dry out as fast during the cooking process. Sure, you have to eat around it. But in my opinion, it's totally worth it.

I know I've still got so much to learn, but I sure do love where I am! And I think my husband doesn't hate it ;)

Do you like to cook? If so, what? If not, how do you eat??

And just in case you wanted it, here is my favorite recipe for mac and cheese. Feel free to add or subtract anything from it! But one thing I've found from testing a lot of these recipes, is you can't go without the ground mustard. It is essential. (Our favorite cheese to use is Colby-Jack, however you can experiment or use your favorite cheese.)

4 cups dried macaroni

1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 4 T.) butter

1/4 cup All-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups milk

2 teaspoons (heaping) Dry/Ground mustard. More if desired.

1 pound cheese, grated

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Cook macaroni. Drain.

2. In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don't let it burn.

3. Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.

4. Add in cheese and stir to melt.

5. Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt as needed. DO NOT UNDERSALT!

6. Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.

7 Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.