Green Chile Bacon Mac and Cheese

I made this over the weekend using things in the pantry and fridge. You could definitely adjust this to whatever cheeses and meats you have.
Again, there was no measuring, so I'm trying to estimate how much I used.
Start by boiling 4 cups of elbow macaroni until al dente.

Then you basically, you make a roux out of the flour and butter.
Ingredients:
5 Tbsp. flour
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cup milk

Melt the butter in a saucepan and then add your flour. Whisk till all the lumps are gone. Keep whisking until the flour/butter mixture starts to get some color to it. Then, add your milk! Start with 1 cup, then add more if necessary. You want it to be a sauce like consistency, but not too thick because you still have to add your cheeses. That is your basis for any sauce you want to do. After you make that, you can add your cheeses and whatever else you want.

I added:
1 cup mexican four cheese blend (shredded)
1 cup grated parmesan
1 can of diced green chiles (drained)
1 bag of Hormel bacon bits
2 Tbsp. cream cheese

Just add all of these into your sauce and stir until melted. Drain your pasta and stir in the sauce. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Top with more shredded cheese.

I made a cracker crumb topping using club crackers.
Just melt a stick of butter and crush up half a package of club crackers (ritz would be good also!) and mix together then sprinkle over your mac and cheese.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Hope you enjoy! I'm going to try to start writing down how much I use of things, because it's really hard to think back how much I used.

Spinach Artichoke Dip Lasagna

Okay so I'm going to attempt to re-create the lasagna I threw together the other night!

First, I boiled a package of lasagna in lightly salted water. While that was cooking I made my fillings.
The first filling was the ricotta mixture.
-15oz. container of ricotta
-1 egg
-1 Tbsp. oregano
-1 Tbsp. dried basil
-1 tsp. rosemary
-1 tsp. thyme
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-1 tsp. black pepper
-1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Mix together and set aside.

The next filling was the spinach artichoke dip.
-1 jar of alfredo sauce
-1/2 8oz. package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
-15 oz. can of artichoke hearts (drained and chopped)
-8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
-2 Tbsp. sour cream
-1/3 cup grated Parmesan
-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

I also had two cooked chicken breasts that I had chopped.

So....to assemble!

In your pan, lay down four lasagna noodles. Put half of your ricotta mixture on top of the noodles, then scatter half of the chicken over that. Then put half of the spinach dip over the chicken. Now for the good part, layer sliced provolone over the artichoke dip! Repeat.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Take foil off and bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is a little browned. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

Southwestern Grilled Skirt Steak

Josh made this steak last weekend for our fajitas and it was probably one of the top five steaks I've ever had. It was so flavorful and juicy. Sooo good! It has a smoky southwestern kick, but it's not spicy at all. You could also use flank steak, but I think the skirt steak has more marbling (more fat) and that's another reason I prefer it, more flavor!

First, you make the marinade!
1/4 cup of vegetable oil (I used EVOO because I was out)
juice of one lime
*1 bunch of cilantro
*1 serrano or jalapeno pepper
*I put these two in the food processor together
1 1/2 Tbsp. of ancho chile powder

Whisk all together and then pour over your skirt steak and make sure all of the steak is covered.


We only marinate the steak for an hour since the lime juice in the marinade can start to "cook" the steak because of the acidity.
Okay so preheat your grill to medium high heat and toss the steaks on for three minutes per side for medium rare. The good thing about these steaks though is if you want more of a medium well you can just heat your grill higher on one side.

We made fajitas out of these and they were SOOOO good.

Hope you enjoy!!!!