Gram's Chicken-n-que Sauce

This sauce is deliiiiiicious.  You may have had it before.  Its sweet, sour, and tangy goodness, and can be used as a maranade or a dipping sauce (which is the way the McGinnis clan likes it best).  We usually have this with grilled chicken, and white rice.  I like to put the sauce on my rice as well.  It also makes for good leftovers.  I just throw rice, chicken, and the sauce in a container and pop it in the microwave.

Just mix the ingredients in a small pot, bring to a simmer over low/medium heat and voila!

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp onion powder

1 dash worcheshire sauce

And don't forget Carrie and Doug Hefferdon's arguement about how to say worcheshire sauce... say it really fast so it sounds like you know how to pronounce it!

Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Okay, pretty much anyone who knows me knows I love macaroni and cheese.  Anyone who knows me better knows that my mom makes a killer mac and cheese, and that we eat it for Christmas dinner every year with our ham.  Anyway, its a super easy recipe and can be used as a side dish to almost any meal. 


I'm kind of lazy when it comes to measuring out my ingredients.  I've included the exact measurements, but a lot of this is give and take - have fun with it!  Also, the recipe only calls for 1/2 package of elbow macaroni, but there will be enough cheese sauce for an entire package, so you can either do the half and cut down the cheese sauce recipe, or do what we do and make a ton and have leftovers! 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Bake time: 25 minutes


8 oz. (1/2 package) elbow macaroni
1/4 cup margarine -or- butter (you will be making a rue, and I've found that butter works better)
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp dry mustard (totally optional - I don't think we have ever used it)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (we use and entire brick of Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp White, and lately I've been adding in a few other cheeses... you can never have too much cheese and it only makes the recipe better)
bread crumbs (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350 deg.
• Cook elbow macaroni.  Drain, set aside.
• While you're cooking your macaroni, in a separate medium saucepan, melt margarine or butter, blend in flour, salt, pepper (and mustard if you're using it)
• Cook until mixture is smooth and bubbly, stirring with a whisk.
• Gradually add milk
• Stir over medium heat until mixture boils (this takes a little while.. be patient and keep stirring!) 
• Simmer one minute (still stirring!) until mixture thickens.
• Gradually mix in cheese.  Stir over low heat until cheese is melted.
• Add pasta, mix together.  Pour into 2-qt casserole.
• Top with breadcrumbs.
• Bake for 25 minutes (or until top looks crunchy)

Enjoy!

I forgot about this until Maggie just asked, but I found cubed ham in the commisary one day and put that into the mac and cheese.  Its great because all you have to do is mix the ham with the mac and cheese before you put it in the oven, and that's it.  You don't have to worry about making something separately.  As a side, that was probably Bing's favorite way to eat it, and its what I would do with our Christmas leftovers anyway!

And now, some pictures!  The top one is pre-breadcrumbs and the bottom is after its been cooked.  I went a little overboard with the breadcrumbs.  Oops :)  I made this for Bing to take to work with him last night (16 Sep) since the guys are all working 12's overnight.  I thought they might like some home cookin'.

I can't actually believe this is happening.

For THE longest time, I vowed that I would never make a blog. I always thought they were catty, but then I met Maggie here in Italy. Maggie has a blog to keep in touch with her family while she's over here. Mainly she puts gorgeous pictures of the new foods she makes and puts the recipes up as well. That's where I got the idea for this blog. I plan on random updates of my time here, some pictures, and of course my recipes. I'm trying new things everyday, and I'm trying to help Katie out with some easy stay-at-home things to make. I hope to keep this thing going for a while, but like so many of the journals I've attempted, I don't see that happening, but here goes. :)

Now, just a little back info on my new friends in case they are mentioned.
First of all, you have Linsday. She was the first girl I met and actually spent time with here. She's a little crazy (or a lot, but its all good) and I love her. Bing works with her husband and that is how we met.
Then come in Katie and Maggie. We met at an event at the base called Heartlink, which was a get-together for spouses that are new to the Air Force way of life. Both Katie and Maggie have been associated with the military for a while now. Katie's husband, Matt, has been in the Air Force (twice now) for a while.. And Jake, Maggie's hubby, has been in for 7 years. However, they just got married so Maggie is new to the spouse thing just like me. Katie and I arrived around the same time, and I think we both went to find friends. Katie also has the most adorable little girl named Kylie. She's almost 6 months old, and absolutely wonderful.
Finally we come to Betsy, the newest addition to our little group. She lives across the street from Katie and has a really cute puppy named Thor (you know how I am with puppies.. By the way, Katie and Matt have a lab named Moby and he's the coolest dog over here because he's HUGE).
We fit nicely together because we all read like crazies. Maggie and I go shopping a lot, we've started going to the gym, and recently brought Lindsay and Betsy into the gym routines.

So these are the people you are likely to hear about most in my jabberings. Enjoy! :)