Mac and Cheese, Sweet Potato Fries, and Apple Muffins

The biggest hit of the day was Mac and Cheese with the Apple Muffins a close second. I also thought the sweet potato fries were great but M and J weren't too sure of them. I think that's because they've been spoiled by actual fried sweet potato fries at one of our favorite burger places.

I'll hit today's food in chronological order.

It was my turn to host playgroup this morning. We went to a couple of parks (long story) and I took apple muffins. It had been years since I made this recipe and I played with it a little, so I was somewhat nervous. However tasting a couple of them before we went, let me know they were ok. (One muffin wasn't enough for 3 people to share!). In a mixing bowl, I beat 2 eggs. I then stirred in 1 c milk, 1/2 c melted butter, and 2 c coarsely chopped, unpeeled apples. In a separate bowl, I combined 2 c unbleached all purpose flour, 1 c whole wheat flour, 1/2 t salt, 1 c sugar (if you use red, sweeter apples, use less sugar), 4 t baking pwoder, and 1 1/2 t cinnamon. I added the dry ingredients to the wet ones all at once and stirred just enough to moisten everything. I then spooned the batter into greased muffin tins and put the muffins in a preheated 400 degrees oven. Twenty minutes later they were done! The recipe makes about 22 not very big muffins.

Curtis worked this evening so it was just the kids and I . I decided it would be a good mac and cheese night. I have two easy mac and cheese versions. One is the super easy stove top version, the other is just as easy but a little longer baking time oven version. I opted for stove top tonight. I experimented for years about the best way to make stove top mac and cheese. The challenging part was always to get the cheese to melt correctly without making a white sauce. I finally just reverted back to my Grandma's version. Cook however much macaroni you want in a pot of boiling water as long as the package says. Drain and reduce the heat to low. Add a decent amount of Velveeta cheese (the inside of the box actually tells you pretty well how much to add) to the macaroni, plus a little milk. My Grandma always made her mac and cheese on the runny side, so I add more milk than some would prefer. I've found that you can add other cheeses to the Velveeta as well, but the Velveeta provides just the right melting consistency without getting too stringy like mozzarella or too clumpy like cheddar. You can't go wrong with that one. (And a person can have one processed food fall back, right?)

To make myself feel better about mac and cheese for supper, I used one of my sweet potatoes to make oven sweet potato fries. A real quick lowdown---cut the sweet potato into fry size pieces or wedges...the recipe I used called for 4 medium, I just used one large (it was just for 3 of us!). Throw the sweet potatoes in a bag of plastic container with a lid with 2 T oil and 1 t sea/kosher salt and shake. I then seasoned it with 1 minced clove garlic, about a T of fresh oregano, and 2 T fresh lemon juice and shook the bag some more. I baked them in a preheated 425 degrees oven for 30 minutes, flipping them every 10 minutes so they wouldn't get too dark on any one side. You know they are done when they are tender and a little browned.

Mmm...now that the kids are both asleep, I think it's time to go have another apple muffin!