Baked Mac n' Cheese with Cornbread Topping

Here at the Cheesy Ham, it stands to reason we take our mac n' cheese seriously.
I make it a little differently every time, but today's recipe was so outstanding, I decided to share it
here with you.
In my opinion, the key to making outstanding macaroni and cheese is a LIBERAL amount of a variety of cheeses, and to cook your sauce separately.





I love Macaroni and Cheese. 

Ingredients:

2 Tbsps. Unsalted butter
1/4 C Heavy whipping cream
1/3 C Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1/4 C Havarti cheese, shredded
1/4 C Feta cheese, crumbled
2 Tbsps. Cholula hot sauce
2 Tbsps. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsps.  Spicy brown mustard
2 Garlic cloves, diced
1/2 Medium tomato, diced
3 Strips of bacon, crumbled
1 Palmful of diced white onion
2 Corn muffins, crumbled
Elbow macaroni, cooked

Salt (I like Pink Himalayan or kosher) and pepper to taste.


Directions:

Cook and set aside three strips of bacon in a saute pan. Do not remove bacon grease from pan.

Add butter to pan, gradually incorporating cheese and whipping cream. Stir with spatula, adding hot sauce, Worcestershire, mustard, salt, and pepper. Continue stirring on low heat until cheese and butter are fully melted, adding in garlic, onion, and tomato as you gently stir.

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees.

Combine sauce and and macaroni in a glass casserole dish. Mix in crumbled bacon.
Top with crumbled corn muffin, and bake for 10-15 minutes,  or until golden brown.

Serve and enjoy!

Irish Breakfast

This one is a cheat of sorts, as much of the meal is canned or prepackaged. I don't normally think it's cool to feature something that I didn't make wholly from scratch, but tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, and this lass loves some Irish breakfast. (My name *IS* Erin, after all) So here it is, and I never get tired of making this one. There's never a bad morning for full breakfast. I'm missing a couple of elements (Soda bread isn't easy to come by in the states, and I was fresh out of potatoes) but you get the gist and can add or subtract as you wish. 

Ingredients:

Irish pork sausages
1 Can Heinz Baked Beanz
1 egg
1 slice tomato
Kerrygold Dubliner Irish Cheddar Cheese, freshly grated
2 Tbsps. HP Sauce
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Salt

Directions:

Melt unsalted butter in saute pan at medium heat, adding sausages and turning occasionally.
While cooking, simmer baked beans in a sauce pan over medium heat.
Slice tomato, adding to the pan with the sausages.
Remove sausages and tomato from pan and plate.
Fry egg in the same pan, sunny side up.

Plate beans and egg, grating cheese on top. Spread a liberal amount of HP sauce on sausages.

Serves 1

Triple B Chicken w/ Cauliflower Mash

That's Bacon, Bleu Cheese, and BBQ, my friends.

I'm always looking for new things to do with chicken. Often, I'll do a quick survey of what's in my fridge, and that's how I decide what dinner will consist of. I always know what kind of protein we'll be eating, and generally have an idea of what side to pair it with. But sometimes coming up with creative toppings and/or seasoning becomes a challenge.

On a recent night, this little gem was invented.





Ingredients:

Olive oil to coat pan
1 Chicken breast filet
1 1/2 Slices of bacon, chopped
BBQ Sauce (recipe below)
2 Pinches chopped green onion
3 Tbsps. bleu cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Cauliflower florets
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 C Milk or milk substitute


BBQ Sauce:

1/4 C Plain tomato sauce
2 Heaping Tbsps. honey
2 Heaping Tbsps. brown sugar
1 tbsp. Grade A Maple syrup
Dash of hot sauce (I prefer Frank's or Krystal for this)
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions:

Coat pan with olive oil. Fry bacon slices. Set bacon slices aside.
Place chicken breast seasoned with s+p in pan with bacon grease, coat with BBQ sauce on both sides.
Turn occasionally.

While chicken is cooking, steam cauliflower. Add to blender or food processor, along with milk, butter, garlic, salt, and pepper. Blend on low speed. Plate cauliflower mash.

Remove chicken from pan. Place on top of the bed of cauliflower mash. Top chicken with bleu cheese, bacon, and finish with green onion.

Serves 1

Easy Vegetarian Breakfast Scramble

I'm not a Vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination, but I do love eating fresh fruits and vegetables.
Sometimes you crave meat, but you don't want to carry that heavy feeling around with you all day if you eat   animal protein for breakfast. I've cooked this up the last couple mornings, and been satisfied with the results. This simple recipe takes just a few minutes to whip up, and will leave you feeling full until lunch time.

Ingredients:

1 Mushroom blend veggie burger patty
1 jumbo egg
2 pinches 2% shredded cheddar cheese
1 tbsp yellow onion, diced
5 grape tomatoes
1 Tbsp. Cholula hot sauce
Olive oil to coat pan
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Coat a small frying pan with olive oil. Sautee onion until golden. Add veggie patty to pan, turning occasionally.

Once browned, remove patty from pan and place in a bowl, mashing it with a fork.
Re-coat frying pan and scramble egg; adding cheese, salt, and pepper.

Place scrambled egg in bowl, stir around to mix patty and egg mixture. Toss in tomatoes, and add Cholula.

Serves 1

Cheesy Steak Tater Tots

There is a Miami-based food truck called Dim Ssäm à gogo. They have an excellent dish that consists of tater tots topped with slow-braised beef, and some other fun extras.
When you're on a budget, dining out goes on the back burner for awhile. This recipe is inspired by the very addictive Dim Ssäm dish. 
Some of the most delicious dishes I've created come from leftovers, or odds and ends in my refrigerator. This is no exception. I began to dig around for something I could pull together quickly, and before I knew it, the gears were turning. I surveyed the contents of my fridge and freezer, and started pulling things to throw together.

Ingredients:

Olive oil to coat frying pan
1 bag tater tots
8 oz Sirloin or similar cut of steak
1/2 A fresh lime, squeezed for juice
1/2 A fresh lemon, squeezed for juice
1 C Shredded monterey jack cheese
1/4 yellow onion, sliced
Kosher salt
Black pepper

Sauce:

1 C Sour Cream
1 tbsp. Frank's Red Hot sauce
1 tsp. Chili powder
1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper powder
1/2 Tbsp. Minced garlic
Black pepper and kosher salt to taste

Directions:

Season sirloin with salt and pepper to taste, and marinate for several minutes with lemon and lime juice.

Coat a medium-sized frying pan with olive oil. Sautee sliced onion to golden, adding sirloin to the pan.
Turn occasionally.

While steak is cooking, set the oven to 350 degrees, place tater tots on a baking sheet and into the oven.

Remove steak from heat and allow to rest for several minutes before slicing.

Remove tater tots from oven, placing into a bowl. Layer steak on top, then cheese, then onions, and finally spoon out a liberal amount of sauce.
DIG IN!

The Cheesy Ham is Now On Twitter!

Happy Saturday, friends and fans! The Cheesy Ham is now on Twitter: @thecheesyham

For now, it's just a handful of tweets with recipe links back to this blog. Please stay tuned, it will become more dynamic as we build a following. Thank you so much for your early support. Here we grow!
(Hey, they don't call me cheesy for nothin'!)

~E

The "Naughty or Nice" Burger

My Taurean need for indulging myself in the finer things in life is often in direct conflict with the reality that as I age, I need to eat healthy and exercise. What's a food lovin' girl to do when she's got a craving for a cheeseburger? Give in, (with compromise) of course! Thus, The "Naughty or Nice" was born.
The "Nice" part of the equation is a lean turkey pattie, and chili made with ground turkey. The "Naughty" is bacon and cheese. The chili was actually leftovers from another dinner earlier in the week. I am not including the chili recipe in this entry. I will post it on a future entry. There are several components to this dish, so it will take some prep to accomplish successfully.

p.s.: I nearly always cook with olive oil, but if I'm feeling frisky, I use unsalted butter. Either option tastes delicious, it just depends on if you prefer full fat.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Olive oil
4 oz ground turkey
1 hamburger bun, lightly toasted
3 slices hickory smoked bacon
1 handful shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg, medium size
Pinch of salt and black pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp diced onion
1/4 tsp Sriracha
1/4 C Chili (Separate recipe)

Directions:

Place 4 oz of ground turkey into a mixing bowl, seasoning with: Garlic, salt, pepper, onion.
Patty up the seasoned meat mixture, placing into a frying pan coated with 1 tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Turn occasionally while browning.

Meanwhile, coat another frying pan with 1 tbsp olive oil. Crack your egg inside and proceed to fry.

Place cooked patty on hamburger bun. Return to your first pan, re-greasing if necessary. Place three strips of (Beautiful! Glorious!) bacon inside to sizzle, turning occasionally.

Place fried egg atop turkey patty, sunny side up. Add shredded cheddar cheese.

Drain bacon on a paper towel, then add strips across the patty.

Carefully spoon chili  on top of bacon. Add sriracha to taste.

Get down on it. (Serve just didn't seem appropriately to convey my feelings about this burger)