lola has changed

I've never liked leftovers. Ever.

This pretty much blows because when I make food, I inadvertantly make it for a family of 10. I've never been able to cook for 1. This is God's way of telling me I won't be single for the rest of my life. My family of 9 should be coming any day now.

The past two days have kinda sucked for me. I don't really want to get into it. All you need to know to understand the story I'm about to tell is that when I'm sad, I cook. It distracts me. Yesterday, I decided to take on a full-fledged Sunday dinner. The menu? Pork tenderloin, homemade macaroni and cheese and roasted potatoes. All for me, mama C and papa R.

I went to the grocery store around 4pm and didn't leave until around 5pm. There were certain things in the recipes that Publix didn't have, so I had to improvise. I also didn't know what "basics" C&R had in their house (butter? milk? eggs? herbs?). I didn't want to buy a thing of paprika if they had it, so I took my chances on all the herbs. Luckily they had all of them. Oh yeah, did I mention I cooked this all in their house? Well! They have a nicer kitchen. I like their house better. Mainly because there are no mountains of junk every 5 feet. Meh.

So I start with the Roasted Potoates, Carrots, Parsnips and Brussel Sprouts:

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 medium carrots (about 3/4 pound), cut into 1 1/2-inch thick circles
• 1 1/2 cups Brussels sprouts (about 1/2 pound), halved
• 4 cups red bliss potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices
• 3 medium parsnips (about1 pound), cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices
• 1 cup sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease an 11 by 17-inch baking sheet pan with extra-virgin olive oil. Place vegetables in baking sheet and add the dried herbs, salt and pepper. Toss well, evenly coating all the vegetables with the seasonings and oil. Add more oil if the vegetables seem dry

Spread the vegetables evenly on a large baking sheet. Place on middle rack in oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

* You should omit the brussel sprouts becuase they are gross. I didn't omit from the beginning, I actually made the dish with the brussel sprouts, but even in this great seasoning, the brussel sprouts were GROSS.
*I couldn't find parsnips at Publix. Actually, I didn't know what they looked like because I'd never had one before. I had to Google the image. Yeah, you're definitely not going to find parsnips at Publix.
* As a general rule of thumb, cook like your mom would, meaning, don't measure. You know how much of whatever you're trying to put in is going to taste good. Just go with it. Be liberal.
* This dish was in the oven way longer than 40 minutes. Probably just over an hour. Then again, I was cooking 2 other dishes that had to be in at a much lower temperature, so as I put dishes in, I'd adjust the temp.

Next was the Baked Macaroni and Cheese:

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

*I took a chance that C&R would have a bay leaf and powdered mustard. They didn't. So I didn't use it. It turned out awesome without.
*When I went to add the macaroni to the boiling water, I dropped the entire box on the floor. Luckily, there was backup macaroni, but not a lot of it, so I ended up using penne too. Maca-Penne!
*You really don't need to fry up your panko breadcrumbs. You've already got enough grease with the cheese.
*Make sure you dice your onion really well. The size makes a difference. You'll either be like "I don't even taste the onion!" or "Whats that crunch coming from?"
*Um, this was delicious. For real.

I found a pre-seasoned (roast flavor) pork tenderloin for 2 (mama C is veggie) in the meat aisle. I had some extra butter and onions from making the mac, so I threw it into the pork tenderloin.

I must say I was EXTREMELY impressed with myself after cooking this meal last night. I even managed to pick up apple pie for dessert. Not so impressive? The onion smell on my hands. Yuck. We ate about half of everything. I halved all the leftovers and distributed it to the three of us. I just ate my leftovers. I'm a convert. Shit is TASTY!