New Love!

Ok, I'm ready to admit it... I think I"m really in love.



With this page.


There's like, a bazillion recipies on that page, and they all look reasonably simple!! JOYGASM!!!

Anyways, I'm killing 20 minutes at the end of my day. Sure, I could be working on the last of my stats, finishing updating my resume (I need it for the instructor course), plotting Volunteer Fairs and Fundraisers, or even faxing companies, begging them to book courses. But, alas, I'm spent! My brain is the consistancy of tapioka (ewwww), and the crackers I had for lunch today just didn't do it.

I've been thinking a lot about cooking recently, and not really following through. Maybe I should do more of that. I finally bought everything I need to make Red Pepper Jam, except the jamming-jars. I have everything I need for beer bread, and maybe even NORMAL bread(without a bread maker, even!)... And Rice Crispie Squares, and I have 3 boxes of cake mix (and icing sugar for dusting), and now I even have recipies for olice-oil crackers and HUMMUS!! And I'm sure I have enough odds and ends for cookies and yes, even muffins.

Just no time for the excitement. No time for the scent of baked goods wafting across my kitchen and flooding my house.

But, I did have time for this the other night, and I'm calling it:

Holy Mac-n-Delicious!

What you need:
Macaroni (perferably not from the box... get the real stuff)
Frozen Veggies
Cheese, shredded (about a cup)
A Packet of Taco Seasoning
Barbecue sauce, preferably the good stuff. I like Diana's.
A tablespoon of margerine or butter

Put water in a pot and get it boiling. Add about a teaspoon of the taco seasoning to the water, boil the veggies ONLY.
Here's the trickiest part: When the veggies are almost boiled, strain the water from them, but SAVE THE WATER, don't throw it away! Put the veggies to the side and put the water back on the stove. Use it to boil the pasta (this saves some of the nutrients from the veggies).
Once the Pasta is "el dante" (almost kinda done, but still not quite soft), toss the veggies BACK in with the pasta. Let it all boil together.

Wait, why are you doing all this extra work? Because if you do both together, you're either going to over-do the veggies, or under-do the pasta. Now stop your whining and listen: this is the best part...

When everything's done, strain the water away. Yes, you can get rid of it now. Put the butter or margerine in with the veggies and pasta and let it melt a little. Then start mixing in the cheese, SLOWLY, like, a quarter cup at a time. If you toss it all in at once, you'll just end up with half-melted cheese lumps. Once the cheese is melted (like, deliciously gooey), add in about 2 table spoons of barbecue sauce. Stir it in. Put a serving in a bowl, and then write me a thank you note.

Trust me on this one.