Ham and Cheese and Macaroni.

It's the fucking cheesiest. I will say my health-conscious diet has ruined sat. fats for me. This could have been cheesier and consequently tastier, but it was ok as it was. Got the source from Deb but eyeballed everything instead since I was in a hurry. The recipe is reverse because it starts with about a quart of milk, add butter (I did this reverse, referencing this), stir in cheese (white cheddar and Swiss, half cup each) coated with corn starch (Elise says an acid like lemon juice or vinegar works) to reduce stringiness. Season with nutmeg, pepper, paprika (forgot that I like to add ground mustard to this). With chopped ham and whole wheat mac, breadcrumbs, and some more cheddar and some parm, bake.

Not bad, could have been better, had I more time. I guess I forgot a picture.

Pasta alla Formiana.

From Cinnamon & Spice. It's convenient since there's no cooking the pasta beforehand. Simmered in a can of crushed tomatoes, a lot more oregano than would seem right (1/4 cup). I didn't have the fresh tomatoes to line the pan.

The result is pretty good. All the oregano gives it a nice earthy, rich flavor. The strong, reduced tomato taste really covers for the lack of any other heavy seasoning. I didn't even use salt, nor did I think it needed it.

New York Pasta.

Wow, it's been a long time since I cooked anything new and interesting. Apparently, all I do is drink. I figure it's the summer heat and nothing that I normally eat or want to eat sounds suitable for the weather. I came across this a while ago here. Chaya does some interesting things (like those potato muffin thingers).

A bagel with lox and cream cheese is one of the best things ever. If you can't have a stick-to-your-ribs country breakfast, this is probably the next best thing. A big, chewy bagel with a buttery crust, barely toasted; rich cream cheese (in this instance, one of the rare occasions I won't go out of my way to get a low-fat something); and buttery smooth, smoky, salty lox. Awesome.

It calls for 8oz of whipped cream cheese, but I only had a package of fat free and a package of regular cream cheese so I took half of each and tried to whip it myself a little. I also only used two eggs. The whole thing comes together pretty quickly and is pretty tasty. It was less salty than I imagined with the lox.

Pasta Bake.

I forget that pasta bakes are awesome. Sausage, mushrooms, wheat rotini, baked with sauce and mozz. I overcooked the rotini.

Ham & Broccoli Mushroom Alfredo Macaroni.

Start of a new cooking cycle, and I didn't buy any meat. This is what happened. All the ingredients are in the title.

Stuffed Mexican Shells.

Came across the idea a long time ago and just now got around to it. Essentially tacos stuffed into a pasta shell instead of a tortilla. Quick and pretty darn good.

Talerine Casserole.

Crazy casserole from Elise. Based on ground beef and tomato, mixed with egg noodles, cheese, mushrooms, and olives. The comments said the olives provide a necessary flavor, but I didn't really like the way they baked. It might have been different if I had taken the time to slice the olives so they incorporated into the sauce, but meh. It also gave me a lot of gas.

Stuffed Shells.

Pretty straightforward. Ricotta, Italian sausage.

Macaroni and Cheese and Ham and Broccoli.

Homemade macaroni and cheese sourced from Alton B. Ham and cheese. Cheese and broccoli. Cheese sauce for macaroni was not too difficult, roux into bechamel sauce. Using leftover ham and frozen broccoli that's been sitting in the freezer for too long.

Spinach Tilapia Alfredo.

Throwing random stuff in my fridge together before it went bad. Mushrooms, jar of alfredo, sauteed spinach and garlic, flaked tilapia. Fish and alfredo actually works really well together.

Chicken Riggies.

This is bizarre regional dish from Utica using a combination of tomato sauce, heavy creme, hot and/or sweet peppers, and a lot of personal variations. I only used hot peppers. The canned tomatoes made things a bit watery. I'll either have to drain a bit first, or use more heavy creme which I'm not into. But it was pretty good.

Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi.

Sourced from Elise. The spinach and ricotta sub for the potatoes in regular gnocchi. I need to work on my dough-manipulating skillz. I couldn't get them to pillow as nicely or evenly as Elise, but they still tasted pretty good. In any case, they're like noodle dumplings, don't involve much work or time (though the dough does need to chill for a bit), and cook up quickly. I have a couple baggies in the freezer, and word on the street is that they hold up nicely.

Manicotti and Cannelloni.

I made half a dozen of each. The cannelloni was hot Italian sausage, bella mushrooms, and onions. The manicotti was just ricotta. I had initially thought to use spinach and ricotta, but I forgot about the spinach until after I had already stuffed the shells. So it just went on top. I figure a bit of green all around wouldn't hurt. It turned out mostly ok, but nothing to write home about either.

Beef Stroganoff.

One of the best, cheap dinners with leftovers.

• A bag of egg-free egg noodles: $1
• A can of mushroom soup: $.50
• Onion soup mix: $1
• (.5 ... 1.0) lbs of ground beef: ~$2
• A cup of milk and a little water: ~1 cow
• Chopped onions and mushrooms, optional

Brown beef and drain, toss in mushrooms and onions and let them soften. Add everything else. Doesn't need salt since the onion soup does the trick, and boil water for the noodles while you bring the sauce to boil then simmer. By the time the noodles are done, the sauce should have reduced nicely. BOOYAH.

Pesto with Grilled Tomato and Peppers.

This was to use up the last of some leftover spaghetti and temporarily sate my appetite. Basic pesto was just olive oil, basil, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese, and a little bit of parsley and lemon juice to taste. The mix on top: diced Roma tomatoes and green peppers, flashed in the skillet to make them hot but not too soft. Nothing special.

Garlic Lime Shrimp.

This one is easy. I used the 40-60 count frozen, cooked shrimp. Mince some garlic and chop some peppers for color and toss everything in the skillet with a bit of olive oil to char. I crusted it with mostly basil, a dash of garlic powder (if you didn't add fresh garlic) and parsley; squeeze in some lime juice to add to the sweetness of the peppers and give it a nice aroma as the sugars caramelize. Served over leftover thin spaghetti.