Cheesy Pepperoni Leftover Bake

Whenever you have a party it's Guaranteed that a few things are going to be leftover

•  Cheese 
• Pepperoni 
• Crackers 

After 2 days of eating Turkey after Thanksgiving my family was DONE with poultry so I had to brainstorm different recipes for Thanksgiving Leftovers that didn't involve any more Turkey , Stuffing, Potatoes or candied yams. Then the bag of leftover appetizers spoke to me and it said Make a casserole , and this was beamed straight from heaven into my oven.

Cheesy Pepperoni Leftover Bake

4 Heaping Tablespoons flour

1/2 stick of butter

1lb elbow macaroni

10 or so crackers crushed

1.5 cups assorted cheese

1 cup pepperoni 

1.5 cups milk

1/2 cup butter milk

salt

pepper

garlic powder

Instructions

In heavily salted water boil elbow macaroni until it is slightly more than al dente

once fully cooked drain and set aside

Heat oven to 375 

Create a roux by melting butter and adding 4 tablespoons of butter over medium flame .  Whisk .  Slowly add the 1.5 cups of milk and briskly whisk until it becomes thick.  

Ad .5 cup of butter milk continue to whisk 

Add Cheese continue to whisk ( I know lots of whisking)  add salt and pepper to the cheese sauce to taste add 1 teaspoon of garlic salt .

add pepperoni and pasta to the cheese sauce , mix and pour into an oven pan 

Sprinkled pulverized crackers on top and bake for 25 minutes

Delicious

I know it;s not healthy , it's a cheesy, decadent, comfort food that's easy enough and yummy enough to make after a party and use up those appetizer leftovers that usually get thrown out.

Best of Pinterest Recipes - Sunday Roundup

Once again ( OK this is like the first time but it's happening every Sunday so suspend disbelief for a moment and roll with the verbage)
  We ( I )  painstakingly drooled over thousands of Pintersting images and used our (my)  imaginary tastebuds to discern which recipes, in fact, were fit for human consumption.  Our ( my)  recommendations are as follows

The Oreo Pancake Recipe - Yes you read that right.  Let it be known I have a minor ( major) addiction to oreo cookies .  Not Double stuffed, not the Peppermint "holiday" oreos ; gimmie  Plain , circa 1912 , don't mess with the recipe O.R.E.Os. 6 oreos  plus 6 oz of cold whole milk and a spoon to mash it up with and you have my hands down favorite dessert EVA' , which I fondly and not so creatively refer to as "oreo mash"   - try it you will love it .  And try these pancakes as well because they look like giant fluffy oreos .  If I try them I will eat them EVERY DAY for ever and will need to be cut out of my house to go shopping for more Oreo Pancake ingredients - it wont be good.  I believe you are stronger people than me but if you also suffer from a potentially debilitating OREO addiction, like I do  , AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.


Americans eat a LOT of Chicken, maybe because it's fairly easy to cook and comes pre portioned, maybe because it's cheap , but at this point it's also pretty dang BORING . So I created a pinterest board dedicated to that ubiquetous dinner food CHICKEN . If you are as sick of chicken as I am , do not fear ! This board is going to be CHOCK full of chicken dishes so scrum-diddly-umptious that you will virtually BEG to have chicken dinners every night . My pick for his board is Parmesan Garlic Baked Chicken. In my virtual mouth is tastes like garlic bread crusted chicken , which sounds like an excellent idea I should have thought up long ago . Alas some far smarter person beat me too it and I can only share their genius with you


Cuban Food - what can you say about it ? It's delicious, warm, inviting Just like the people. When you can make in the crockpot and forget about it until it shows up perfectly prepared and ready to sashay into my mouth and salsa with my taste buds , even better ! When I saw this Recipe for Lechon or Cuban Pork I couldn't resist . Guess what's going in my crock pot tomorrow :)
That's it for the First Inaugural Pinterest recipe round-up. If you have some suggestions for Pins I would love send them via our contact form below , got a comment , suggestion, complaint , recommendation ....let it rip but most important FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST ! RecipeRustle

Top 5 Kitchen tool must haves

There are just some tools you simply cannot do without in the kitchen. From kitchen electronics to simple hand tools, any self respecting chef will have these tools on hand to take their creations from delicious to divine- heck you might even be able to go from nose pinching to tummy rubbing with our top 5 kitchen tool picks .
    There are a million reasons we love countertop ovens. The Hamilton beach Countertop oven with Rotisserie and convection does the job of 3 products in one for less than the competition.   It's also not a total eyesore sitting on the counter either.


We get it , not everyone has "mad knife skills" but you don't want your dish looking like a kindergarten art project either . Invest in a good mandolin and make your meals look as good as they taste. Make sure to use the guard , every time. No one wants to turn cannibal at your dinner parties.

Did your Grandma have cast iron skillets, mine did. The perfectly seasoned cast iron cookwear is probably why her food always tasted better than everyone else's . Buy a cast iron skillet , learn to season it and people might fondly remember your cooking too .

Whenever you are cooking for a large group , or even just a complex meal,  preparation takes up the lion's share of the work, plus it's like the least fun ! Get a food processor and cooking may instantly become 50% more enjoyable .

Really is there any aspect to cooking LESS enjoyable than havig 200 degree oil getcha right in the eyeball, no there is not. Unfortunately frying makes food DELICIOUS and if you want people to instantly believe you are the worlds best cook throw some bacon in your cast iron skillet and sprinkle the cooked angel dust over every thing you cook; but first put a splatter guard on that to avoid full thickness burns to your face and limbs .

 What are your favorite kitchen tools?