Beer! Beer! Beer! For the Good Ole Green Knights!
Shake out the cocktails! Bring on the rye!
Send those freshman out for gin and don't let a sober G.K. IN!
We never stumble, We never fall, We sober up on wood alcohol!
We won't die! We'll rise and fight for the glory of the Green and White!
FIGHT KNIGHTS! FIGHT! CHARGE!
FIGHT KNIGHTS! FIGHT! CHARGE!
FIGHT KNIGHTS! FIGHT! CHARGE!
If you're not familiar with the above listed "Good Ole Green Knights", you probably don't know me as well as others. My Alma Mater, and now, my place of business, is home to a rich heritage of sisterhood. Some of you may have been in a sorority, well, this is similar. The Wesleyan Sisterhood is unique in that every one chooses how involved they would like to be or not to be. If you attend Wesleyan, you're automatically placed into a class. I am a Grand Green Knight, but other classes include Powerful Pirates, Perfect Purple Knights (my sister class!), and the Glorious Golden Hearts! These classes work together and sometime even compete in various events and traditions around campus. This was literally the main reason I chose Wesleyan, apart from its outstanding education and prestigious reputation.
After graduating, I moved into a house with two of my Grand Green Knight sisters and...
let the adventures ensue!
Our most recent adventure has been gardening. Maybe my housemates are more used to this than I am, but all I know of gardening is that my Memomma knows every plant indigenous to South Georgia and sometimes we think she makes up names when she doesn't because my mom and I would never know the difference. That's it. I've never planted or learned to care for plants because my mother has the opposite of a green thumb. So this is yet another journey I'm walking into with a blindfold on.
This plants are something my mom gave me, because she said, and I quote "you can't kill them even if you try!". This is advice I took to heart since I don't think my mother has ever had a plant for longer than a week. I promptly planted them in the pot on our stairs of our front porch, and, believe it or not, THEY ARE STILL ALIVE!
I have not killed them. AND I've remembered to water them every day! I don't know what kind they are or how big they are supposed to be or what season they're best for.
I just know I haven't killed them.
And I'm proud of myself for that.
Yesterday, we planted knockout roses, there are some herbs planted to the right of the picture, and I also have a hanging plant that I've managed to keep green.
Onto this week's recipe...
I hate beer. Just about the only thing beer-related that I can stand is Woodchuck, and that's a cider. Beer is just so gross to me, like, if I had to imagine what horse urine tasted like...well you get it.
However, I will try things made with beer. For instance, during a trip to Washington D.C., I tried a lovely Guinness Beef Stew, and, as a true southerner, you can deep fry anything and I'll eat it, which led me to various beer battered delicacies. The point here is-I will try new things to see if I like them before saying I do or do not like them. This week, I tried the Beer Mac & Cheese that I've seen all over Pinterest and I have to admit, I wasn't crazy about it. Though it didn't taste bad, it was a little bland and it just wasn't for me. I changed some of the cheeses the recipe called for and, for once, this spark of creativity turned out to hurt, not help, the recipe. But if you try it, and it turns out good, please post your recipe and let me know what you did differently!
Beer Mac & Cheese
- 2 ½ cups uncooked small pasta (I just used macaroni noodles)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 8 ounces milk
- 8 ounces beer (I used Yuengling)
- 8 ounces freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 ounces gouda, grated (I used mozzerella)
- ½ cup romano cheese, grated
- ¼ teaspoon paprika (left this out!)
- pinch of black pepper
- pinch of nutmeg (left this out!)
- ½ cup Panko bread crumbs
- handful chopped parsley, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 375.
Boil pasta, but let cook a few minutes less than usual, since the pasta will continue to cook in the oven.
Heat up a saucepan over med. high heat and add butter. Once the butter melts and is sizzling, whisk in the flour to create a roux. (I had to look up what this means! Shame on me!). Cook the roux until it's bubbly and golden. This will take about two minutes.
Add milk and beer and whisk constantly! The add gouda (or mozzarella in my case) and cheddar. Mind you, these are shredded. Stir them in until melted.
Turn the heat down to medium and keep whisking, for about 5-6 minutes, to thicken the mix. It will look like this...
or this, with flash :)
It will not thicken to anything that looks like regular mac & cheese because of the beer, but it will thicken a little bit.
Stir in pepper, paprika and nutmeg.
Drain your pasta and add it to a casserole dish.
Pour the cheese mix over top and mix it gently to combine.
Top with bread crumbs, some more pepper and sprinkle with romano cheese.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until bubbly and golden on top.
Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, top with fresh parsley.
Let me know if you followed the recipe exactly and it worked really well! Or if you changed something and it worked! Or if you kept it just like I did it and you loved it!
Happy cooking!
This recipe is from: http://www.livelovepasta.com/2011/09/beer-mac-n-cheese/
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