Recipe Monday

First off, thanks to all of you who have responded to my posts so far. Why you are emailing me directly, instead of leaving a message in the comments section, I don't know. Still, it's gratifying to make so many new "cyber pals". It's true, "There are no strangers, just friends you haven't met (and who you don't want dropping by unannounced)".

Since I still haven't wrapped my head around the whole "post images" thing, I thought I'd start a new weekly feature to this site: A cooking column!

I love to cook. Unfortunately, when I was still living single I really didn't have a chance to spread my creative cooking wings, since any major dish I made I would end up eating as leftovers for the next 3 to 5 days, which gets old after a while.

Now that I am married with children, things have changed. I now have a family to cook for. They however, enjoy things like "rice" and "vegetables", which goes against my cheese-fat-fried-meat-salty dietary guidelines. A lot of my more inspired dishes go unappreciated.

That being said, here is my favorite recipe. Inspired by the brilliant cooking writer, Al Sicherman, a columnist for the Minneapolis Star & Tribune, whose book, "Caramel Knowledge", is out of print, but well worth tracking down. Once you try his "Glop Topped Cookies", you'll thank me.

Al  has a similar recipe to mine in his book, but I tweaked it around and made it much better (Sorry, Al). I call it:

BILL'S BOWL OF CHEESY HAMMY GOODNESS

• 1 7.25 oz. box of commercial mac & cheese, prepared according to package directions.

• Butter, melted

• Plenty of chopped up ham. (You daring souls can try chopped up chicken, or really, any kind of meat you like. I'm not here to judge.)

• A pile of cheese crackers, smashed into crumbs. (I like Cheese-Its™, but Goldfish™ are good, too.)

• Shredded Cheese, a bunch.

• ¥ellow Mustard. This is important.

Pour the prepared mac & cheese into a greased (or Pam'ed) 8x8 casserole. Stir in a couple squirts of mustard to taste (Not too much!). Combine the smashed cheese crackers and the cheese and spread over the surface of the mac & cheese. Take the melted butter and drizzle over the whole thing. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 t0 30 minutes, then run it under the broiler for a minute or two until it's a delightful golden brown. Spoon out and enjoy.

There are endless variations on this recipe. It's your choice what kind of seasonings you use, for example. I like garlic powder, myself. It is a yummy dish, though, and it tastes even better when reheated the next day in the microwave. I don't know why, it just does. So enjoy.

If you would like more recipes next week let me know. Maybe my sister will share her Cool Whip™ Strawberry Pie recipe with us.

If, on the other hand, you'd like me to shut up and start posting images, well, I've already heard from you.