One-Pot Mac & Cheese

I've tried a couple different one-pot mac & cheese recipes, and this one is my favorite so far. A lot of other recipes use powdered or evaporated milk, which I don't usually have on hand. This one just uses milk, which we always have on hand.

What you need:
2 cups elbow noodles
2 1/4 cups skim milk
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1 heaping cup of shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

Steps:
1. Put milk, butter, salt, and noodles into a pan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring often until milk starts to boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes, stirring very often.
3. Once almost all of the milk has been absorbed, test the pasta. Add more milk and keep cooking if the pasta isn't done yet. For whatever reason, I had to add quite a bit more milk. But I didn't measure how much I added...surprise, surprise.
4. Once the pasta is done, add the cheese and stir until melted.

The one-pot method is a little deceiving, because you can easily make mac & cheese using a single pot without boiling the noodles in the milk. Cooking the noodles this way just makes the mac & cheese extra cheesy, though it does take extra time.

Recipe from Bakestravaganza.

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Thai Peanut Noodles

What you need (again, not much measuring here. Just throw stuff in until the ratio looks good to you.): 
spaghetti, enough for 2
red bell pepper, diced
peanuts, chopped
green onions, chopped
edemame

For the chicken & peanut simmer sauce*:
cooking oil 
chicken (I used a pound), cut up into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp Thai sweet red chili sauce
2 tbsp water
*I only used about 1/2 pound of chicken for the pasta (for 2 people). If you have leftovers, use them in a Thai Peanut Chicken Salad.

Steps:
1. Heat the oil in a pan, and start to cook the chicken
2. Mix up all the simmer sauce ingredients
3. When the chicken is getting close to done, add the peanut sauce (save just a little), peppers, peanuts, onions, and edemame
4. While you're cooking the chicken, cook the pasta in a different pan
5. When the pasta is done, add it to the pan with the chicken and add the rest of the peanut sauce. Stir it all together.

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Easy Spicy Sausage Pasta

Before I tell you about this recipe, I should note that can't handle much spice at all--so when I say that this recipe was really spicy and I still liked it, it will probably be fine for you.

The beauty of this recipe is that it's easy and you can do it all in one pan. I found it on Pinterest, and it's originally from Amanda at KevinandAmanda.com. She has some great step-by-step pictures to go with her recipe.

What you need:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb (or approx) sausage, cut up. I used smoked turkey.
8 oz pasta
I used small shells
1 can ro-tel (the tomatoes with the green chilies in them---I used mild)
2 cups chicken or beef broth (I didn't have quite enough but it was fine)
1/2 cup cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
some diced green onions

Heat up the olive oil in a skillet, then add the onion and the sausage. Brown the sausage, then add the garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds until the garlic turns white and fragrant.

Add the broth, cream, pasta, salt, pepper. Did you read me say add the pasta? You do not need to precook the pasta! :)

Bring everything to a boil, cover, lower heat, and let simmer for 15 minutes. The liquids should keep the pasta from sticking to your skillet.

Turn off the heat and remove the skillet from the heat. Mix in the cheese and top with the onions. You could also broil the whole thing for few minutes to brown the cheese, but I was too lazy for that step.

Next time I'm going to either switch out the cheese for mozzarella or switch out the ro-tel for regular tomatoes.

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