Hunger Games: Potato Soup with Soda Bread

I told you this whole week was going to be Hunger Games, so I made a whole meal that I feel like reflects the series relatively well.

I was originally going to make this meal during St. Patrick's Day week, but I decided to wait since I already had enough food to last a whole week. And when I thought about it, this meal is kind of rustic and reminds me of something you'd find in District 12. It seemed fitting to me, I mean, most of the districts are poor, and they made do with what they have. It isn't a fancy meal, or an expensive one, but it produces a lot of food. Also, just think of buying that big loaf of soda bread from the Mellark's bakery. It turns out a little crusty on the outside but really soft on the inside - delicious. And most of the ingredients in the soup are vegetables I would imagine you could get in the Hob if you swapped the rabbits you just killed for them.

First, the soup originally comes from MyRecipes.com. I added 1 can of vegetable stock to replace one of the cans of chicken stock and my soup turned out to be a brown color as opposed to the typical white colored potato soup, but I felt like that made it more rustic looking. And I would imagine in Panem vegetable stock would be easier to come by.

District 12 Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 3 leeks, sliced
• 3 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 can vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Optional Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, crumbled cooked bacon, chopped fresh chives
• Preparation
• 1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat; stir in onion and leek. Cover and cook 20 minutes. Stir in potato; cover and cook 15 minutes. Stir in broth, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until potato is tender. Remove from heat, and cool slightly.
  2. Process soup in batches in a blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides; return to saucepan, and cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated. Serve with desired toppings.
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  Now, for the soda bread. It is so delicious I can't even explain to you. It has this kind of sweet taste, and I'm thoroughly planning on dunking it into the soup. I can see Peeta now baking up something like this. The recipe originally came from AllRecipes.com.
  
  
  Mellark's Bakery Soda Bread
  
  
  Ingredients
  
  
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup margarine, softened
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  
  
  Preparation
  
  
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes.

  
  

  
  

  You could finish the entire meal off with sugar cookies from the Mellark bakery. Of course they say "The Hunger Games," "Team Katniss" and "Team Peeta." If you're from District 12 you have to show support for your tributes. They aren't decorated so that they look rustic, too. The recipe is the same one I used for the St. Paddy's cookies. Except I added a teaspoon of almond extract into these.

  
  

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  • Does this all make me a huge dork? Yes, I believe it does.

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake with Bailey’s Buttercream

This was the best homemade cake I have ever made. It's totally from scratch and just super super easy. I think this would be really good all year around, personally, but I know it has the Irish booze in it so it only makes sense that you would make it around St. Patrick's Day.

In the recipe, it calls for Bailey's in the frosting, I totally just used Emmett's. There's no need to splurge on the good stuff. Then again, you will have a lot left over, so get what you like, I guess. Guinness in a cake sounds gross, I know, but trust me, my coworkers were raving about this cake. So delish.

The recipe has you stacking the cake for a layered round cake, but I just kept them seperate and brought one to work and kept one for myself. They are thinner that way too so no one feels too guilty getting seconds.

The original recipe is from the blog Global Table Adventure (they have pictures that go with the recipe):

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake with Bailey's Buttercream

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup Guinness Extra Stout
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs

For the buttercream:

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2-4 Tbsp Bailey’s, as needed

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. In a small saucepan, melt butter and whisk together with Guinness, vanilla extract and cocoa. Remove from heat.

3. While the Guinness mixture is cooling, grease and line 2 eight inch cake pans with parchment paper. Next, whisk together the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking soda). Pour the Guinness mixture onto the dry ingredients, then whisk in the 2 eggs.

4. When the batter is shiny and smooth, pour evenly into two prepared cake pans. Lick the bowl when no one is looking.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

6. Meanwhile make the buttercream by whipping together the softened butter and sugar in a standing mixer, then adding in just enough Bailey’s to get it loose and fluffy. The key to white frosting is to whip it a long time – the longer you whip it, the whiter it will become. I whipped this for 5-10 minutes. I just poured some Irish cream in. It's to your own taste, this recipe says 3 Tablespoons should be enough.

7. Once the cakes are done baking, cool completely.

8. Now, assemble the cake. But be very sure it's cool, if you try to ice it when it's warm it will get all crumbly and part of it will stick in the icing and it won't be pretty.

Mini Stout Pies and colcannon

Happy St. Patrick's Day, almost. Today I decided to make mini stout pies to bring to work for dinner and then colcannon as the side dish. Colcannon is just a traditional potato dish with greens and butter basically. It was super easy to make.

The mini pies are delicious, but you have to make sure you have a way to to cute out an 8 inch circle. I mean, most people probably have 8 inch circle cookie cutters but I do not. So, I had to use the lid of a glass which was probably like 4 inches maybe. That caused my pies to be tiny, like appetizer sized. I don't mind that, I actually really like finger foods and tiny pie-like-things. Unfortunately, the recipe calls for just one box of refrigerated pie dough. If you are going to make tiny appetizers, you'll need two boxes instead. I still have a bunch of meat and veggie filling left because I wasn't aware of this. I mean, the filling is good so I'm still probably going to eat it was potatoes or something, but if you are going to have a St. Paddy's Day party these would be adorable additions in the tiny size.

Also, next time I make them, and there probably will be a next time, I would brush part of egg mixture over the little pies to give them a golden color. They were lacking that. It doesn't diminish the taste, but it looks really yummy.

The colcannon is super easy to make, really really easy. It's like mashed potatoes but with more veggies, so it's a little healthier than just mashed potatoes. It's a nice new twist.

Here's the recipe, I originally got this from Pillsbury, but it comes from Inspired Taste:



Mini Stout Pies

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 oz lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup diced onions

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup Green Giant® frozen sweet peas, thawed

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3/4 cup stout beer

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

Directions

1 In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add beef; season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook 3 to 5 minutes until browned, stirring frequently to break up beef. Add onions and carrot; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in peas, thyme and garlic; cook 1 minute.

2 Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in tomato paste. Add flour; cook and stir 1 minute. Add beer; cook and stir 1 minute or until beer thickens. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and sugar. Season to taste with additional salt. Remove from heat; cool 10 minutes.

3 Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with foil.

4 Unroll pie crusts on work surface. Using 4-inch round cookie cutter, cut 8 crust rounds. Or if you are making the appetizer version, as many as you can with two boxes of pie crust (4 crusts in all.)

5 In small bowl, beat egg and water with fork until well blended. Brush small amount of egg mixture around edge of each crust round.

6 Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons cooled beef mixture onto half of each crust round. Fold untopped crust over beef mixture (pies will be full). Press edges with fork to seal. With knife, cut 3 small slits in tops. Place on cookie sheet.

7 Bake 18 to 24 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

If you’re not a fan of beer, substitute with beef-flavored broth - But then you have Guinness leftover to drink, so the beer is totally worth it.

To reduce the fat in the pies, replace the beef with ground chicken or turkey.

Here's the colcannon, originally from Simply Recipes:

Colcannon Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 25 minutes

For a variation, sub out half of the potatoes with parsnips. Can add chives, leeks, or bacon too.

Ingredients

• 4 russet potatoes (2 to 2 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into large chunks
• Salt
• 5-6 Tbsp unsalted butter (with more butter for serving)
• 3 lightly packed cups of chopped kale, cabbage, chard, or other leafy green
• 3 green onions (including the green onion greens), minced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup milk or cream

Method

1 Put the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Add 2 tablespoons of salt, and bring to a boil. Boil until the potatoes are fork tender (15 to 20 minutes). Drain in a colander.

2 Return the pot to the stove and set over medium-high heat. Melt the butter in the pot and once it's hot, add the greens. Cook the greens for 3-4 minutes, or until they are wilted and have given off some of their water. Add the green onions and cook 1 minute more.

3 Pour in the milk or cream, mix well, and add the potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium. Use a fork or potato masher and mash the potatoes, mixing them up with the greens. Add salt to taste and serve hot, with a knob of butter in the center.

Slainte!

It's the week of St. Patrick's Day, and I have decided to theme all of my posts from today until the 17th about St. Paddy's. If you were unaware, "slainte" is said in Ireland as we say cheers. It literally means health. I love it, my boyfriend is very, very Irish, and is the first person to make me aware of this word and its usage and everything, so I decided to try and be authentic this year. The first recipe I made wasn't authentic but I used authentic phrases! Well....mostly authentic phrases. I made some sugar cookies with the words "slainte," "Graim Thu" (I love you), "Kiss me I'm Irish," "Erin Go Bragh," and "Happy St. Patrick's Day."

I made these sugar cookies earlier this week with the help of my brand new, super cute cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma. They are called Message-in-a-cookie Cutters and although they are kind of difficult to use, I think they are totally worth it. They allow you to make your own phrases to put into the cookies, and they turn out really well. The hard part is getting the little tiles into the cookie cutters provided. I ended up just using the cookie cutters and then pressing the little tiles in by hand because it took so long to slide them in. It didn't actually take long though, so I am still a happy camper.

Here's the sugar cookie recipe I used. The blog Fictional Foods is so fun, and since I'm a complete dork I am totally going to try basically all of them. I am going to make these cookies again for the Hunger Games since that's what she made them for, but I decided, since St. Patrick's Day is sooner than the HG premier, I'd try them out for this first.

Sweethearts

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large egg

Instructions

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
2. Add vanilla extract and egg and mix thoroughly.
3. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to butter mixture slowly.
4. Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper and roll the dough out. Dip the cookie cutter in flour to keep it from sticking and cut your cookies, using the leftover dough to roll again.
5. Press names or messages into cookies.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees until done.
7. Cool on rack and enjoy!

Rice Bowl with Mushroom Gravy and Kale

This is the second all-vegetarian recipe I've tried and honestly, the first turned out so bland and seriously not good. I ended up throwing in all the vegetables from it into my stir fry I made this week. The couscous and yogurt sauce from the attempt had to be tossed. In my defense, there wasn't very much left of it, I tried to eat it...OK I forced myself to eat it. I just couldn't do it anymore. If I'm going to eat I want it to taste good at least.

This second one turned out so so well though! I actually achieved a successful gravy/ vegetarian dish all in one! Oh She Glows had this beautiful recipe, I actually adapted it a bit. Oh She Glows uses millet as the grain, but I have no idea what that is so I just used the left over brown rice from the stir fry. Stir fry was a life saver this week apparently. Anyway, the mushroom gravy could be put over anything from pasta to quinoa, your choice.

Rice Bowl with Mushroom Gravy and Kale

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice (use package instructions)
• 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped sweet onion (1 medium onion)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups sliced crimini mushrooms (300 grams)
• 1.5 tbsp minced fresh rosemary
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (found at a health food store)
• 1.5 tbsp low-sodium tamari (soy sauce)
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 & 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 cup fresh chopped kale, stems removed
• Freshly ground black pepper & kosher salt, to taste

1. Make the rice according to the instructions on the package. You can have it cooking while you make the gravy, or you can make minute rice and just set it aside.

2. Meanwhile, grab a large skillet and heat oil over medium heat. Add in chopped onions and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté for about 12 minutes longer, stirring as necessary. Now stir in the rosemary, nutritional yeast, and tamari. Cook for a few minutes.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the broth and cornstarch until clumps are gone, and then stir into the mushroom mixture. Stir in kale. Cook for another 5-6 minutes or so, until slightly thickened. Portion rice into two bowls and serve the mushroom gravy on top.

Stolen Kisses Cake Balls

I decided to name these cake balls that because that was the name of the nail polish I was wearing when I made them, and I didn't follow a Pinterest recipe this time, so I can name them whatever I want. They are a pretty pink so I thought kisses should be involved in the name.

These are the cheaters version of cake balls, no making from scratch here. I basically just used what I had in my cabinet to make them. I was being cheap and didn't want to go out and buy ingredients. You could make these with any store bought cake mixes and icings, and wither chocolate or almond bark on the outside. Then you could put sprinkles on them or drizzle white chocolate on the chocolate.

Stolen Kisses Cake Ball

1 box store-bought strawberry cake mix

1 can store-bought strawberry icing

1 bag bittersweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon Crisco

1. Bake the cake according to the package directions in whatever size pan you see fit.

2. Let the cake cool and then put it in a large bowl and start to crumble it up.

3. Mix in the icing until all of the crumbs have been coated.

4. Roll the mixture into balls with your hands, or you can use a melon baller to do this.

5. Set them on baking sheets that are covered in aluminum foil and stick them in the refrigerator. If they don't harden they will be impossibly to put chocolate or almond butter over. Leave them in for about an hour or over night if you want.

6. When you are ready to take them out, melt your chocolate in a bowl in the microwave along with a tablespoon full of Crisco. Stir until it's smooth.

7. Put your cake balls into the chocolate use a spoon and be careful not to burn your fingers on the chocolate, it'll be pretty hot.

8. When they are covered put them back into the refrigerator to set. They should stay in there for at least an hour, or overnight.

Then, enjoy! They are delicious!

Lent: Homemade Soft Pretzels

These little soft pretzels are possibly the best snacks ever. And the don't involve meat, so they kind of fit in the Lent category. They would be perfect for tailgates, sports gatherings, appetizers, road trips or just to have around the house to snack on. The process is simple enough, just a bit time consuming, but they come out so well that it is completely and utterly worth it.

Want to hear the best part? You can customize them if you want! I made these with a friend and we brainstormed different ways to make them unique. Here are our ideas for variations, and then the recipe will follow. If these don't work out perfectly don't be mad at me, I haven't tried them all yet.

Pizza

Add garlic powder and parmesan to the egg wash mixture. You could sprinkle the top with any cheese you'd like (I'd go with mozzarella or parmesan) before putting them into the oven. Provide pizza sauce for dipping them into and possibly even pepperonis that you can stick onto them.

Amusement park or ball park

Make them exactly the same but provide nacho cheese sauce for dipping

Italian

Add garlic powder and grated Romano cheese to the egg wash mixture. Provide olive oil with pepper in it to dip them in.

Greek

Add garlic powder and feta to the egg was mixture. Provide Tzatziki sauce to dip them into. Or I guess you could dip them in hummus.

Dessert

If you use butter instead of egg and then sprinkle the whole thing with cinnamon, you can have a sweet pretzel!

I know some of that sounds weird. These are delicious with just the Kosher salt on top, so there's no need to fiddle with them, but if you are having a themed party some of that might be cool.

Here's the recipe from Pennies on a Platter:

Homemade Soft Pretzels

4 Tablespoons butter, melted 1 Tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for topping 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees F) 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast 22 ounces (about 4 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour Vegetable oil (nonstick) spray, for pan and bowl 10 cups water 2/3 cups baking soda 1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 Tablespoon water (for egg wash) In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, sugar, salt and water. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Add the flour and mix with the dough hook attachment on low speed. Once the dough comes together, increase the speed to medium and mix for another 4 to 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl, wipe the bowl and then spray with the vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, turning once to cover both sides with the oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for approximately 45-50 minutes, or until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray with vegetable oil; set aside. Bring the 10 cups of water to a boil in a large sauce pan or stock pot, then add the baking soda. Meanwhile, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface or pastry mat. Divide into 8 equal large pieces (about 4.5 oz each) or 30 small pieces (about 1.2 oz each) and shape into balls. Roll each dough ball into a rope (24 inches long for the large pretzels or 10-12 inches long if making the smaller pretzels.) Holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other, twist one turn, then press onto the center of the rope, to form a pretzel shape. Place onto the parchment lined baking sheets. Working with one to two pretzels at a time, boil each pretzel for 30 seconds. Use a large slotted spoon or spatula to remove from the water and return to the pan. Brush the top of each pretzel with the egg wash then sprinkle with kosher or pretzel salt. Bake in the preheated oven until dark golden brown (approximately 12 to 14 minutes for 8 large pretzels, or 10 to 12 minutes for 30 small pretzels.) Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes before serving. Recipe Note: If you do not plan to consume pretzels the same day, then I would suggest freezing them immediately after they hit room temperature. The more fresh they are when you freeze them, the better. Throw them in a freezer bag and freeze up to 1 month. Reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes (until heated through). This is what I do, and they taste just as fresh!

Lent: Skinny Macaroni and Cheese Soup with Broccoli

Happy Lent! Every Friday I am going to try to make a meatless or seafood recipe since I can't have meat those days and I feel like I've been relying heavily on dead animals to carry my recipes recently. I'm going to try to change that up, and here's the first one to try out.

This recipe came from SkinnyTaste.com and is the first time that I've ever made a soup. I know that pasta is actually just a carb and should probably be avoided, but I used whole wheat pasta so I tried to make it a little better for you. Besides, you need carbs every once in a while and think of this recipe as a nice substitute for the all-around fattening mac and cheese. This recipe has some vegetables not found in typical comfort food, but they are disguised well in a pool of cheesy goodness. I was a fan of this recipe if you couldn't tell.

If you serve this with a salad you could have an easy complete meal. I doubled it and that would've been enough for a family, for me it's enough for a week.

Skinny Macaroni and Cheese Soup with Broccoli

Ingredients:

• 4 oz dry elbow macaroni (I like Ronzoni Smart Taste)
• 1 1/2 cups onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp light butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 1/2 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 cup fat free milk
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• salt and fresh pepper to taste
• 2 cups (about 10 oz) broccoli florets, chopped into small pieces
• 1-1/2 cups 2% shredded sharp cheddar
• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Boil pasta in salted water according to package directions for al dente. Drain and set aside.

Chop onion, carrot, celery, garlic by hand or mini food processor.

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt light butter. Add chopped vegetables and sauté on low heat until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add flour and fresh pepper to the pot and stir until smooth. Slowly add chicken broth, milk, nutmeg and dry mustard powder; whisking constantly. Set heat to medium-high until it comes to a boil. Cover and cook on low about 10-15 minutes.

Add broccoli florets, Parmesan cheese, and stir well. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Cook uncovered until broccoli is cooked, about 5 minutes or more to your liking.

Add cheddar, mixing well until cheese melts and immediately remove from heat. Add cooked elbows and mix well, adjust salt and pepper if needed. Eat right away so the pasta doesn't absorb all the broth.

Macaroni and Beef with Cheese

Essentially, what I made was Hamburger Helper without the box. The recipe came from Michael Ruhlman's blog and it is actually incredibly simple. I used a box of those rigatoni whole wheat noodles instead of macaroni because I'm cheap and didn't want to buy more pasta. If I make this again, I'll probably just use actually macaroni. Also, I would change the recipe to add some cheese right into the mixture instead of just on top. I'd mix it in before you bake it.

I have really tiny pots and pans apparently, so cooking gets difficult when I am supposed to put large amounts of ingredients into one pot. As a result, I didn't let the meat and tomato and spices simmer for an hour. That would have greatly enhanced the taste. And don't be afraid to add spices to the meat and then the tomato mixture to simmer. It'll soak in. I neglected to do this and everything turned out a little bland. One full box of mac is going to be too much but if you make the whole thing you can put as much as you want in without over doing it, and then make a cold pasta salad with the rest. That's what I did. I'll include that recipe next.

I bet this could be made a little healthier my using the whole wheat pasta, low fat cheese and ground turkey. You could also add other veggies in besides just an onion if you wanted.

Simple Macaroni and Beef with Cheese

1 large onion, diced

1 tablespoon canola oil

salt to taste

optional seasonings: black pepper, oregano, cumin, coriander, chopped garlic, hot smoked paprika, chilli powder—whatever you’re in the mood for (I just used black pepper, garlic and a tablespoon of fish sauce, which gives it depth)

one 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, pureed in the can with a hand blender or in a blender blender

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 box macaroni

1 cup each grated cheddar and mozzarella cheeses

Sweat the onions in the oil with a three-fingered pinch of salt. Add the beef and cook it, breaking it up as you do. (Because my beef was very fatty, I cooked it separately and added it to the pot along with the tomatoes. Also an option, but uses an extra pan.) Add another three-fingered pinch of salt or two, along with any dry seasonings you want. Add the tomatoes and any fresh seasonings you may be using, bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook for an hour.

Cook the macaroni in boiling water till it’s half done. Drain it andadd it to the tomatoes. (I wanted this to stretch into two meals, so I used the whole box, but if you want your dish to be very tomatoey and beefy, you might want to add only half the macaroni). Stir it into the sauce. Taste it. Add more salt and other seasonings as needed, and cover. When it’s cooled and the pasta has absorbed the tomato juices, transfer it to a large baking dish and cover it with foil. It can sit out for several hours like this, be refrigerated for up to two days, or frozen a few weeks.

Sweat the onions in the oil with a three-fingered pinch of salt. Add the beef and cook it, breaking it up as you do. (Because my beef was very fatty, I cooked it separately and added it to the pot along with the tomatoes. Also an option, but uses an extra pan.) Add another three-fingered pinch of salt or two, along with any dry seasonings you want. Add the tomatoes and any fresh seasonings you may be using, bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook for an hour.

Bake it in a 400 degree oven till it’s piping hot (about 45 minutes if it’s cold to room temperature). Just before you’re ready to eat, remove the foil, cover macaroni with the cheese and broil till it looks beautiful.