Spicy Mac-n-Cheese, Chocolate Lasagna and Spring Salads

Though this blog has only been around a few months, we've actually been doing Girl's Dinner Nights for close to 3 years. We try to remember all the meals we've made with some accuracy,or make some again because they were so darn good the first time.  That's how we decided to make Spicy Mac-n-Cheese. I made it about 6 months ago, and it was SO great and easy, I couldn't fathom why I'd never made it before. Stephanie and Sabrina love the hot stuff, and so do I to a lesser, more apt to heartburn from it  extent, so I decided to make this one spicy. Chocolate lasagna doesn't have any pasta, don't worry. But it was an absolutely delicious and decadent dessert that I couldn't stay out of for days.

Spicy Mac-n-Cheese

-1/2 lb. elbow macaroni

-3 large eggs

-1 can evaporated milk

 -1 t. cayenne pepper

-1 jalapeno seeded and diced

-1/8 t. ground nutmeg

-1 1/2  cups grated jalapeno jack

-1/2 cup grated monterey jack cheese

-1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

-sriracha sauce

Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cook macaroni 6 minutes ( it will be slightly under-cooked). In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and evaporated milk. Add 1/2 t. salt, cayenne, nutmeg , jalapenos and cheeses, mix well. Add macaroni and stir well to combine. Transfer to a sprayed 9-inch glass baking pan and bake 15 minutes until slightly browned and bubbly at edges. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving. Garnish with sriracha as desired.

You will weep with happiness, and also because your mouth is  on fire, in a good way. =)







Spring Side Salad

-Spring Greens
-Sliced red onions
- Whole salted almonds
-Cucumbers
-Raspberry Poppy seed dressing

- Combine in bowls and top with dressing

This salad is a great way to ease the spice of the Mac-n-Cheese ;)

Chocolate Lasagna

• 1 package regular Oreo cookies 
• 6 Tablespoon butter, melted
• 1- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cold milk
• 1- 12 ounce tub Cool Whip, divided
• 2 – 3.9 ounce packages Chocolate Instant Pudding.
• 3 1/4 cups cold milk
• 1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Begin by crushing 36 Oreo cookies. I used my food processor for this, but you could also place them in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. When the Oreos have turned into fine crumbs, you are done.

1. Transfer the Oreo crumbs to a large bowl. Stir in 6 tablespoons melted butter and use a fork to incorporate the butter into the cookie crumbs. When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator while you work on the additional layers.
2. Mix the cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add in 2 Tablespoons of milk, and sugar, and mix well. Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups Cool Whip. Spread this mixture over the crust.
3. In a bowl, combine chocolate instant pudding with 3 and 1/4 cups cold milk. Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken. Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the previous cream cheese layer. Allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes so that the pudding can firm up further.
4. Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top. Place in the freezer for 1 hour, or the refrigerator for 4 hours before serving.
5. *Adapted from http://centercutcook.com/

This is the absolute best way to satisfy a major chocolate craving. Layer upon layer of whipped cream and creamy chocolate. Plus, it has Oreo cookies. Yeah, Enough said.

So once again, we wrapped up the night talking about how even though we've been doing these almost weekly for years, we still are coming up with new fun dinner night ideas. So I guess we'll have to do these until the end of time, because there are an infinite amount of new things out there to make!

Tonight's menu: Chicken Wild Rice Soup, Popovers and Spring Green, Wasabi Almonds and Craisin Salad

There are three main elements that are of the essense when planning a Girl's Dinner Night:

#1: A good menu. Every week after our satisfying and amazing dinner, we chat about what to make the next week. In the two years we've been doing this, we've only had a few duplicates. But not because we're not super creative ladies, because we wanted quiche again or pizza. Who doesn't, right?

#2: Everyone brings a dish that fits the theme, and you take turns doing the main courses to fit whomever has the most time or ambition each week. Or a very bustling social calender, etc. etc.  You also rotate houses, for a change of scenery, or a premium cable show's availability, for example.

#3: An earnest desire to forget about the work week, and or bitch about it a bit, and drink a beer or glass of wine with your delightful friends. Your cooking improves, your social skills improve, and you have a 65% less chance of going postal at work because you're feeling much more grounded after a night of Thai food and cheesecake. Hey, it's science folks, I can't make these statistics up.

 Dinner night is fun, and we proclaim every week we're so excited for next week's creations. We've also been saying that our dinner night's are very worthy of a blog, so we've finally started one.

This week's menu consisted of Chicken Wild Rice Soup, Popovers and a Spring Green and Crasin salad that is an awesome side dish. It was perfect timing, because the day ended up chilly, and soup and bread were just what the doctor ordered.

Main Course: By Kala

 

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

-2 cups cooked chicken, diced

-2 cups wild rice, cooked ( u use a crock pot and it cooks very well within 2 hours)

-3 cups chicken stock

-1 medium onion, chopped

-2/3 cup flour

-1 cup cream of mushroom soup

-3 cups milk

-2 cups swiss cheese, shredded

-1 cup diced carrots

-1 cup diced celery

-2 bay leaves

- 1/4 cup parsley

 

-Directions: In a large  soup pot melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, celery and bay leaf, and cook until onion is translucent, about 7 minutes. Add chicken, mushroom soup  and carrots and cook another 5 minutes. Add wild rice and broth, and cook 15 minutes, do not boil. In a small pan heat milk until warm and whisk in flour, after combined stir into soup and cook another 10 minutes, stirring often. reduce heat to low and stir in swiss cheese, salt, pepper and parsley before serving.

 

 

Hearty wild rice soup is the best on a chilly day. It reminds you that winter and fall aren't so bad, because hey, there's soup!

 

 

 

Meaty chunks of chicken and  wild rice and a creamy cheesy base, this is my favorite wild rice soup recipe I've ever made, and I've tried a lot of them

 

 

 

Side Dish #1:By Sabrina

 

Popovers:

 



Popovers are a delicious and easy flaky delight you can make from ingredients which are common household staples:

 

-3 Eggs

-1 Cup flour

-1 Cup milk (2% or whole work best)

-1/4 tsp salt
-1 tablespoon melted butter

-2 tablespoons chilled butter.

 

*If you do not have a popover pan, you can use a muffin tin, - they just turn out smaller and slightly more dense.(and will make 12 instead of 6)  If your popover pan is not non-stick, make sure to spray with some PAM or grease. 

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.

Once oven is warm, place the pan (empty) in the oven for about 2 minutes to warm. 

Mix together all ingredients except for the chilled butter.

Cut the chilled butter into 6 even pieces.

Remove pan from oven and place each pad of butter in each one of the cups.  Place pan back in oven for about a minute or until butter bubbles.

Pour the batter in the popover cups (about 1/2 full for each one).

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes

After 20 minutes REDUCE HEAT TO 325.  Bake an additional 15-20 minutes. 

 

 

This is us being impatient and peeking at the popovers... Hurry up!!!

 



 

These hollow goodies can be served with a pat of butter inside which melts all around the center of the roll, or experiment and stuff them with other treats (like cheese!) Or marshmallows, or ice cream, or jelly... We came up with several hundred things that would be good inside popovers.

 

Side dish #2: By Stephanie

 

Spring Greens Salad with Craisins and Wasabi Almonds

(3 servings)

 

- 3 cups spring greens

-  1/2 cup chopped red onion

-1/2 cup blue cheese

-1/2 cup craisins

-1/2 cup wasabi almonds

- raspberry viniagrette

Directions: distrubute ingredients evenly  over three plates and add dressing to taste.

 



 

 

An awesome, flavorful accompaniment to a hearty fall meal. In the immortal words of girl's dinner night, "We win!" it was a successful and delicious dinner night.

 

Next week's menu: Brinner, it's what's for dinner! Homemade pancakes, Breakfast fries, Mimosa's, and probably something else... Stay tuned!