Thanks to the Boston Brunchers I got a chance to have a delightful meal with several other parent bloggers and meet Katie Workman, who’s just released the Mom 100 Cookbook.
There is so much to like about this cookbook. I know pictures in cookbooks are a big deal for a lot of us. There’s a picture of EVERY recipe in here. And Katie (we’re on a first name basis now) builds the whole book around specific kinds of meals a Mom needs. There are 20 categories of meals, with 5 recipes each. She also gives recommendations for “fork in the road” meals, where you can separate the blander kid-style meal from the more complex adult-style meal. Because who wants to eat boring kids food?
When I flip through a cookbook, if I think about a third of the recipes are interesting it’s worth a purchase. But with this one, I wanted to make tons of the recipes. I expect it’ll provide our meals for the next few weeks.
The first recipe I decided to make was an easy choice: One Skillet Cheesy Beef and Macaroni. Yes, it’s “kid” food. But I have a serious soft spot for one-pot meals with meat, cheese and pasta. What can I say? I find that these recipes can be hit and miss. Some pasta bakes are tasteless. Others are inexplicably wonderful (Mark Bittman’s baked ziti, for example, doesn’t look like anything special but I adore it). This recipe takes a different approach. Instead of a bake, you keep the whole thing on the stovetop in your skillet.
Given the state of my kitchen, I like to use as few dishes as possible. So I was all in.
Right off the bat I was pleased to see 3 cups of veggies in this recipe.
She calls for onion, pepper and carrot. I had some extra celery in the pantry so I threw that in, too. You could easily add leeks. Or some zucchini and yellow squash, letting them saute for just a minute or two. Or peas and corn, you could toss a pack of frozen ones in just as you add the tomatoes. With this kind of recipe, depending on how picky your eaters are, you can chop bigger or smaller pieces and change out veggies as needed.
She also uses a 12″ skillet. My biggest skillet isn’t that big so I decided to use my giant go-to pan instead. It was a good choice. She’s not kidding about this recipe making a large amount.
Once you’re done chopping your veggies, this recipe is easy peasy. Brown your meat, saute your veggies, add everything together for a simmer, then top with cheese until it’s all melty. You don’t even have to cook the pasta in a separate pot!
When I was all finished it looked like this:
Hello, cheesy goodness!
Compare that to the picture from the book:
Not bad, eh? I love that it looks the way it’s supposed to look. I often find the pictures in cookbooks look nothing like my finished product.
I have to say, I gobbled this down. It had a lot more flavor than I expected. I suspect the secret is the chili powder, which she lists as optional, but which I added even though I’m not a big chili powder person. Plus letting everything simmer together meant the flavors all soaked together nicely. I didn’t get to add the worcestershire sauce (there wasn’t any in my fridge, how did that happen?) but I’m sure it would make a nice addition, too.
This is definitely going to be a standard in our house.
Stay tuned for some more recipe reviews from the Mom 100 Cookbook over the next week or two. I’m really excited to try more of the recipes.
She uses lots of pantry staples, which I love. And at least with this recipe there was plenty of room to adjust. I added a liberal dousing of creole seasoning, as I am wont to do. I was short on tomatoes and I had a little more beef, but it all turned out great anyway. I honestly don’t know how anyone could NOT love this simple dish.
Here’s my adapted version of the recipe, based on what I had on hand in the kitchen.
2.5 lbs ground beef
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp chili powder
3/4 lb macaroni
2 c. water
salt, pepper, creole seasoning to taste
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar
As I said before, the work is easy. Brown your beef, drain and wipe down your pan. Saute veggies in the oil for about 5 minutes on Medium heat. Add all other ingredients except cheese. Raise heat until it reaches a simmer, then lower heat and cook covered for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add cheese on top, cook covered for 1 minute or until cheese is melty.
Devour.
