Super Easy Cheesy Homemade Mac & Cheese..from scratch!


1 box pasta (you can use any, here I used whatever I had leftover: half elbow + half rotini)
2 tbsp butter (salted is what I use)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dry parsley
3 tsp all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
2 cups cheese (any kind, I like cheddar/parmesan/mozzarella/whatever's on sale at Publix that week)


Boil pasta as per box instructions
in a separate saucepan on medium heat melt butter until completely dissolved. Add in flour one tsp at a time and continue to whisk. Once you see the flour has completely blended into the butter and has small bubbles coming up lower the heat and add in milk. Continue to stir slowly. Once the mixture thickens into a sauce consistency turn off the heat and add in cheese. Keep stirring. Sauce will thicken further as cheese melts into it. Add in all the spices to the sauce until they're completely dissolved. Put boiled pasta into a baking dish and pour cheese sauce over it, mix together well.
Optional: Top with breadcrumbs and bake for 10 mins on 400F.
More options: add in items like chopped onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, grilled chicken or cooked ground beef to make this a more hearty meal.

Quick and Super easy Chicken Pad Thai recipe

I probably spent 15 minutes on this recipe from start to finish and it came out tasting great!! 

Everything you should need is pictured above, except veggies can't forget those!!

Brown your ground meat. I used ground chicken you can substitute with ground turkey or beef.

Chop an onion and two cloves garlic

whisk an egg, fry and set aside. 

create your sauce

Done! Tip: cook the pad thai noodles at the very end and add in before serving. These cook extremely fast and start to break if left with sauce too long.

Pinterest Inspired Party!

At the beginning of February I held a lunch at my place for a couple of friends I've met in the few months since we've moved here. Between all our mini trips out of town and our two trips to NJ, I hadn't had a chance to invite anyone over and I took this as an opportunity to put to work some of the great party ideas I had been pinning on Pinterest. Also, since the Superbowl and Valentine's Day are February's two major occasions I figured I'd try to incorporate them in some way. 

My party was on Saturday before the Superbowl, but none of us girls really care much at all about football so the only way I chose to incorporate the Superbowl was in the menu. Superbowl parties are known to have some great appetizers and snacks that no one can resist, not even someone as apathetic towards football as myself! My two tributes to the Superbowl were cheeseburger sliders and buffalo chicken dip with pita chips. My friend Neda (who has a great makeup blog Here) made this AH-MAZING buffalo chicken dip for us a few times that I couldn't wait to try myself. It was really so simple to make and it's one of those snacks everyone keeps eating throughout the party. 

The rest of my party menu was: Cajun Shrimp Pasta (SO GOOD, I had none left!), Kale Quinoa Salad (which turned out amazing yet again. You know a salad is good when people willingly take it home with them!!), and bruschetta

Didn't have a chance to take a better picture of these

Now to include Valentine's Day into my party I tried my best not to go crazy on pink, red and hearts but its nearly impossible for me to not go overboard with anything. I tried to find sweet yet subtle items. For example, I made German chocolate cupcakes with a coconut vanilla frosting which I dyed pink using food coloring and I baked them in a silicon heart shaped cupcake pan I got from Target a few years ago, seen in this post. I also found some adorable items in the $1 section of Target which I couldn't resist. Like a small felt hearts banner, which was used as the backdrop to our photo booth. Instead of doing the usual sodas for drinks, I had (store bought) pink lemonade and put frozen berries to keep the drinks chilled. It was hard to keep away from all the overload of Valentine's day since I love themed parties SO much, but I realize just using a few themed ideas was a good way to go about it without seeming like cupid threw up all over everything.

'Pinspired' Ideas:

Mason Jars! I've been seeing these on Pinterest for a long while now, and I did my best to not fall into the trap of liking something just because it's popular, but seriously they are SO cute looking! They really added a chic feel to the party. By serving pink lemonade in them with a striped paper straw it caught everyone's attention since as something out of the normal soda in a glass way to serve drinks.  I got mine at Walmart 12 for $9 and the paper straws were from Target's party decor section, I think 20 for $2. 

Photobooth ideas are all over Pinterest. Originally I thought to make my own props, but when Target had a whole bag full of them for just $5, how could I turn it down? ;) I kept it simple with just a banner against our white wall and since we had a bunch of kids at the party, it kept them busy for a solid 15 minutes while we were able to take a gazillion adorable pictures of which maybe 3 came out nice. I liked this idea because it gave us something different to do than the usual munching and chatter without being too involved like playing organized games. 

Fruit Cones are such a simple yet fun way to make dessert look classy! Since I had some pretty heavy items on my lunch menu for the healthy eater I thought these fruit cones were a nice dessert alternative, plus the kids even liked how pretty they made the fruit look and were happy to snack on them.

Okay so I only partly tried to keep dessert healthy. Because when I saw these S'mores Brownies on Pinterest, all self control was lost. They were definitely a gluttonous addition to my dessert menu but one I do not regret. Ok maybe a little. Just imagine sweet gooey melted marshmallows sandwiched between a decadent chocolate brownie with a layer of crunchy graham cracker thrown in! I swear I have no self control. But they're SO worth trying!

bubbly, ooey, gooey marshmallow goodness!

Also, my husband is a Valentine's baby and as you may remember from my post last year I tend to get super cheesy with my ideas to celebrate his big day. So this year was no different. I turned to my beloved Pinterest for ways to surprise him. He grew up outside of America and is a HUGE fan of international chocolate bars. I'd seen some adorable cards using candy bars but I knew they wouldn't work for him since he's not really into Snickers, Mr Goodbar etc. I started leaving him little messages all week with chocolate bars attached, next to his keys or in his laptop bag and then on his actual birthday I gave him the card with a whole bunch added on. I forgot to take pictures of the ones from earlier in the week but it was something like 'Thanks for not being a FLAKE, you're an awesome husband and a great dad. We love you' and 'Hey Handsome, the AERO of my heart points to you!'

Now that Ali is old enough to understand birthdays, I had him make a present for his Baba too. Of course the idea was Pinterest inspired and it worked out pretty nicely. I bought poster paper and paintbrushes from the dollar store and Crayola washable paint from Target for $4, which we had LOADS of fun painting with in the bathtub afterwards. My advice is to practice the hand and footprint first on regular paper so you get the hang of it, before you attempt it on the actual poster. It was a fairly cheap craft with a result that looks so stinkin' adorable; we're planning to get a nice frame for it to put up in Ali's room.

Lastly, I tried to make these adorable strawberry roses and here is where the phrase "Pinterest Fail" comes to mind. They weren't as easy as they looked and definitely very time consuming. I was only able to get 3 done before I realized my husband wouldn't wait more than 3 seconds to devour them and he couldn't care less how his strawberries look, but he does love them dipped in chocolate! Lesson learned. I thought my plate looked cute and the hubster was certainly impressed with all of my creative attempts. 

Hope you guys enjoyed reading all these crazy Pinspired ideas I put to work and they've inspired you to try out some of your own! 

Recipe: Traditional Pakistani meat stew with potatoes - "Aloo Gosht Salan"

When you think "all-American", its usually quite easy to imagine the traditional meat loving individual. And while I look of Asian descent upon appearance (specifically Pakistani), I love a good juicy beef burger just as much as my fairer skinned Americans. I also enjoy my pizzas topped with the best meat lover's variety (100% beef, halal of course) and I can never turn down a hot dog smothered in mustard and ketchup! So, for the longest time I thought myself to be the average big beef loving American. Because, even at home when my mom cooked Pakistani meals, I always preferred the red meat dishes over the chicken ones. 

Here's where my Pakistani brethren can chime in and agree that Nihari, Haleem and Biryani all taste quite better in their non chicken form (I know many of you do prefer chicken over red meat, I'm choosing to ignore you)! But it wasn't until I actually started cooking on my own that I discovered something of a surprise. 

While I prefer beef in American dishes, when it comes to Pakistani food its GOAT I like! Yes you read that right, BLEH. Goat?! I was so weirded out when I first learned that it was goat meat my mother had been feeding us for years, and even more betrayed because I love the taste of it SO much! 

Some people confuse mutton with goat meat, but mutton is actually from a lamb. I'm not a major fan of lamb as it tends to be greasier with all the added fat. Goat, on the other hand is very tender, flavorful yet light on the fat compared to its beef/mutton red meat counterparts. 

One of my faaaaaavorite Pakistani dish of all time is a classic meat and potato stew translating in Urdu as: Aloo Gosht Salan. 

It is pretty easy to cook too if you have a pressure cooker. I  admit, I was pretty afraid to use a pressure cooker for the first time after having childhood memories of this scary loud whistle that went off every few minutes on the one my mom cooked with when we were kids. Plus, scary stories of them bursting and destroying kitchens did not help. But, thankfully in my own experience of owning one for 5 years I haven't had any problems at all, new cookers have a less horrific sound and it honestly cuts your cooking time in half. As long as you read the manual that comes with it, most of the current models are fairly safe. I bought mine from Macy's and use it for all my meat cooking recipes, especially when I was working it made dinner prep MUCH easier. 

If you want to cook Pakistani food, get used to chopping onions. Nearly all dishes have onions as  a staple.

Brown the onions in a tablespoon (or two) of oil. This is what gives your stew its base flavor.

All the spices you should need: Salt, Pepper, Cumin powder, turmeric, red pepper, coriander powder and oil (I use grapeseed for all my cooking. Love it! No aftertaste and it cooks just like veg or canola oil)

Once onions are browned, add garlic/ginger paste then meat and potatoes + spices+ chopped tomatoes 2 cups water and you're ready to pressurize!

lock that lid on then find an activity to occupy you for the next 15-20 minutes. Come back to Dinner Ready!

boil some white rice (make sure to add salt and some oil) on the side and enjoy your Aloo Gosht!

Ingredients (makes about 4 servings): 

• 1 lb goat pieces, washed and drained (ask the butcher for hind leg thigh meat, or just say its for stew)
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1.5 tbsp garlic ginger paste (some people make their own from fresh garlic and ginger, I'm lazy and buy the Shan brand ready made jar, apparently fresh taste better)
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander/cilantro leaves finely chopped
• 1/3 cup of oil

Spices :

• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder (adjust per taste)
• 1 tsp salt or as preferred
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• ** my secret ingredient: 1 tsp of Shan Korma masala (adds a great aroma and gives the stew a more 'formal' flavor if that makes any sense)

Preparation :

• Heat up oil in the pressure cooker
• Add onions and let them get to a golden brown color 
• Add meat, tomatoes, ginger/garlic paste, and all the spices, stir fry the meat until all ingredients are well combined. Make sure to stir frequently to allow a gravy to form, this in Urdu is called “bhoon-na” which basically means that all the onions, garlic,ginger and tomatoes have been fully combined. Your meat will not be fully tender at this point, it will cook when you pressurize. 
• Add 2 glasses of water and allow it to come to a boil, add the peeled potatoes then secure on the pressure cooker lid and let it cook. (depending on your cooker directions, meat usually takes 15-20 minutes) You can tell when its done as the meat comes off the bone easily.
• Add chopped coriander/cilantro leaves and mix well.
• Serve with chappati or a plate of plain basmati rice.

*Some people do the bhoona step AFTER they cook meat/onions in the pressure cooker with water. I do it first but either way it shouldn't make a difference.

**potatoes tend to cook faster than meat, so if you let them cook for just as long as the meat they may overcook and turn mushy but in my experience large baking potatoes take very long so use those!  Another trick that helps is to cut large pieces, so they'll take longer to cook. 

Recipe: Warm Apple Crisp

Eid Mubarak to all my fellow Muslims! For those of you who are well acquainted with this holiday you must know that it involves the sacrifice of a goat/lamb/cow in following the Abrahamic tradition. Therefore, normally, Muslims are found eating lots of meaty dishes post Eid ul Adha with all the fresh meat available everywhere. However, being the lazy American Muslims that we are, we have our sacrifice done overseas and distributed among the poor there. Traditionally  Eid celebrations do involve lots of sweets and desserts but it's usually more 'Eastern' dishes like what my mom makes, Sheer Khurma. I thought about attempting to make something more cultural and traditional to go along with the holiday, but truthfully my husband and I both aren't huge fans of Desi desserts. So instead, I thought about what I wanted most for this holiday. I wanted to be home, to be with my family back in New Jersey. I miss home SO much. Like my mom who probably made Sheer Khurma for us all those years on Eid because she was missing her home in Pakistan. I decided to make apple crisp because I was so desperately missing Autumn in the Northeast.

I also had a jar of caramel sauce, from a gift basket I won at work so many months ago and this was the perfect way to put it to use. 

Soon after pouring it over the apples, I realized they are supposed to be drenched in caramel sauce, clearly this jar wasn't enough.

So I quickly whipped up my own batch of homemade caramel sauce and added it in.

Then I got to making the top layer. Normally this calls for using rolled oats, but the rebellious chef in me decided to use the Granola my crunchy Betty husband bought. 

Some people like to press half of this mixture into the bottom of the pie pan to make a crust, but I used it all on top of the apples. 

Pop that bad boy into the oven and watch your home turn into apple/vanilla smelling heaven!

I have a weird obsession with watching caramel bubble and staring at the gooey rivers that run through

Recipe adapted from  Here

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup Old Fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• ½ cup butter, softened slightly
• ½ cup chopped nuts (pecans, almonds or walnuts) optional
• 4 cups chopped peeled apples
• 1 cup white or brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a large bowl, combine first four ingredients. Cut in butter until crumbly. Toss in nuts if desired. Press half into a greased 2-1/2-qt. baking dish or a 9-in. square baking pan.
3. Cover with apples.
4. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 2 minutes or until thick and clear. Pour over apples.
5. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Add more nuts if desired.
6. Bake 60-65 minutes or until apples are tender. Serve warm, with ice cream or Whipped Cream.

Recipe: Zucchini carrot bread with chocolate chips and walnuts

I have a serious problem. I can't stop baking. 

This week I started intense potty training with Ali. He'll be 3 in December and I am hopeful to have him trained by his birthday. We're doing the cold turkey method, no pull ups. It's supposed to be the most effective and quick which it has proven to be, but it also is the most exhausting, mentally draining and is a likely candidate for extreme forms of torture. Let's just say I did NOT need to be baking while trying to accomplish this task. 

So despite a serious backache from all the bending down to clean and jerking out of the way to avoid being sprayed on it's been a decently successful few days. He's learned to keep his number twos in the toilet and number ones are getting better. Enough toilet talk. I know that's not why you came here. 

This recipe is a bit more involved than others I've attempted before, mostly because of the added step of grating zucchini/carrots and that probably took me longer as I did it while running back and forth between the kitchen and bathroom. Nonetheless, it came out tasting pretty delicious and my chocolate loving husband/child have already devoured more than half of it (IN ONE DAY). This is a great way to get picky eaters to have their veggies without knowing it! 

I also used baby carrots not whole carrots (gasp unhealthy I know, I like the taste of chemicals what can I say) and grating those is a torturous task in itself. I would say you could barely taste the carrot so maybe using real carrots is better? Or just use more? You try it and tell me!

Again, I like to tamper with recipes online to make my own so this is a blend of 1 2 and 3. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
•  1 cup brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1½ cups grated zucchini
• ½ cup walnuts
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil and flour 2 loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fully combined and slightly lightened in color.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk flour mixture into sugar mixture until fully combined. Add in the grated carrots and zucchini and walnuts. Stir until evenly distributed.  
4. Divide batter evenly among the loaf pans. Top with chocolate chips and more chopped walnuts, I also like to top with a little brown sugar to give it a crunch. Bake for 45 minutes on lower rack, rotating halfway through if necessary. Turn off stove and leave in oven to cool for 5-10 minutes to ensure it is cooked through.
5. Cool loaves in pans about 20 minutes before gently and carefully removing. Bread may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or frozen, wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for 4 months. 

Eggplant Parmesan

Oh and I nearly forgot to mention that I also made Eggplant Parm for dinner. Because I've totally lost my mind. Peeling the skin then slicing and bread crumbing the eggplant, its just all so much more time consuming than ordering pizza, which I probably should have done.  But the end result really was worth it. 

Attempt this when you have a solid 1-1.5 hrs on your hands. 

We bake, not fry, our eggplant slices  which makes me want to believe this is a healthy recipe but it tastes SO darn good to be called that. 

I'm too tired to write out the whole thing, but they do a good job of that Here. To add in more veggies I threw some frozen broccoli and sliced mushrooms into the canned tomato sauce. Also, while I put the eggplant slices to bake I roasted 3 garlic cloves on the side, then crushed and added them into my sauce. Wow does that pack in flavor or what! Hubs better get ready for roasted garlic everything.

I left my dish in for longer since I love me some burnt cheese topping but you can probably pull it out once the cheese starts to bubble. 

And since I clearly cant sit still for an idle moment, I leave you with a depiction of what I did with most of our time spent in the bathroom this week:

Filed under things you discover in the toilet - Ali's momma is a Play-Doh artist!
 Homemade fondant cakes here I come!

Chocolate Banana Raspberry Bread

As you can tell from my previous post, while hubs was away on a work trip I had WAY too much time on my hands. Since he loves dessert I wanted to make him something special when he got back. We also had bananas in the house which were way beyond my liking to eat. Normally I've always made this amazing Banana Walnut Bread which comes out incredibly moist, but since we were out of walnuts but had an abundance of raspberries I thought I'd alter it around a bit. The outcome? Heaven, pure heaven.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg
1 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

2 tablespoons greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ripe medium-large bananas, mashed
1/2 cup raspberries (mashed) and a handful whole to add on top
1/2 cup chocolate chips (to preference)

1/4 cup brown sugar

All the ingredients necessary (one extra egg added by mistake, lets pretend it never happened)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan and dust with flour.
Blend the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
Mix the egg, sugar, and butter until combined.
Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and when blended, add the yogurt, vanilla, raspberries, and mashed bananas; mix well.
Fold 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Sprinkle the batter with remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar and stick in whole raspberries to give it a nice look on top.
Bake for 45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Separate Dry ingredients and wet

Combine everything to a 'thicker than pancake but not as thick as oatmeal' mixture

I had more batter than could fit in my pan so I made my favorite, Muffins!

fluffy gooey fruity goodness