Hamburger Buddy, or can we please name it something else?

When I first heard of hamburger buddy, I was skeptical. The name doesn’t sell it very well, calling to mind boxes of prepackaged, minimal assembly required meals. Convenient, sure, but not something I usually go for at the store. Though the recipe doesn’t explicitly say so, I’m positive this is supposed to be the homemade version of Hamburger Helper.

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Baked Mac n' Cheese, Revisited

A little less than a year ago, I posted this recipe for Mac n’ Cheese. The technique of cooking the pasta in the béchamel sauce was new to me and so appealing for cutting down on dishes. It reliably gave the baked Mac n’ Cheese a wonderful texture too, something that had eluded me with other recipes. Now my Mac n’ Cheese comes out the same every time and just the way I like it. I found this recipe, and I’ve stuck with it very happily.

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Recipe Technique Revelation: Half Baked Harvest's Mac N' Cheese

I love mac n’ cheese. (Who doesn’t?) My one quibble, though, is that my favorite recipe always seems a tad fussy to make on a weekly basis. Not sure what it is. Just one too many steps? The sense that if I didn’t follow the method, I wouldn’t end up with as tasty a dish?

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pumpkin sausage penne

Here's one recipe I turn to for a comfort food with an autumnal twist: Pumpkin Sausage Penne. It's pasta coated in a pumpkin cream sauce, with subtle hints of cinnamon and nutmeg, but still firmly grounded in the savory by sautéed onion, garlic, and a bay leaf. It's all rounded off with satisfying chunks of Italian sausage and a heap of freshly grated parmesan. 

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Family Recipes: Fresh Pasta

As promised, here is the family recipe for fresh pasta. It comes from a little cookbook of recipes from Southern Italy, specifically the town of Roseto in the Province of Foggia. Many Italians immigrated from this town and established a sister town of Roseto, Pennsylvania. This cookbook was created to preserve traditions and recipes for the immigrant relatives and families. In the preface to the cookbook, it says how important Rosetans held their culture to be. Homemade food "prepared in the peasant tradition, yet "fit for a king'" was a dominant part of this. 

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Family Recipes: Fettuccine Alfredo

I married into an Italian family. Having always loved bread and pasta, embracing and making my in-law's family recipes took no time. Falling in love with them was even shorter. One of the first dishes I fell for was Fettuccine Alfredo. 

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