Jamaican Rice and "Peas"

I love when a recipe makes so much that we can have it for several nights in a row, plus maybe a lunch or two. That, and I also LOVE coconut milk, so this meal hit a lot of my bases.





















The milk in this picture is no joke. That stuff was spicy! The recipe calls for you to just put a chile in the pot while everything is cooking, and it acts sort of like a bay leaf would (i.e., it adds flavor but you don't actually eat it). I meant to get a picture of our Jamaican pepper bobbing along in the pot, since it looked sort of like a tiny pumpkin.
Apparently the peas in this dish are usually substituted with red beans. I guess you could use either, but the beans add a lot of protein and other nutritional benefits.





















All in all this was an easy, different sort of take on rice and beans, and very flavorful. We'll definitely make it again, and it only gets better left over. Somehow the combination of coconut milk and thyme was different from how I expected it to taste, and they go together really well. Also, we were out of fresh ginger, and the ground stuff just wasn't the same. I think the fresh ginger would make a huge difference, as would the lime juice we were also out of. But considering the fact that those two ingredients were missing, this was delightful.

Jamaican Rice and "Peas."
from Simply Recipes

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 cups long-grain rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 whole Scotch bonnet chile (can substitute a whole habanero)
• Lime (optional)
• Cilantro to garnish (optional)
  

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté for 4-5 minutes, until they begin to brown on the edges.

Add the garlic and rice, stir well and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring often.

Add the grated ginger, salt, water, stock and coconut milk and stir well. Add the kidney beans and sprinkle the thyme over everything. Add the whole Scotch bonnet chile (or habanero); it will season the rice much like a bay leaf would. Bring to a simmer, then turn the heat to low and cover.

The rice should be done in about 15-20 minutes, depending on the type of rice you are using (some long grained rice takes longer to cook). Check after 15 minutes. Once done, remove from heat and cover for 10 minutes. To serve, fluff with a fork. Sprinkle with a little lime juice if you want. Discard the habanero.*

*Careful not to split it open in the process, since the seeds will go everywhere, which may lead to a moment of absolute terror (not that this happened to me or anything...).

Curried Lentils with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Remember, you know, one post ago when I showed you a soup with lentils and sweet potatoes?




















I present to you: the same ingredients, but separately, and with different spices. The soup has cumin it it. The lentils on their own are curry-style.




















I would describe this recipe, along with the Indian-style cabbage, chana masala, and curried quinoa salad, as your basic Indian food. Only a couple of spices, not too many ingredients, and it's an easy meal to put together on any given week night.

John had to bat my hand away a few times from just eating the sweet potatoes off of the baking sheet, then off of the serving plate, then out of the tupperware. I love them! And it's this time of year that I always remember. When we were planning this meal I said to John, "You know what sounds good with that lentil recipe? Sweet potatoes!" And he said, "Didn't we just eat that same exact thing?"
Well we did. And it turns out, these are two foods that bear repeating...together.


Curried Lentils with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen.

2 big sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped to your liking, as uniform as possible.

2 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, diced in 1/4 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed (we used red, which may have affected the cooking time)
2 cups homemade chicken or vegetable stock (or 1 can chicken broth and 1/4 cup water)
3/4 cup chopped cilantro (or more)
salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread chopped potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper (or brown sugar, if you'd like them to be more like dessert). When the oven is hot, add the potatoes and bake for 40 minutes, turning once.

While potatoes are roasting, heat oil in medium sized heavy pan, add onions, and saute 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes. Add curry powder to onion-garlic mixture and sautee about 2 minutes more.

Add lentils and stock, bring to a low simmer, then cover pan and cook until lentils are tender and liquid is absorbed. Cooking time will depend on how old the lentils are, ours probably took 10-15 minutes max. You may need to add a little water towards the end if your stove doesn't keep the simmer low enough.

When lentils are done (soft but still slightly chewy), remove from heat, and let sit covered for 5 minutes while you chop the parsley. Stir in parsley, season with salt and pepper and serve hot.

Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup

When autumn comes, I renew my love affair with the sweet potato. It happened last year, and it will happen again. They're so flavorful! They're good savory or sweet! Like regular potatoes, but cranked up to 11!

This soup could easily be made with butternut squash, or the same portion of another squash. It depends on your preference, but sweet potatoes are easy to peel and to buy in a very specific quantity, such as 750 grams.




















I wondered if I would be hungry an hour after eating this soup, but the lentils make it really filling. The recipe made enough for us to have this for three nights, which is perfect for the school year.


















Like a lot of parts of the U.S., we had unseasonably warm temperatures this week that made me feel like it was too hot for a fall soup. But this soup is so good, I just turned the ceiling fan on high and enjoyed it.


Sweet Potato and Lentil Soup
from Food.com

• 5 cups chicken stock or 5 cups water (or veggie stock)
• 1 cup red lentils
• 3 medium onions
• 750 g sweet potatoes
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 cup coriander, chopped (or less to your taste)
• 1 lemon
• salt and black pepper

1. Peel and roughly chop the onions and sweet potatoes. They can be chunky since they will be blended later on.
   
2. Combine with the stock or water, lentils, garlic, cumin, cayenne and turmeric in a pot.
3. Cover and bring to the boil. Simmer until the potatoes and lentils are cooked - about 20-30 minutes.
4. Puree the soup, adding in the coriander and the juice of the lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

This food processor, Li'l Choppy, is freaking changing our lives.




























Sure, we can make hummus, crunchy peanut butter, and regular pesto. But now that we've been payed to go to school again, we can afford the big jar of sun-dried tomatoes from Costco! The skies the limit!

We made the pesto according to this recipe, and put it on pasta, along with a quartered and sliced zucchini, and some sauteed mushrooms.




























I'm really into this shape of pasta right now. Sort of like a spiral macaroni, but it's thicker when cooked. It's perfect for rich sauces.





















It made for an outstanding dinner. I also put about 1.5 tbs of the pesto on some quinoa for a good school lunch the next day. Quinoa is making its way toward becoming a very regular part of my diet. Since I'm basically giving up meat, a little at a time, and I'm adding a lot of mileage to my runs, I started to wonder if I'm getting enough protein. But then I learned that quinoa is a complete protein - not unlike a meat. So I'm making an effort to eat some kind of quinoa dish for lunch a couple of days a week. It definitely helps that the girls in the office next to mine have a microwave, since some of those recipes are much better warmed up.


















This pasta dish was delicious, and would be perfect as a simple recipe to serve to guests. With Li'l Choppy's help, it comes together easily and makes a large amount of food.


Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
from Imafoodblog

• 1/2 cup packed basil leaves
• 1/2 cup toasted whole almonds*
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp coarse salt
• 1 generous packed cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1 cup olive oil

1. Drain your sun dried tomatoes, lightly rinse them, and then pat them dry with a paper towel.
2. Toast your almonds in a dry shallow pan. They will take about 10 minutes, and you will smell when they are done.
3. In a large food processor, combine the basil, toasted almonds, garlic, lemon zest, and salt. Process until coarsely chopped.
4. Add the sun dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese and process until the tomatoes are coarsely chopped.
5. Now stream in the olive oil slowly and process until the pesto comes together.
6. Serve immediately or store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

*Toasting the almonds seems like a pretty important step for this recipe. We were skeptical for a minute, but once the smell wafted from the oven, we knew it was key to the overall flavor.

Salmon Cakes

Last week's dinner line-up was a round of really great recipes: two repeats (Thai style "chicken" soup, along with this Indian food), plus salmon cakes.

John and I both love crab cakes, and after an article in Runner's World about all the things you can do with a can of salmon, we were inspired to try making cakes.
We didn't use their recipe, but I do want to try some of their other suggestions, such as making a salmon-version of tuna salad for lunch sandwiches.




















Also, bonus, you can get three big cans of salmon at Costco for a lot less than the grocery store. Another benefit to the canned variety is that you can get Pacific, wild caught salmon* at a more reasonable price than if you bought it in fillets. Obviously, the ends require different means, but it's a good way to get some fish in our diets without breaking the bank.























This meal was fairly caloric, but it also had some good nutritional benefits (hello, omegas 3 and 6). I'd say we wouldn't make it as often as once a month, but it came together easily and tasted delicious. You can see that we just had the cakes, the sauce, and some sauteed zucchini with mushrooms on the side. The cakes are really filling. Our only negative comment is that they didn't reheat all that well, so making them for company (or halving the recipe) would be ideal. Still, anything with that much mayonnaise can't taste bad, am I right?



















Salmon Cakes
from Martha Stewart (who else?)

For the salmon cakes:

• 2 pounds skinless salmon fillet (we used three cans of salmon, equaling a little more than 2 lbs)
  
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
• 1/2 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Additional flavorings (choose one):

• 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish**
• 2 tablespoons minced capers
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco
• 2 tablespoons minced pickled jalapeno chile

For the lemon herb sauce:

• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley, dill, or cilantro
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place fish on a rimmed baking sheet; season with salt and pepper. Roast until cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely; pat dry with paper towels. Break salmon into smaller pieces; flake with a fork (we skipped this part, of course).

In a large bowl, combine scallions, breadcrumbs, and parsley. Add mayonnaise, mustard, eggs, lemon juice, and salmon. Season again with salt and pepper, plus an additional flavoring if desired. Mix gently until ingredients just hold together.

Form mixture into 8 patties (each about 3 inches wide). Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until cold and firm, 20 to 30 minutes.

Make Lemon-Herb Sauce: Whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, fresh lemon juice, and chopped herbs. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper.

Heat broiler. Broil patties until lightly golden on top (without turning), 6 to 8 minutes. Serve with Lemon-Herb Sauce.

*A.k.a., the good kind. There's no such thing as wild caught Atlantic salmon, at least as far as I've heard. "Atlantic" is like a euphemism for "farmed."

**We chose mustard that had horseradish in it, so we didn't add anything else. I'm told rosemary would make a good addition.

Whole Wheat Crepes

You may sense that I'm posting even more infrequently than before, and that's because school is happening. Oh, it's happening.

But I still want to keep posting about once a week or so.

Good story, Abby.

Anyway, last week, after I made the pumpkin butter, I decided it would make an excellent filling for crepes. A quick internet search led me to these babies:



















They were really simple to make, and for the most part, they didn't even tear up into a bunch of scrappy crepes. I will definitely make these again and try to halve the recipe, since I was stuffed to the gills after eating them all myself. For two people, the recipe would make the perfect amount. I filled half with pumpkin butter, and half with almond butter. Both were delicious.




















Whole Wheat Crepes
from Mr. Breakfast.

• 1 cup low-fat milk (or soy milk)
  
• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 large egg
• 1 additional egg white (I skipped this and used two whole eggs)
  
• 1 Tablespoon sugar (I added 1 tsp agave nectar)

In a blender or food processor, process the milk and egg until will mixed, but stopping short of creating foam. Add flour, sugar (if desired) and any spices you want to try and pulse until just mixed.* The batter should be quite thin. Add more milk as neccessary.

Heat a lightly-greased medium skillet over medium heat.

Scoop batter 1/4 cup at a time. Immediately swirl the pan gently to distribute the batter in a very thin layer. Cook the crepe until the surface appears dry -- about 1 minute.

Stack completed crepes on a plate, separated by wax paper. **

Fill crepes with filling of your choice.

*I just did this by hand with a fork. It was very easy to put together.
**I assembled (re: ate) them quickly as I cooked the next crepe, which was a little rushed, but it generally worked fine.

Pumpkin Butter

Sometimes I feel really uninspired to write a blog post, even though I have recipes and pictures and things to write about. Let's call it the Back to School Blahs.
To ease myself back in to blogging, I'll share this recipe for pumpkin butter.




















I posted on the facebook that I was enjoying pumpkin butter, and I've been surprised to learn that a lot of people (especially Canadians) have no idea what I'm talking about. So I say, "It's like apple butter." (crickets). "Do you know what apple butter is?!"

My undergrad roommate Kelly and I would always make a trip to Li'l Nashville, IN (Just east of Bloomington) in the fall to wander around, make fun of stuff in all the stores, and buy some apple and pumpkin butters. It's a fall staple! And I'm thrilled that I found this very easy recipe to make it. After making pumpkin muffins last week I had just under a cup of spare pureed pumpkin and this the perfect use for it. I'll show you what else I did with it later this week, but for now, just know that pumpkin butter goes with everything, especially toast and biscuits.




























Homemade Pumpkin Butter
from AllRecipes.

Ingredients

• 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup apple juice (I added water instead)
  
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar (I subbed in about 3 tbs agave nectar and 1 tsp brown sugar. Maple syrup would also work well).
  
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently.
2. Transfer to sterile containers and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Pumpkin Muffins

This week the smell of fall really got to me and the muffin kick continued. I decided to use the one can of pumpkin puree that I didn't use last year to make some pumpkin muffins.

This recipe was a little harder to find and tweak than I expected, but I was able to come up with something that I liked. I'll note my edits below.
These muffins were fairly spicy and flavorful. Next time I might halve the recipe, since these little guys are rich and moist, and I'm afraid they'll get moldy before they were eaten. I might also adjust the allspice, since it's pretty strong and sometimes a little bitter. But all in all, these muffins are great when spread with almond butter and they made our apartment smell like Thanksgiving.

Note that I made it past September 5th before making a pumpkin baked good this year.





















Pumpkin Spice Muffins
adapted from All Recipes

• 2 cups canned pumpkin
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 cup wheat flour
  
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
  
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp agave nectar
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together 2 cups pumpkin puree, vegetable oil and eggs. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

As I type this, I'm working on an experiment with the leftover pumpkin from the can I opened to make these muffins. If it works, it will be pumpkin butter. I'll let you know what happens.

The Pinery

To "celebrate" Labor Day, John and I went to the Pinery Provincial Park. It's about an hour north of London, on Lake Huron.








Our route.










The Pinery seems like a much beloved place for people in southwestern Ontario.
"Do you enjoy hiking? Oh, you'd love the Pinery."
"You're going to Lake Huron? You should definitely check out the Pinery."
"You're in London all summer?! How boring! Go to the Pinery."
























And so we did. The park has lots of hiking trails, places to camp (for other people, not us), a visitors center, and lots of points for beach access.




















My initial plan was for us to go hiking, then swim in the lake, and then have a picnic and watch the sunset. People here rave about seeing the sunset on Lake Huron, and I have no doubt they're right. It was just a little too late in the evening for us to stay, so we'll go back to see the sunset some other time.





















Meanwhile, we spent the first part of our visit on the Wilderness Trail. It's about 3K and has an access point via boardwalk to the beach.


























The weather cooperated and it was about 60 degrees with sun and a breeze. Too cold for swimming, but just right for walking around in the woods and staying dry on the beach.



























We spent some time climbing on things at the beach, then headed back to complete the trail and pick a dinner spot.



















"Partially cloudy" produces some really interesting light over the water.



























I wanted to make a sand castle, but I didn't have any tools. So instead, I made a weird little "gate" out of some sticks, a rock, and a feather.
























You can see how the light changed while we were there. It was still about an hour and a half from going down.


















Instead of watching the sunset, we decided to come back to London and get ice cream at Merla Mae's.


























Day trip plans for the fall include another visit to the Pinery so that we can see the sunset and what I expect to be beautiful fall colors, and a trip to Niagara Falls. Visiting Niagara after Labor Day is strategic, since things will be less populated, the weather will be cooler, and everything will be cheaper.

Banana Oat Muffins

Sometimes I get on a kick where I just want some baked goods around here, IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?!

John just shrugs, which means, "go ahead and bake something then."



























Last week we had a banana that was going bad quickly, so I searched around for a recipe that was more like a muffin and less like a cupcake. These turned out really well, and I'll definitely make them the next time we have a banana to spare. I used half white, half whole wheat flour to bulk them up somewhat. I'm a big fan of muffins recipes that call for rolled oats, so this recipe meets all my requirements.


Banana Oat Muffins
from All Recipes.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
  
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (or apple sauce)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 bananas, I only used one the second time and it made 11 muffins instead of 12).
  

Instructions

1. Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. Add the mashed banana, and combine thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture until just combined. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper bake cups, and divide the batter among them.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 18 to 20 minutes.

Brisling

John is going through a phase right now where he watches a lot of episodes of Good Eats. An episode about nutrition prompted him to try eating a can of brisling, which are basically like high-end sardines. They're mostly very good for you, and their bones are so small and soft that you can eat the whole fish (minus the head).

While they're not really my taste, brisling are definitely not as gross as they sound. John took Alton Brown's suggestion and ate them on toasted bread, spread with avocado. The flavor is similar to canned tuna, and it made for a delightful lunch for John.


Then, this weekend we went to the Pinery, a provincial park on Lake Huron. We hiked and then had a picnic on the beach (more on that later). John brought along a can of actual sardines (which are cheaper than brisling) and decided to give them a try during our picnic. He can testify that brisling are different and, in fact, much better than sardines. The sardines were bigger and kind of falling apart. Their size led us to wonder what other types of sea critters they might have eaten during their lifetime. John quickly became disenchanted and decided to bury the contents of the can in the sand.











Here he is, dumping the fish into a sandy grave.
















There wasn't really anybody around to witness it, and you wouldn't even know they were there if I hadn't taken so many pictures to document it.



























Meanwhile, I was trying to tell this seagull, who kept a close eye on us the whole time we were eating, that there were fish just waiting to be eaten, a mere ten feet from where he was hanging out.

Chickpea of the Sea

When I saw this recipe I thought it would make a pretty good lunch alternative for our new meatless lunch kick. John did most of the heavy lifting for it, since I was busy making mac n' cheese (it was sort of a random meal), and when he was done I couldn't believe how much this looks and tastes like egg salad.



















My picture is really more focused on the mac n' cheese, so I'd recommend clicking here to see the picture from the source.

This recipe is going to be a great school year lunch, especially when I have the lettuce and tomato slices. The mayo and mustard in the recipe give it that familiar taste, and the chickpeas blend easily with the other flavors. Plus, it's not made with eggs, so even with mayo it's still a lot better for you than the real thing. If you're vegan, the kitchn.com recommends using vegan mayo, since it will accomplish the same thing.
The name implies that it's supposed to be like tuna salad, I suppose, but to me it's a dead ringer for egg salad.







Not a great view, but you can see how similar the color is to egg salad.








Chickpea of the Sea
from thekitchn.com

Ingredients

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped celery (about one rib)
2 tablespoons sliced scallions (about two scallions)
a few turns of the peppermill
a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

four slices whole grain bread
a few lettuce leaves, washed and dried well

Directions

Place chickpeas in the bowl of a food processor and pulse two or three times to roughly chop. Add remaining ingredients and pulse two or three times more to incorporate.

Lay out the bread and place the lettuce leaves on two slices. Spoon on the Chickpea of the Sea and top with the other slice of bread.

Vegan Alternative: Use vegan mayo or a vinaigrette in place of the mayo.

By-Hand Alternative: Place the drained chickpeas in a bowl and mash slightly with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined. You may want to chop the celery and onions a little finer for this version, since they won't be getting an additional chop in the processor.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

John and I eat a lot of healthy food. We rarely eat meat (something that has motivated us to be creative with food) and we almost never buy cheese because both are so expensive in Canada. I'm not justifying the mac n' cheese, but I am explaining it. Sometimes I get a craving for something really cheesey, or salty, or what have you.

The this recipe came up on my google reader last week. At first I ignored it, since I figured we didn't have any of the right ingredients on hand.

But then...
















we did! I remembered that we had everything I need to halve the recipe (a good idea anyways). I had an odd amount of pasta (a 7 oz package) and just the right amount of cheese. I also like that this recipe doesn't call for half and half. The bread crumbs are a mix of old bread pieces from our freezer, not the Panko like in the original recipe.
The problem now is that I know how easy it is to make really good, church-potluck quality mac n' cheese.*


Mac n' Cheese
adapted from Tasty Kitchen, i.e., Pioneer Woman
*Note - I'm posting the measurements I used, which are halved versions of the original ones.

• 8 oz small shape Pasta (slightly Undercooked)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/8 cup Flour
• 1 1/4 cups Milk
• 1 teaspoon Mustard Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (more To Taste!) Salt
• Black Pepper
• 8 ounces Cheddar Cheese, Grated (or any other cheese you prefer...lots of cheese would work)
  
• 1/2 cup Breadcrumbs (I estimated this, but 1/2 cup seems about right)
  
• Salt And Pepper For Sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta until al dente.

Melt butter in a large skillet (or pot). Sprinkle in flour, whisk to combine, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until it deepens in color. Pour in milk, whisking constantly. Add mustard, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking until it thickens, 4 minutes or so. Add cheese and stir until melted. Pour in cooked pasta and stir to coat. Check seasonings and add more salt if needed.

Pour into a buttered casserole dish. Top with 3/4 of the crumbs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 10-15 minutes.

*Is it really a problem? After eating some of this for 2 days in a row I feel like my body isn't used to this kind of food anymore. It doesn't give me heartburn exactly, but I can feel it trying. It'd be better if I could take it somewhere and leave the leftovers.