Tiptoeing Into The Top Chef Kitchen

In my efforts to save money and keep an eye on my waistline, I've been cooking as of late. While the recipes are all new to me, what I've been making are variations of foods I'm already comfortable with. Plus, they tend to taste better the next day and are readily portable to work. This week, I made jumbo stuffed shells with ricotta and spinach:



While the picture isn't great, it still looks pretty good, no? I'm going to enjoy that tomorrow for lunch.

Next, I decided to make homemade macaroni and cheese. This was my first attempt into making cheese sauce, and let me tell you, it's not as easy as it seems. I had to be super careful not to burn the milk-and-vegetable-broth mixture. And when finally all the ingredients were combined, it would have helped a lot to know that actually creating the sauce would take about three times as long as I anticipated.

Unfortunately, I am impatient, so the sauce isn't as good as it should be (and surprisingly sweeter than I would have imagined):



This picture is not at all good, but it is a decent representation of tonight's snack and Tuesday's lunch. Also, I used whole wheat penne, so it looks even browner than normal mac and cheese would.

Yes, I know that these are not the lowest-fat dishes I could have made, but they're still a whole lot better than what I'd have if I ate out.

Overall, I'm pretty proud of myself.

PS - Do NOT eat the sliders from Applebee's. Trust me on this one. It'll take at least two more days for my stomach to forgive me.