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Savoring life in the Berkshires

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Room For Improvement: "Mac 'n' Goat Cheese"

Published on July 18, 2009 By Emily. Updated on July 18, 2009

Last week was the final week (I hope) of last minute menu planning and food shopping.  I decided to make a recipe without reading it through and, as a result, found it to be less than I’d hoped for.

The recipe, Mac ‘n’ Goat Cheese, is from Everyday with Rachael Ray.  I liked it because it’s simple and includes some of my favorite ingredients: pasta, garlic, cherry tomatoes, spinach, cheese (we replaced the goat cheese with feta) and walnuts.   Plus it was vegetarian and I really need to work towards deliberately planning vegetarian meals.   Now, before I shower Rachael with criticism, I must confess that I didn’t follow the directions completely.  I cooked a pound of pasta (because I hate having a box with just a little bit of pasta in it!) but I neglected to increase all the other ingredients.

The dish came out fine otherwise however, and since we had tons of leftovers, I cooked up more spinach and garlic for the second night and added it in.  The problem with this “Mac ‘n’ Cheese” is that it isn’t really mac and cheese…it’s more like pasta salad.  The dish never gets baked (despite the misleading picture of the macaroni in a baking dish in the magazine) so the cheese doesn’t melt, and there’s nothing crunchy.  For a pasta salad, it was good.  But I wanted to make mac ‘n’ cheese.  In fact, my Man and I ate the leftovers cold. Granted, if I’d read the recipe all the way through before cooking it, I would’ve know this.

If I wanted to make this pasta salad again, I’d probably increase the amount of garlic, cheese, nuts and especially tomatoes and spinach even further.  I think a few sliced black olives would be a nice addition as well.  I’d also switch out the pasta for whole wheat pasta, which would leave me feeling less guilty for eating the same meal for dinner three nights in a row.  If you’re craving really good mac ‘n’ cheese instead of pasta salad though I would definitely re-recommend Cheese Lovers 5 Cheese Mac and Cheese.

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Filed Under: recipe review Tagged With: pasta, Rachael Ray, recipe review, vegetarian

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Emily
UPDATE: the giveaway is now CLOSED. Congrats @aloh UPDATE: the giveaway is now CLOSED. Congrats @alohr3!

 @thelazygenius' second book, The Lazy Genius Kitchen, is finally here and I'm so excited! I don't purchase many books, but I pre-ordered this last July because I knew it would be right up my alley and then I pre-ordered a second copy because I knew that I'd want to give one away.

Author Kendra Adachi has been one of my favorite voices in recent years. Her principles (shared through her first book, The Lazy Genius Podcast and her Instagram) have helped me focus my priorities and give myself more grace. 

This book is NOT a cookbook (it has just 2 recipes), it is a kitchen guide - to help you "have what you need, use what you have, and enjoy it like never before". It is beautiful (full color!) and thoughtful.

I'm very excited to send this book to one of you.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below with one of your greatest kitchen struggles. 
I'll draw a winner at 8 pm on Friday, May 6.
This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram or The Lazy Genius, Kendra Adachi.
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#LazyGenius #KendraAdachi #NameWhatMatters #TheLazyGeniusKitchen #TheLazyGeniusWay #BookGiveaway
This morning we took advantage of @massmoca's Berk This morning we took advantage of @massmoca's Berkshire Teacher and Social Worker Appreciation Day free admission. After enjoying the student Art Invitational exhibit, the 4 of us took in several of the other galleries. Mass MoCA always impresses and it was delightful to be able to be out in the world with my kids.
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#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #MassMoCA #ArtMuseum
Today I finally found my way into @plantconnector, Today I finally found my way into @plantconnector, in its new location on Main Street in North Adams. The shop is incredible - the displays are great and the plants are delightful. There's a refill station with bottles and jars for soaps, detergents and other products, a terrarium bar, and an abundance of sustainable and beautiful products. I'm now in the process of pondering who I can purchase Plant Connector gifts for in the coming months.
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My January and early February menu plans for my @m My January and early February menu plans for my @mightyfoodfarm vegetables are finally up on the blog. See how we're making use of these beautiful items, as well as the items from the other pick up we made in the past month. 
Link in profile.
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One of my favorite things to do is bake from scrat One of my favorite things to do is bake from scratch.
But, in the interest of full transparency, this pie was made with Pillsbury pie crusts and a $5 bag of Walmart Granny Smiths. I used the recipe on the pie crust box.
I am very excited to eat it.
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I can't remember the last time I baked bread, some I can't remember the last time I baked bread, something that was part of my routine for a long time. Today school was cancelled due to the extremely cold temperatures outside and I took the opportunity to make 8 loaves - most of which will be put into the freezer until they're needed. Baking more bread was part of my 2022 theme of "resume" and I'm so happy to be back to it.
Recipe, as usual, from @breadin5
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New on the blog: my first posted CSA menu plan sin New on the blog: my first posted CSA menu plan since September! I didn't intend to take so much time off, but I'm looking forward to the meals I've planned over the next 2 weeks using @mightyfoodfarm produce.
Follow the link in my profile to see the post.
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My blog post with my 2022 theme word is now publis My blog post with my 2022 theme word is now published! Click the link in my profile to read more.
Did you choose a theme word for this year? Share it in the comments!
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#2022 #2022Theme #2022ThemeWord #MyOneWord #resolution #Resolutions
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