Vegetable Lasagna

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend!  We celebrated Christmas with Tim's family early (on Friday) because his niece was flying to Germany on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with her boyfriend and his  family, and then we celebrated with my family on Saturday so we could avoid the football traffic on Sunday, which left Christmas day to just our little family.  It had already been decided that for breakfast we would have the Caramel Pecan Layer Cake that my son had made as his gift to me.

It was delicious!  Last year he made me a mocha yule log covered in dark chocolate ganache (and decorated to look like an actual log covered in bark), and that has started a lovely Christmas morning tradition for us.

It had also been decided I would make a lasagna for our Christmas Day dinner.  I chose one that, even though it had both pork and beef in it, made me practically drool every time I looked at the picture.  It had a meat sauce that consisted of tomatoes, ground beef, home made Italian pork sausage (because the prepackaged pork sausage is ghastly stuff!), pancetta, and fresh herbs.  Then there was a porcini mushroom cheese sauce, and lots of cooked noodles.  I spent three (3!) hours in the kitchen making this thing and nearly passing out from the lovely fragrance of it cooking in the oven.  I had made baguettes and roasted garlic, and lightly steamed fresh green beans.

It was...meh.  No kidding.  All that work, all that time, and it was just okay.  I'm not a fan of either pork or beef, so the texture threw me off.  But even my family, all of whom do like those meats, suggested that if we find ourselves celebrating Christmas Day with just the four of us again next year, that I make my "regular" lasagna because it has so much more flavor and better texture than this particular one with the amazing picture in the magazine.

So there you have it, my friends.  No need to toil for hours over a lasagna - here is my "regular" lasagna, which was also one of my very first blog posts, and a regular visitor to our dinner table.


Vegetarian Lasagna

serves 9-12

• 9 uncooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 3 - 3 1/2 c (24-28 oz) meatless marinara (either homemade or a good, organic basil and tomato is great)
• 2 large portobello mushroom caps (about 6-8oz), chopped
• 1 12oz jar roasted red peppers, drained, patted dry, and chopped (or your own roasted, in which case you would use 2 peppers)
• 1 10oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 2 cups cottage cheese
• 3/4 c grated parmesan cheese, divided
• 2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 c shredded provolone cheese
• 1 c shredded fresh mozzarella
• 1 tsp dried oregano (or 1Tbs freshly chopped)

Preheat oven to 350F.

• 
  
• In a bowl, combine mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and spinach. In another bowl, combine cottage cheese, 1/2 c paremesan, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. In another bowl, combine the provolone and mozzarella cheeses.

In a 13x9 pan, spread 1/4 of the marinara sauce. Layer 3 uncooked noodles, 1/3 vegetable mixture, 1/3 cottage cheese mixture, 1/3 provolone/mozzarella mixture, 1/4 marinara. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 1/4 c parmesan and oregano.

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• 
  
• Cover with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes before slicing.  
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• Serve with a simple salad, crusty bread smeared with roasted garlic, and a lovely bottle of wine.
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Chocolate Chip Pecan Cheese Ball

I used to think cheese balls were kind of hokey and only showed up on my grandmother's holiday table, destined to be avoided by nearly everyone because it just looked...questionable.  Boy, have I been wrong.  I've been playing around with some different cheese ball ingredient combinations and I think I might actually be in love with the whole idea.  I know I just posted a savory cheese ball recipe (Herbed Olive and Cheese Spread), but this one is sweet and it's too yummy not to share right away.

In other chocolate chip cheese ball recipes, I've noticed many of them call for a lot of additional butter (probably for spreadability), but I decided to use a small amount of coconut oil instead.  The result is a sweet and decadent chocolate chip and pecan spread with just the perfect hint of coconut flavor.  I'm happy to say it's one of those cream cheese spreads you will want to eat with a spoon, but it tastes amazing with firm fruits, graham crackers, bagels, or vanilla cookies.  It makes a lovely holiday presentation centered on a platter surrounded by red and green apple slices, too.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cheese Ball

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 c unrefined coconut oil 
(such as Spectrum Unrefined Organic Coconut Oil)
• 2 Tbs raw honey
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 c plus 1/3 c mini chocolate chips (or well chopped semi sweet chocolate), divided
• 1/3 c chopped pecans

With a hand held mixer set to low speed, blend together the cream cheese, coconut oil, honey, and vanilla.  Stir in 1/2 c chocolate chips.

Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

On a plate or board, combine the remaining 1/3 c chocolate chips and pecans.

Form the chocolate chip cheese mixture into a ball.  Roll in the chocolate chip and pecan mixture.

Refrigerate until ready to use.  Serve with apples, pears, bagel slices, graham crackers or vanilla cookies.

Herbed Olive and Cheese Spread

Of all the wonderful food offerings of the holiday season, I must confess that the appetizers are my favorite.  I spend entirely too much time munching from the appetizer tables, it's true, but with holiday bean dips and vegetable dips and cheese spreads and crostini and antipasto and...what's an appetizer junkie to do?  I'd like to promise that this year I will exhibit much more self control, but I know I'd be lying.  I just really can't help myself.

In this festive and pretty cheese spread, both green and black olives are combined with sundried tomatoes and creamy Fontina cheese, and then rolled in fresh herbs.  I used a combination of parsley, thyme, rosemary and oregano, but adding basil or marjoram would taste wonderful, too; they key is to choose at least three different fresh herbs rather than just one or two.

Herbed Olive and Cheese Spread

• 8oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 c Fontina cheese, shredded
• 1/4 c green pitted olives (I used pimento stuffed for additional color), sliced
• 1/4 c pitted kalamata olives, sliced
• 1 Tbs sundried tomatoes (oil packed), chopped
• 3 Tbs assorted herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil...), chopped

With a handheld mixer, blend cream cheese and fontina until blended.  Stir in the olives and sundried tomatoes.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Spread the herbs on a plate or cutting board.

Form the cheese and olive mixture into a 6 inch log (or whatever shape makes you happy).  Roll the log in the herbs.

Keep refrigerated until ready to use.  Serve with pita chips, toasted baguette slices, or assorted crackers.

Cookie Blog Hop - Chocolate Cranberry Nut Cookies

These yummy little cookies taste like chocolaty brownies packed with tart cranberries and crunchy walnuts.  Chocolate Cranberry Nut Cookies are as quick and easy to make as other drop style cookies and are free of processed sugar.

This recipe for a naturally sweetened chocolate cookie is a versatile one; we can add the cranberries and walnuts, or we can forego those ingredients and customize it by adding coconut, grain sweetened chocolate chips, raisins, cherries, or anything else that might taste good inside a chocolate cookie.  If aesthetics are important for your cookie tray,  and you don't like the way drop cookies look, you can always flatten them a bit after they are placed on the baking sheet.  I personally don't care all that much because it all tastes the same to me when they are done, so I just drop, and pop them into the oven.  Based on the outcome of the tender texture, I think the main recipe might also work as a brownie if a few tablespoons of milk is added to the dough/batter - I'll try it out and get back to you.

A tip about using natural sweeteners: when it is not desirable to have one prominent flavor in a cookie that needs to have several flavors working in synergy, it is a good idea to combine two different natural sweeteners rather than just using one or another.  Because I added cocoa to this simple drop cookie, neither honey nor maple syrup (the two sweeteners upon which I most rely) is a flavor I really wanted to be prominent to overshadow the chocolate.  By combining the two sweeteners in about a 2:1 ratio, neither the maple nor the honey flavors stand out in this cookie, but the sweetness all there, turning the cocoa into a chocolaty bunch of goodness that does a fantastic job of enveloping the tart "pop" from cranberries.

As with all naturally sweetened baked goods, allow enough time for them to cool and rest so the natural sweetener can do it's naturally sweet thing (one hour, at the very least).

Now that my holiday cookie tray is amply and beautifully filled with lovely cookies from the recipes posted to the #cookielove blog hop, I'm working on some great appetizers to share with you all in the upcoming weeks!

Chocolate Cranberry Nut Cookies
makes about 3 1/2 dozen

• 2/3 c butter (1 stick plus 3 Tbs)
• 1/2 c raw honey
• 1/3 c pure maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (such as Simply Organic Vanilla Extract)
• 1 c whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 c high quality natural cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c raw cranberries, roughly chopped
• 1 c raw walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a large bowl, beat the butter until fluffy (about 20-30 seconds).  Add honey, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Stir in the wheat flour, unbleached all purpose flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt until combined.

Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.

Drop by rounded teaspoons 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until done.  Cool completely on wire racks.

Please join in on the #cookielove fun by linking up any cookie recipe from the month of December 2011.  Don't forget to link back to this post so that your readers know to stop by the #cookielove event!  The twitter hashtag is #cookielove.

CookieLove Blog Hop Co-Hosts
Badger Girl Learns to Cook
Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves
Big Fat Baker
Bloc de recetas
Bon a croquer
Cafe TerraBlog
Cake Duchess
Creative Cooking Corner
Easily Good Eats
Georgiecakes
Hobby and More
Knitstamatic
Mike's Baking
Mis Pensmientos
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies
Oh Cake
Queen's Notebook
Savoring Every Bite
Simply Reem
Soni's Food For Thought
Teaspoon of Spice
That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!
The Art of Cooking Real Food
The Spicy RD
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Vegetarian Tastebuds
Vegan Yack Attack

Cookie Blog Hop - Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread, or little butter cookies, are one of my all time favorite cookies (and not just during the holidays).  They are a snap to make with few ingredients, easy to vary the flavors by using extracts or citrus zests, and generally use very little sugar.

In the spirit of the season, I decided to make orange flavored shortbread and then dip them into some really great dark chocolate (because orange and dark chocolate are soul mates, if you ask me).  It was quite easy to remove the processed sugar from the cookie itself, but for the chocolate, I did decide to go with an already made dark chocolate bar instead of making my own.  I chose a 70% dark chocolate that is fair trade certified, organic, and uses raw sugar.  So, ultimately, I cheated a bit, but at least I did it with integrity.

This recipe calls for the zest (and some of the juice) of an orange.  Since we will be eating the zest, please try to find an organic orange so we don't have to worry about pesticides and other nasty things like that.  Also, grate it lightly so that you only get the orange part, and not the bitter white part.

Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookies
makes 36 cookies

• 1/2 c butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbs raw honey
• 1 Tbs pure maple syrup
• 1 Tbs orange juice (squeezed from the zested orange)
• 1 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 c unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 oz dark 70% chocolate bar (about 2/3 of a 3.5 oz bar)

In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric  mixer about 30 seconds or until soft.

Add the whole wheat flour, honey, maple syrup, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla extract.

Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, scraping the sides occasionally.

Beat in the all purpose flour just until combined.

Divide the dough in half.  Cover and chill at least 1 hour, or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375F.

On a lightly floured surface, working from the middle outward, roll out each dough half into a 6 inch square (dough should be about 1/4" thick).

Slice dough into 2x1 inch pieces (six across, three down, for a total of 18 cookies per square). Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 9-11 minutes, or until done.  Cool on the sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

In a small heavy bottom saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate, stirring often.  When the chocolate is melted, transfer to a narrow bowl or cup (I used a custard dish). Dip half of the cookie into the chocolate, and allow the excess to drain back into the bowl.  Place on a sheet of waxed paper to allow the chocolate to set.  Or, you could drizzle the chocolate over the cookies.

The drizzled cookies take about 10 minutes for the chocolate to set, the dipped take about 30 minutes.



Please join in on the #cookielove fun by linking up any cookie recipe from the month of December 2011.  Don't forget to link back to this post so that your readers know to stop by the #cookielove event!  The twitter hashtag is #cookielove.

CookieLove Blog Hop Co-Hosts
Badger Girl Learns to Cook
Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves
Big Fat Baker
Bloc de recetas
Bon a croquer
Cafe TerraBlog
Cake Duchess
Creative Cooking Corner
Easily Good Eats
Georgiecakes
Hobby and More
Knitstamatic
Mike's Baking
Mis Pensmientos
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies
Oh Cake
Queen's Notebook
Savoring Every Bite
Simply Reem
Soni's Food For Thought
Teaspoon of Spice
That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!
The Art of Cooking Real Food
The Spicy RD
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Vegetarian Tastebuds
Vegan Yack Attack

Squash and Mushrooms with Black Japonica Rice

Every time a I make a meal, I feed not only my daughter, myself, and the two men in my own family, but also 3 other adult men.  Because my daughter and I are so severely outnumbered, once the cool weather sets in, I find myself making more meat based stews and casseroles and such. Well, today I felt I really needed to get back to my vegetarian heart and make something hearty, but a little less heavy.

Enter black japonica rice (and that butternut squash that has been sitting on my counter for almost two months).  The other day I bought a mixture of black and mahogany japonica rice thinking it might work out well with my aging butternut squash, and then I bought some mushrooms (because rice always tastes great with mushrooms).  With very few other ingredients (garlic, onions, celery...), that rice and that butternut squash became a delicious, filling meal that even the men raved about.

According to the few articles I could find on the internet, black japonica rice originated in China, but is also grown here, in the US.  While I understand that wild rice (which is also black in color) is actually a grass, japonica rice is still a rice, thus, still a grain.  It has an earthy but mildly sweet flavor.  At first, I thought the dish I had in mind might benefit from toasted walnuts on top, but the rice kind of held its own in the "nutty" department as well, and the walnuts didn't work.   Parmesan worked extremely well, but just a small amount was all it took.  I still think a smoked cheese, just a bit, might work, too, but not a soft cheese such as gouda or even provolone.

The original recipe that inspired this dish was a recipe from Real Simple for Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms and Fontina, which I haven't actually tried yet.  It just looked so good to me for at least the past week that I was determined to make that squash/mushroom/sage bit sooner than later.  Well, it finally landed on top of the black japonica rice, and it rocked.  The sweetness of the squash and the earthiness of the mushrooms (and the sheer grooviness of the sage when combined with those two vegetables) just enhanced the same sort of flavors that the japonica rice already offered, only the rice's flavors were much more mild.

Also, the package of rice I bought suggested a rice to water ratio of 1:2.  I found that by using two cups of water, the rice was still very wet at the end of cooking and resting time, so I've modified the recipe below to allow for the moisture in the onions and celery because I don't like mushy  rice.

All in all, any time my husband says to me, "Hey, this is really good - is there bacon in this?  Is there more?", and it's vegetarian,  I win.

Squash with Mushrooms and Black Japonica Rice
serves 4-5

For the rice:

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1/2 c chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 c black japonica rice (or mixture of black and mahogany japonica rice)
• 1 3/4 c water
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the Squash and Mushrooms:

• 1 2lb butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded, and chopped into 1" chunks
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, cleaned, stems trimmed, halved or quartered if large
• 1/4 c fresh sage leaves, torn or roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 450F.

Heat 1 Tbs olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat.  Add celery, onion, and garlic.  

Saute for 5 minutes.  Stir in rice.  

Saute for 1 more minute.  Add water and salt; stir again.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to simmer.  

Simmer for 45-50 minutes, or until water is absorbed.  Remove from heat and let rest about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the squash, mushrooms, sage, garlic, oil, salt (I used about 3/4 tsp) and freshly ground black pepper in a large bowl.  Mix well to coat.

Turn the vegetable mixture out onto two 15x10" pans.  Roast in preheated oven 20-25 minutes, stirring once halfway through.

Divide rice between plates.  Top with roasted squash and mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.


Be sure to check out the #cookielove blog hop going on all of December for some of the best cookie recipes in the blogosphere!

Cookie Blog Hop - Cherry Filled Almond Cookies

When I was invited to help co-host the #CookieLove Blog Hop for December, I was both flattered to be considered, and, quite frankly, terrified to accept because, well, I'm a cook, not a baker.  And cookies are very different from cakes and pies.  I can follow a cookie recipe, but to develop one is not exactly something I felt I could do.  I thought about it and nearly decided to decline, but then I realized that this could be a fun challenge, one where I could step into a different category within the subject I love, and conquer a fear. So, I accepted and immediately began working out several cookie recipes, desperately hoping I could actually do it without just ultimately showcasing already published recipes all month long (which is usually what I end up baking at my house during the holiday season).

Cooking is primarily instinct and experience; we know what our ingredients taste like and can usually match them well enough to work out a fine dish, using a little bit of this a little more of that, and so on until we find a delicious balance.  But baking is more scientific; each of the ingredients serve a specific purpose that not only affects the flavor, but the texture, the size, and the shape. And then there is the issue of sugar, which is a pretty important part of baking sweets.  Since I'm not much of a sugary sort of gal, I knew this would be one of my biggest challenges.

The first batch of cookies I made were supposed to be Cranberry Nut Pinwheels.  The dough was too sticky and hard to work with, but I thought it would be better after it chilled.  It was, but only slightly.  My cookies expanded very little, and never became larger than a half dollar.  And the cranberry nut filling just kind of melted into the dough.  They ended up looking like this:

my failed cranberry nut pinwheels

What an ugly disappointment! But, they tasted really good, so we ate all 2 dozen of them just to get them out of the way and move on before I lost my faith in myself; I had six more recipes to try after this one.

The Cherry Filled Almond Cookies turned out exactly as I had hoped, though.  I was shooting for a naturally sweetened spin on the traditional thumbprint style cookie, and I found it quite easily.  A tender but sturdy cookie, flavored with honey and almonds on the inside and studded with more almonds on the outside - the perfect vessel to hold a delicious dollop of cherry preserves.  And they are not ugly!

A word about the cherry preserves - if you are not using your own super delicious homemade cherry preserves (I didn't either), please look for someone else's super delicious homemade cherry preserves.  Commercial jams and jellies are not what we are looking for with these cookies; a good, solid, real cherry flavor (with actual real cherries), preferably naturally sweetened, jam or preserve can be found in local specialty shops or at farmer's markets everywhere, and I suggest using one of those to fill these tasty little cookies.

Please be sure to check out all the fabulous cookie recipes included in the Cookie Love Blog Hop during the month of December listed just beneath this recipe!

Cherry Filled Almond Cookies
makes about 2 dozen

• 1/4 c raw honey
• 1/2 c butter, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp pure almond extract (such as Simply Organic Almond Extract)
• 1 egg, separated*
• 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 c almonds, finely chopped
• 1/3-1/2 c cherry preserves

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, combine honey, butter, almond extract, egg yolk*.

*To separate an egg white from the egg yolk, simply crack the egg and pass the yolk between the halves of the shell, allowing the white to fall into a small bowl (we will be using the white later, so be sure it has its own bowl).

With an electric hand held mixer, beat until smooth.

Stir in the flour and salt until well combined and dough holds together.

Beat the egg white slightly with a fork - just until it isn't gloppy.  Place the finely chopped almonds in a separate bowl.

Shape the dough into 1 inch balls by gently rolling the balls between both palms.

sorry for the blur 

Dip the balls into the egg white, shake off excess.  

Roll the balls in the chopped almonds, ensuring they are completely covered.

Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Press your thumb deeply into the center of each ball.  (My own thumbprint isn't very wide, so I opened the indentation somewhat)

Bake about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Remove to a rack and cool completely.

Fill the indentations with 1/2 - 1 tsp cherry preserves.

Please join in on the #cookielove fun by linking up any cookie recipe from the month of December 2011.  Don't forget to link back to this post so that your readers know to stop by the #cookielove event!  The twitter hashtag is #cookielove.

CookieLove Blog Hop Co-Hosts
Badger Girl Learns to Cook
Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves
Big Fat Baker
Bloc de recetas
Bon a croquer
Cafe TerraBlog
Cake Duchess
Creative Cooking Corner
Easily Good Eats
Georgiecakes
Hobby and More
Knitstamatic
Mike's Baking
Mis Pensmientos
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies
Oh Cake
Queen's Notebook
Savoring Every Bite
Simply Reem
Soni's Food For Thought
Teaspoon of Spice
That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!
The Art of Cooking Real Food
The Spicy RD
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Vegetarian Tastebuds
Vegan Yack Attack

Pasta Broccoli Bake

The three most requested dinners by my children are pizza of any theme, Creamy Potato Soup, and this Cheesy Broccoli and Pasta dish.  I think it's all about the cheese with them.

Cheese is one of life's indispensable pleasures for us.  In our area, there are several small (and large) scale dairies that produce some amazing local cheeses.  We often drive to one that is nearby just to get fresh cheese curds, still warm and squeaky, and end up eating most of them in the car on the way home.  That same dairy also has the most amazing fresh mozzarella sticks - salty and pliable, and they just melt in your mouth.  We also live very near a fromagerie that specializes in artisan cheeses from around the world, and when the children were learning about new countries in our History class, we would always go over to the fromagerie and sample cheeses from that country and then buy some of our favorites to create a dish from whichever country we were studying.  And on Christmas Eve, when all the other children left cookies and milk for Santa, mine left him French goat cheese and crackers (Santa doesn't love goat cheese, by the way, and one year he left a note thanking them for their generosity, but requesting fresh cheese curds and smoked gouda).

This dish is a recipe I found on Allrecipes a few years ago.  Really, the only things I changed in the recipe were the some of the instructions, a couple of the measurements, and I use real garlic instead of garlic salt; the combination of cheeses and few herbs and spices were already such a perfect match for the broccoli.  Here is the link to the original recipe: Pasta Broccoli Bake.  I don't suggest using frozen broccoli though, because it just doesn't pack enough broccoli flavor for some reason.  I have used broccoli that I purchased in the summer, quickly blanched and then froze, and that was fine, but the commercial frozen broccoli just doesn't work well.  Use fresh if you can find it, and keep the florets large so they don't get soggy in the pasta water.

Also, penne pasta works, but not as well as a pasta with ridges to hold the sauce, so try to use a corkscrew shaped pasta such as fusilli or rotini.

Pasta Broccoli Bake
serves 8 - 9

• 8 oz dry whole grain fusilli or rotini pasta
• 1 1/2 lbs fresh broccoli florets 
• 1/3 c butter
• 1/3 c flour
• 3 c milk
• 1 1/2 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4 c shredded parmesan cheese
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 3/4 c shredded swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add in the pasta, then the broccoli, and stir.  Return to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered for about 6-8  minutes, or until the pasta is al dente and the broccoli is just tender. Do not overcook.   Drain.

Place the sharp cheddar, parmesan, garlic, salt, nutmeg, and thyme in a small bowl.  Set aside.

While the pasta and broccoli are cooking, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in flour with a wire whisk.  Gradually whisk in the milk.  Continue to cook over medium heat, whisking often, until mixture is thick and just beginning to bubble, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat.

Immediately whisk in half of  the sharp cheddar and parmesan mixture until melted.  Whisk in the rest until all is melted.

Place the broccoli and pasta back in the empty pot.  Pour the cheese mixture in and mix well.

Transfer to a 9x13 pan (no need to oil the pan).

Top with the shredded swiss cheese.

Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until bubbly.  Allow to stand about 5 minutes before serving.