Alton Brown's Baked Mac and Cheese

Tonight's dinner on a snowy Denver day watching "The Polar Express"....homemade Mac and cheese recipe  that I found on Food Network and a hit with the boys! 

My son Avery (11) would like to make a comment: Hi Avery here! I would like to say a fast fact about the Polar Express. The actor 🎭 for the main character is the actor Peeta from the Hunger Games! 

My son Aris (12) would like to make a comment: I would like to say one thing...well maybe two. I LOVED the Mac and Cheese. Best homemade Mac and Cheese ever. The nice cheese sauce baked into the Mac and Cheese right underneath the crunch of the Breadcrumbs and butter mix, and the nice addition of onions hidden in the Mac was a nice surprise. That's the first thing. My second fact (out of three I lied 😆) is that Tom Hanks, an amazing actor, plays three actors in the movie: The Train Conductor, The Ghost That "Lives" on the Train, and Santa! Finally, this Mac and   Cheese goes great with any Christmas movie, such as The Polar Express, one of my favorites, A Christmas Story, and any old Christmas cartoon like Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

Here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe.html

Roasted acorn squash with spicy hatch green chile

This is a favorite of mine and eludes the flavors of Colorado. I can drive just around the corner to purchase a bushel of fresh roasted green chiles. I usually peel the skin off  and cut stems off of about 4-6 cups worth of chiles. Chop them up to make authentic green chile! Recipe below:

Hatch Green Chile

Clean and cut 4-6 cups of roasted chiles

Olive oil

4-6 garlic cloves roasted and peeled

Salt and pepper to taste

Cumin

Cubed Pork- 1-1.5 lbs sautéed

2-4 TBSP Flour or corn starch

8-10 cups chicken broth

4 fresh tomatoes skinned and chopped or 1 can of chopped tomato as juices

Fry up the pork in olive oil until golden brown. Add minced garlic at the end slightly cooked garlic. Add flour/ starch and mix around until brown. Add chicken broth - I say 8-10 cups. Add tomatoes, cumin, chiles and salt and pepper to taste. Summer for 4 hours or to your liking in terms of thickening. Stir often. Enjoy on your favorite roasted square,on eggs, over chicken... the options are endless!

Homemade Pizza

A staple in my house is homemade pizza! The ready to use dough recipe is easy.

I cup flour
1/2 cup warm water with 1TBSP of yeast
Salt and generous drizzle of olive oil


Mix together and flour as needed as you press it out into your pizza pie. I use my homemade sauce sprinkled with fresh Parmesan, sliced meatballs sandwich pepperoni  or Italian sausage, and mozzarella to top. Enjoy!

The sauce is the boss!

 If you're like me, you don't have time to boil down tomatoes to make marinara but it certainly can be done if you have all day to do it. I prefer a shorter cut on this and order premium tomato canned goods on amazon.com. I can't give up all my secrets but some cans of tomato paste or tomato sauce couple with crushed tomato cans is the way to start. Brand names DO matter  when it comes to picking the right canned tomato so message me offline if you would like my secret brands. My tradition sauce would contain meatballs and Italian sausage- spicy. I like to buy homemade sausage from the local deli's in my hood here in Denver. You want to buy ground beef that has a little bit of fat in it so that your meatballs are juicer instead of dry.  Below is my quick recipe for Tina's Sauce: 

Meatballs: 

1 lb of ground beef

2 eggs

1 cup of Italian breadcrumbs

1 cup of Parmesan cheese

1 small onion chopped

kosher salt and pepper to taste

Cook the meatballs in the oven 375 for half hour to 40 minutes depends on how big you make them They should be crispy and golden brown. I usually use parchment paper on my cookie tray underneath to bake them. I also sprinkle some kosher salt or seasoning salt on top of the raw meatballs before I bake them,

Spaghetti Sauce: 

2-3 cans of tomato sauce or 1-2 cans of tomato paste ( add water to paste as directed on can) 

2 gloves or garlic minced

olive oil

meatballs 

sausage

red pepper flakes to taste

kosher salt and black pepper to taste

2 TBL shopped fresh parsley chopped

2-4 fresh basil leaves chopped

1 tsp fresh oregano chopped

1 carrot not chopped

1 onion not chopped (optional) 

1 celery not chopped (optional)

1/4 red wine to taste (optional)

1 tsp chile powder to taste (optional) 

The sauce is easy. Simmer the sausage in the sauce pan in some olive oil until it's golden brown and cooked through. Add all  ingredients into the pot and let it simmer for several hours. Add water as needed to make sure it's not too think and burns initially. After a few hours take the carrot, onion and celery out of the sauce.We enjoy serving the sauce with traditional spaghetti and always use a  pasta spoon at Tina's Table!

Welcome to Tina's Table!

I am an active single mom living in the heart of Denver Colorado. I found I have a passion for cooking and being creative at the table- sort of happened organically. I'm originally from a small town in upstate New York, but don't let that fool you. I talk loud...  and sometimes I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHEN I'M DOING IT, IT JUST HAPPENS WHEN I GET EXCITED! It should be no surprise then that I grew up in a predominantly Italian community so most of my cooking is traditional NY Italian. Simple yet comforting. I find my favorite place in the house to be my kitchen and often find myself feeding many at my table... which by the way, is an old antique bungalow door I pulled out of a Denver alley and reclaimed as a beautiful, rustic, dining room table.  My friends say I make a mean meatball and that they enjoy my Facebook posts on home recipes and foodie pics so I decided to take it up a notch and start my own cooking blog. I also just welcomed a brand new Wolf stove (Wolfie) into my kitchen,  so let the FUN begin at Tina's Table!