2026, Family, Food, gardening, Seasons, Weather

A Cooking Day

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A cool wet morning yesterday was perfect for some time in the kitchen.  Especially since my tomato plants are still going gangbusters.

Normally I look for easy recipes but for some reason I was drawn to a complicated Macaroni & Cheese with Roasted Tomatoes and Chilis that I found in my Tomato cookbook.  It had several steps that needed to be combined at the end, which always spooks me.  I’m usually fairly casual about cooking so having to get everything to come together at one point isn’t my favorite modus operandi.  But with nothing else on my to-do list, I thought I could handle it.

Part of the recipe was a layer of roasted tomatoes; the recipe called for big tomatoes but I have tons of cherry tomatoes, so I looked up an alternative recipe.  I made this first and as the tomatoes were roasting, I laid out all the other ingredients on the counter.  It felt like I was doing a cooking show!   Then the poblanos got roasted over the gas flame; it’s so much fun to hear the peppers popping and sizzling!  Added the peppers to the tomatoes with a couple large cloves of garlic.

Next up was the cheese sauce; it’s been quite a while since I made a roux and then a cheese sauce from scratch.  SO much cheese – sharp cheddar, fontina and parmesan.  And so much stirring!   Managed to get the pasta cooked so that it was done right when the cheese sauce was ready.  (leaf-shaped pasta that YA and I found at Trader Joe’s last weekend.) 

Laid the tomato/poblano mix in the bottom of my 8” square cast iron, then layered the mac and cheese over that.  Then came the breadcrumb topping – breadcrumbs and melted butter – and finally popped the whole thing in the oven for 25 minutes. 

Looking at this description, it doesn’t seem as complicated as it felt at the time.  The whole dish, including roasting the tomatoes and peppers, took about an hour and a half.  I had thought it would take longer.  I managed to clean as I went, so there wasn’t a massive mess when I was done.

It smelled heavenly and tasted heavenly as well.  YA liked it as well, which isn’t always guaranteed.  I guess this means I’ll have to keep this recipe in our roster for another cool rainy day!

Any foods you’re trying to eat up (or put up) this fall?

PS: The left-hand photo is before it went into the oven and the right-hand is the finished product.

27 thoughts on “A Cooking Day”

  1. Having spent most of the day yesterday with grandkids, I took the easy route and thawed our last frozen container of chili, which went into the freezer last May. Sacrilegious as it may strike purists, I serve chili over rice. My mother served it that way and I like it. It makes the chili more substantial—turns it from a spoon food to a fork food—and provides a nice contrast.
    As fall approaches, we’ll begin making soups and chili again. The recipes are large enough that in addition to an immediate dinner they provide two or three 4-cup containers of leftovers for the freezer. 4 cups is just enough for the two of us and the round glass containers we freeze in lets me release the frozen mass directly into a medium saucepan.

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  3. We have too many eggplants in the garden. I have made several batches of the eggplant curry recipe PJ contributed to Kitchen Congress. We have made eggplant parmesan and moussaka as well. I made a tomato puree yesterday and froze it for tomato sauces later in the winter and fall. We still have tomatoss coming. Our basil is going wild. I have 27 jars of pesto in the freezer. I plan to make about 10 more. Then I will leave whatever basil is left. This climate is so different than in our ND garden. I planted the same amount of basil seed and the same variety of basil, but it got three times as big as in our ND garden.

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    1. These eggplant comments made me realize that YA has not brought any zucchinis home from work this year. I never want to grow zucchinis because I really only want one or two of them a year but I do like to make that chocolate zucchini cake that Anna posted years ago.

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  4. I’m taking the last of the basil to a friend today. We’ve been digging up carrots and beets as needed, but will harvest the rest at some point, then hope to use them before they wither…

    I need to use a jar of tomato sauce we made last week, or get it in the freezer. Forgot to use it in a Tagine – N. African beef stew I made the other day. First time I’ve made it since we moved here, and I’d forgotten how good it is… Will probably finish up the leftovers tonight.

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  6. I’ve been trying to include some chard where I can, like a frittata I made about a week ago. It’s ridiculous how much a big bundle of chard leaves, with the stems excised, will wilt down.

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  7. Jalapeños, raw vegetables and hot sauce.
    Awaiting schedule for surgical removal of a messenteric mass. Cancer not indicated. Bowel resection. Diet restrictions for a month gut repair.

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  10. Good Afternoon,

    Today is a Dr. day for husband, so I am driving him around for such things, and napping between trips. Jet lag is in full force, although it is easier East to West than the other way. I arrived home to a very empty refrigerator and a house that a bunch of guys were inhabiting. Before I left I made a huge batch of tomato soup, canning about 8 pints and 4 quarts for the winter. I also have pesto. I will make a bit more of that because I also came home to thriving basil. There are tomatoes in the freezer which will become pasta sauce. Now I must pull carrots and roast some jalapeno and Fresno peppers, then the summer produce will be done.

    Next project: squash/apple soup. Suddenly that is calling me.

    The food at the retreat center was good. We all ate waaay tooo much. However, the Irish ran out of oatmeal for us! They thought we would eat boxed cereal. But NO, we wanted oatmeal. Our friend John told us that according to American sitcoms, we should be eating Cheerios. Geeesh.

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  11. Update on the update. YA came home from coaching tonight and had the mac & cheese for her dinner. (She also had it for lunch.” As she was heating it up, she said can you make this again? Ding ding ding — that’s 10 stars!🎆

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