Ashley's All American Mac & Cheese

Time needed: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 4 cups elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup Monterey Jack cheese - cubed
• 1/3 cup medium cheddar cheese - cubed
• 1 cup fresh mozz - pulled apart into marble-sized balls (it's important you use fresh mozz so don't substitute this for anything else)
• 1/3 cup Muenster cheese - cubed
• 8 ounces of "processed cheese food" cubed (that's right, my American version has to have a little somethin' processed in it - fittingly enough)
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 2 eggs - beaten
• 8 tablespoons butter

Directions:

• Boil water in a stock pot, add olive oil and a pinch of salt once water comes to a rolling boil
• Add pasta
• Preheat oven to 350
• Once pasta is cooked, drain
• In the stock pot, melt butter over low heat
• Add the half and half, drained pasta, eggs
• Add about 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper
• Mix well until the half and half, butter, salt/pepper, and eggs are all evenly distributed and all of the pasta has been coated
• Add the cheeses and mix well
• Pour the mixture into a lightly greased, deep (maybe 2 or 2.5 inches) bake safe dish
• Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes

Dunkers

Time needed:  40-45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf Italian bread (Italian, Dutch, or French will all work fine) - cut into rectangles or sliced evenly
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh mozz - pulled apart (I guess you could use the processed stuff that's already shredded in a bag but, that's gross...)
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese - shredded
• 1/4 cup parsley - finely chopped
• Garlic salt
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup basil - chopped
• 1/2 white onion

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325
• Brown ground beef over medium heat and season with salt and pepper to taste
• Add sliced garlic, mushrooms, basil, onion and crushed tomatoes, cover, simmer (this should simmer for at least 30 minutes)
• Place bread on a baking sheet and brush the bread pieces lightly with olive oil and season lightly with garlic salt
• Sprinkle with the mozz and cheddar
• Bake bread for 7-9 minutes or until the cheese has melted