Finally a "Cornhusker"

For my whole life, I have never liked corn.  As I said before, I am not a veggie fan, but I probably liked corn the least of all.  Something about the texture and the flavor was just not right to me, and I have never been one to eat it.  Living in Nebraska, aka The Cornhusker State, one can see how this situation gave my family members room to make hilarious comments like, "how can you be a Cornhusker if you don't like corn?"  (As if I have never heard THAT one before...) but I'll get back to this later...

As many of you know, I have made a mission of this summer to start trying new things in the kitchen.  Once again, after a trip to the Saturday morning Haymarket Farmers Market, I came home with a bag full of locally grown and made goodies for a new cooking adventure.

This cheese is what began the idea.  The lady who was running the cheese stand this weekend said to me, "This flavor is great in macaroni and cheese," which got my attention immediately (as everyone knows my love of mac & cheese).  It has small bits and pieces of red bell pepper inside, giving it the most amazing flavor.  So, being the creative genius that I sometimes claim to be, I came up with a hybrid recipe that combined two of my favorites, the Kraft Homestyle baked mac & cheese and my own recipe of homemade mac and cheese.

Instead of using regular Velveeta, I used the Queso Blanco variety and left out the black pepper.  After pouring the mac and cheese into a baking dish, I shredded the Havarti Bell cheese and sprinkled it on top and baked at 425 for about 8 minutes.

I know I say this every time I try a new experiment, but this really was the best mac and cheese ever.  The flavor was perfect, and the bits of bell pepper really added that "something" that kicked this up from bland to awesome.

Now, as I said before, I have never enjoyed corn.  That morning at the farmers market, Matt wanted to get some sweet corn, and my parents showed us the right place to find the best quality.  I have no idea how to cook sweet corn (as I found out, it's probably one of the easiest things to cook I have ever seen), so I enlisted the help of my "lovely assistants."

Matt and his brother got the sweet corn ready, and I decided to try it, in the name of my vow to try more veggies.

I came to this conclusion:
Congrats, family members.  I can finally be a "Cornhusker."

xo
-C