I used to make my mac and cheese like this, until I found this recipe, and now I’m making sort of a combination of the two.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound of Elbow macaroni or small shells (I use whole wheat elbows and prefer it this way. You can try any type of macaroni you like, but the smaller shapes will be easier to work with.)
• A cup of shredded cheddar cheese (This is approximate. I just pour some in until it looks like enough. When I make this at home I use reduced fat sharp cheddar.)
• Pepperoni slices (I usually use Turkey Pepperoni, and again I just stir the in until it seems like enough. You can use as many or as few as you like.)
• A sprinkle of grated cheese (Kraft reduced fat parmesan.)
• 1/2 cup of flavored Italian bread crumbs
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of melted margarine 

Cook macaroni and drain. Pour into a large bowl and stir in cheddar. Sprinkle in a little grated cheese and stir. Throw in slices of pepperoni and stir together. Spoon into greased cupcake/muffin pans. Melt butter, and stir in breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on top of filled cupcakes. Bake for 12 minutes at 350. Typically makes 12-15 cupcakes depending on how much pasta, cheese and pepperoni you throw in the bowl. I don’t usually measure any of it out, I just pour in what looks right, so it can vary.

You can “flour” the pans after greasing them with some italian bread crumbs. It may help them to stick together better. The longer you let it cool, the easier it is to get them out in cupcake shape. I prefer to eat it hot so they fall apart when I take them out of the pan.

To make a large pan like I brought to the service, I used about a pound and a half of elbows, 2.5 cups chedder and 2/3 of a bag of pepperoni. Then I baked at 350 for about 20 minutes. If you want it to taste exactly how it did for this, use normal elbows, regular pepperoni and full fat sharp cheddar. It turned out well, but I honestly prefer the way the healthier version tastes.

I’m running more lately. I find that I no longer need music for the mile I run with my husband in the early mornings. His company is what keeps me going. Plus I can hear the park foxes and other crazy sounds more clearly without headphones blocking one ear.

But later, when I go back and run alone? It’s all about the music. Without it I would not be able to keep going the way I have been, and I want to go longer and further over the coming weeks and months. So here is my current running playlist that has been keeping me going.

1. Your Love Is My Drug – Ke$ha
2. Blow – Ke$ha
3. Teenage Dream – Katy Perry
4. We Found Love – Rihanna
5. We R Who We R – Ke$ha
6. Last Friday Night – Katy Perry
7. Blah Blah Blah – Ke$ha
8. Firework – Katy Perry
9. Crazy Beautiful Life – Ke$ha
10. DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love – Usher featuring Pitbull
11. Party At A Rich Dude’s House – Ke$ha
12. Backstabber – Ke$ha
13. E.T. – Katy Perry
14. The One That Got Away – Katy Perry
15. c u next tuesday – Ke$ha
16. Blind – Ke$ha
17. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes – Ke$ha
18. TiK ToK – Ke$ha

At this point, there are more songs on my playlist than I need. 3 miles gets me through about the first 10 tracks right now. I’ll add new songs in when I need a change, especially when my 11 year old daughter buys new music and shares with me. She buys better music for running to than I typically do. Most of these tracks were hers first.

What kind of music keeps you going during a run or other workout? What have you got on your playlist that I should consider adding to mine?

I’ve been wanting to try these for awhile now, and we decided to go for it a few nights ago, before my hardcore diet started (it’s time, and I finally have time to devote to it). We based them loosely on these, with some small changes.

We cut our chicken strips into even smaller strips, making them look pretty much like chicken fries. Dipped them in regular flour (not rice like the recipe asked for), then in eggbeaters (instead of the egg/buttermilk mixture) and finally, in coconut. I’m not big on remembering details without the recipe in front of me, so I ended up with some sweetened angel flake coconut instead of unsweetened. Oops. So after the egg, we rolled in the coconut. We sprinkled a little salt in the oil and fried them up. In retrospect, all I’d change is to add some salt and pepper into the flour. We added some onto them afterwards and it really changed and filled out the flavor.

These were AMAZING. I never fry things anymore, so I doubt we’ll be making them again very soon. But as an occasional treat they were fantastic.

This weekend we started our holiday baking. I’m not usually all that much of a baker. My Christmas tradition is lasagna, which I’ll be showing you in another day or so. For dessert? We’ve tried making cannoli filling several times now, but the availability of the right type of ricotta just doesn’t exist in places like Oklahoma, so this year, I simply bought some already made cannolis.

In the meantime I’ve been feeling oddly like I should be baking every single day. It’s a very Betty Crocker-like feeling that I couldn’t seem to shake, and so I planned some yummy things to bake. We decided on red velvet cake balls and mint chocolate chip cookies. I’ve never made the cake balls before. They turned out so wonderful that too many got eaten. So right now I’m baking some yellow cakes for a new batch. The red velvet was shockingly good, but I think yellow may be even better. Who doesn’t love yellow cake?

The mint chocolate chip cookies were an all day affair, with my daughter and I as the dough making assembly line. It sure is easier to get all the ingredients together and put in at the right time with a spare set of 10 year old hands in the room. And she loved doing it. We made 3 batches, which resulted in a million cookies. Plenty for bringing to Christmas, and they’re just unique enough to make them more than just another chocolate chip cookie.