{"id":42260,"date":"2013-08-29T00:07:24","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T07:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=42260"},"modified":"2013-08-29T00:07:24","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T07:07:24","slug":"unprocessed-kitchen-merit-badge-intermediate-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/42260","title":{"rendered":"Unprocessed Kitchen Merit Badge, Intermediate Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/a>, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20147,301 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> former life<\/a> \u2026 <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For this week\u2019s Farm Kitchen\/Unprocessed Kitchen Merit Badge<\/a>, I was moving up the ranks to Intermediate and Expert Levels. That\u2019s right: you\u2019ve come a long way, baby! Why yes, I have, and thanks for noticing. First up:<\/p>\n

Level Deux<\/b><\/p>\n

This badge, my little dears, is a piece of cake. Well, not a literal piece of cake, more like a cracker. Unprocessed, organic, nutritious and delicious, homemade Cheez-its.<\/p>\n

Oh. Yes.<\/p>\n

You. Are. Welcome.<\/p>\n

But not just homemade Cheez-its. Oh, never let it be said! For this particular level, I needed to replicate two<\/i> used-to-love-em-had-to-have-em-not-so-good-for-you-unwholesome-guilty-pleasures. For the second recipe idea, I had to wrack my noodle.<\/p>\n

And then it came to me:<\/p>\n

Noodles!<\/p>\n

More specifically, macaroni and cheese. Ah, that blissful bowl of ooey gooey, melty, comfort food! It\u2019s like heaven in a bowl.<\/p>\n

A large bowl.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"MBA_Jane-8579\"<\/p>\n

Which I do not share.<\/p>\n

Evidently, I have a thing for cheese. (So glad there\u2019s a Cheese Making Badge. I am SO rocking that one again soon!)<\/p>\n

Anyway, my love of cheese has evolved over time. It\u2019s matured, you might say. (Haha, see what I did there? Just a little cheese humor for you.) I used to buy large, inexpensive blocks of Mild Cheddar, generic brands of Mac \u2018n Cheese in a box, and turned up my nose at the more \u2026 shall we say, stinky, realms of cheese. And realms they are! But I\u2019m following a bunny trail here. Back to Cheez-its! I experimented a bit with my recipe until I found the most delicious and scrumptious one. I tweaked, I added, I took away, I halved, I doubled, I mixed, I sampled, and I ate my weight in snappy, crunchy, bite-sized perfection.<\/p>\n

All for you.<\/p>\n

The things I do for you! The sacrifice! The servitude!<\/p>\n

Okay, okay, you got me. This badge was heaven to earn.<\/p>\n

Parmesan and White Cheddar Crackers<\/b><\/p>\n

6 ounces Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese, grated<\/p>\n

2 ounces Parmesan, grated<\/p>\n

1\/2 stick of butter<\/p>\n

1 t kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling<\/p>\n

pinch of cayenne pepper (or paprika if you are feeling less than spunky)<\/p>\n

1 cup unbleached, organic flour<\/p>\n

2 T cold water<\/p>\n

Put everything, minus the water, into your food processor. Mix, and then dribble in your water until a crumbly dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge. Try to forget about it for about an hour. Fail miserably. Remove, roll out thinly, and cut into shapes. I used a pizza cutter and went a little nuts. I may or may not have a cracker in the shape of Elvis, but you can just go with traditional squares if you must. Bake at 375\u00b0F for 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

Enjoy your snack of bliss. You earned it.<\/p>\n

Homemade Mac \u2018n Cheese<\/b><\/p>\n

6 oz organic penne, cooked quite al dente<\/p>\n

For sauce, make a roux (1\/4 cup butter, melted, then whisked with 1\/3 cup flour, and finally, about 3 cups of organic, local milk). Add to this concoction: 3 cups of semi-hard cheese, like an aged Gouda or a Sharp Cheddar; 1\/2 cup softer cheese, like a Bleu or a Havarti; salt; and pepper. Stir into your penne, top with more cheese if you please (and you will \u2026 be pleased, I mean) and bake in a buttered cast-iron skillet at 350\u00b0F for about 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Try to share. But I won\u2019t judge you if you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

 \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,518 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20147,301 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ Wondering … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}