Fettuccine Alfredo

One of my husband's favorite dishes is Fettuccine Alfredo.  For years I was afraid to even attempt making Alfredo sauce, thinking it was much too complicated and I would screw it up for sure.  Fortunately for my husband, he traveled frequently and often had a pretty decent expense plan.  So he made sure to get Fettuccine Alfredo while he was on the road.

Why I Shred My Own Cheese

I'll let you in on a little secret.  I hate shredding cheese.  I have back problems and the constant up/down motion, especially for softer cheeses like cheddar, really starts making the tender spots hurt after a while.  Shredding my own cheese was, however, one of those things I picked up very early on in the cooking journey and did it for years.  After the dishwasher melted the handle on my very favorite grater (a rotary type grater with a coarse drum - proving difficult to replace), I quit shredding my own cheese in lieu of pre-shredded cheese.  But a few months ago I stumbled across a good deal on "block" cheese and decided I'd try to shred my own cheese again.

First You Make a Roux, or...

...breaking the canned cream soup habit.

The secret is to learn to make a white sauce.  Once you've mastered a while sauce you can bypass just about any recipe that calls for a can of cream of something soup.  I still have a very few favorite recipes that call for a can of soup, like my mother's meatloaf that uses the soup as the gravy, but for the most part, I've pitched all those types of recipes.