Quatro Verde Citrus Salad

This salad is INCREDIBLE. INCREDIBLE. I'm not a huge fan of kale and I don't like olives in general - but OMG. This completely changed my mind about those ingredients! The olives ALONE had me eating them one by one - I had to stop myself from eating them all before I made the salad for my family.

Quatro Verde Citrus Salad

Dressing
2 lemons, zest and juice
2 Tbsp honey
1 shallot, medium, finely chopped
2/3 c olive oil, extra virgin
black pepper, crushed

2 Tbsp sugar

Salad
2 bunch Lacinato Kale (a.k.a. blue dinosaur) stemmed & chopped

1 c basil, chopped
1 c green olives, divina chili and tangerine marinated
1 avocado
4 oz dubliner cheese, micro bladed (sub with parmesan or romano)

Whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade and set aside. I made this ahead of time so it had time to marry a bit.
Remove the stems from the kale and chop.
Pour the dressing over the kale and massage it into the leaves to soften and distribute the dressing evenly.
Top with the additional salad ingredients and toss. Enjoy!

Yard House Mac n Cheese

I heard people discussing the best mac n cheese and this lady was ADAMANT that a restaurant called the Yard House has the best mac- so obviously I Googled it and here it is!

Yard House Mac n Cheese
1 lb Elbow Macaroni

6 table Butter
1/4 cup Flour
3 cups Milk, heated
2 8 oz Mild Cheddar Jack Cheese grated
4 to 6 oz Feta Cheese
1 roasted Chicken from Fry's or Costco sliced
1 cup FRESH Sourdough Breadcrumbs
10 slices Bacon
Mushrooms as many as you would like
Salt, Pepper, Cayenne Pepper to taste
Truffle Oil as much as you would like

Boil noodle to slightly underdone. Preheat oven to 350º. As you are waiting for pasta to cook, heat milk until barely simmering. Remove. Process cubes of crusty bread until you have at least 1 cup (if it is a day old it will make it easier on you). Set aside. Start your roux (a cooked mixture of butter, flour) melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Cook 1 to 2 minutes without over browning. Wisk in milk. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the jack cheese by handfuls at a time and mix well. Toss the pasta with the cheese add the chicken. Fold in the feta cheese (4oz mild 6oz potency). Add salt (keep in mind the bacon has salt) pepper and cayenne pepper. Spray a large casserole dish with pam. Spread pasta mixture into dish, sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over pasta. Melt the remaining 2 table of butter and pour over breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven, uncovered for 40 minutes or until top has browned. Cook bacon drain on a paper towel and crumble. Discard most, but no all, of the bacon drippings. Brown the mushrooms in the bacon drippings. Add a pinch of salt to bring out a little of the moisture. When macaroni is ready, serve some up in a bowl, and top with mushrooms, crumbled bacon and drizzle with truffle oil. Bake for 30 minutes.

*I'm going to eliminate the chicken and mushrooms - bc I can. Picture to come!