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Cougar town….


My hand has now seen three different people and they all now tell me the same thing…nothing they can do. That surgery will not help and I just get to deal with the fact that my hand will be numb/in pain and be thankful that it’s usually only a few hours a day and not 24/7. Well awesome. Not. It’s a sore subject right now (no pun intended).

In awesome news while I was on vacation I found out that I won Sprinkle Bakes (btw do you own her cookbook yet? SprinkleBakes: Dessert Recipes to Inspire Your Inner Artist You should…it’s $11 on Amazon…how can you not pull the trigger on that!) hosted a giveaway that I could really get behind. I love all things Kate Spade and this had sprinkles on it as well. Squeal. And then I won!!! Double squeal. While I love when people give away mixers and what not I don’t usually enter because I own things like that…this was unique and I love it!


Now that vacation has come and gone I’ve decided I need more vacation. 🙂 I’m trying to wear down my friend again to let us get one of his beach houses that he owns (rough life I know). I’m willing to go off season darn it all. 😛

There is a huge rilvary between UW and WSU but almost everyone who lives in this state can agree on the fact that the cheese they make…Cougar Gold is darn tasty. You used to only be able to find it around Christmas time but I seem to be able to find it more. It’s not cheap but it is really freaking good. I have no idea why the university makes cheese I’m just glad they do. It makes for one heck of a mac and cheese. And since I love it SOOO much and you probably can’t get it if you live in the US (and have a physical address, not PO stuff) since winning a prize have decided to pay it forward and send someone a can of Cougar Gold Cheese. All you need to do is leave a comment and tell me your favorite kind of cheese in the comments and a way to get a hold of you (aka valid email that you actually check). You have until next Tuesday, February 5th 2013 at 9pm PST to enter.

Cougar Gold Macaroni and Cheese

6 cups water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups (8 ounces) macaroni
2 TBSP unsalted butter
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups grated Cougar Gold® (use white cheddar if can’t find)

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1 TBSP unsalted butter
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
ground black pepper, to taste

Butter 6 large or 8 smaller side dish ramekins.

Bring the water, salt and pasta to a rolling boil in a medium saucepan. Cook just until tender. Drain pasta, put into prepared baking dish and set aside.

Meanwhile prepare the sauce. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. While whisking, gradually add the flour. Whisk for about 2 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Very slowly add the milk and cream, whisking constantly to avoid developing lumps.

Simmer for 15 minutes until thickened, stirring often to prevent mixture from burning. Remove from heat and stir in Cougar Gold®, sharp cheddar, and black pepper to taste.

Pour sauce onto cooked pasta (do not stir). Melt 1 tablespoon butter and toss with breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on top of casserole and bake for 30 minutes or until the crumbs are golden.

Serves 4-6 main-course servings; 8-10 side-dish servings.
Adapted from the WSU website.


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Comments

  1. OMG! I love Cougar Gold cheese. My daughter goes to WSU and has bought us a can before. SO SO GOOD! I would love to win a can. Great site by the way. 🙂

    Reply

  2. Awesome giveaway – that cheese sounds amazing! My favorite cheese is Ewephoria (half because the name is so cute!) – it is a really awesome sheep’s cheese.

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  3. Damn this mac and cheese looks good. You know I would love to try it but am not allowed…Shame. That or I’ll just wait for a night when BF isn’t around.
    I realllly expected this post to have something to do with ‘Cougars’ or tacky leopard print or something. >.> Anyway, my favorite cheese is … well damn. That’s a really hard question. I love Havarti Dill with plain crackers, or just sharp cheese to snack on. But I guess it comes down to “Longhorn” makes the best grilled cheese.

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  6. It would be like choosing one of my children to be the fave (kiddo you know who you are! ;)). In the sprit I will choose cheddar.

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  7. Ooh, cheeeeeese.

    My favorite kind of cheese is probably cheese curds — I remember my mom buying me a bag sometimes when I was little. They’re delicious. 🙂 Though Gruyere is a close second, ’cause that stuff’s awesome.

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  8. Sharp white cheddar, the sharper the better. I also have a love/hate relationship with Brie and can’t pass the opportunity to eat Babybels. Yum.

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  9. Good for you:) Love the little pouch..Book is great..I enjoy it..
    This mac looks super too..I made some this week I see many are..It’s Mac weather here:)

    Not entering..live in Canada..but had never heard of this cheese..Thanks!

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  12. I’m from WI. I love all cheese! I think my favorite is triple creme Brie, but I always try to have sharp cheddar and Parmesan reggiano on hand.

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  13. Definitely Trader Joe’s 1000 Day Gouda. Nice and crystalized and has a fantastic flavor! I like all cheese in general, although if it is too stinky, I won’t eat it.

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  18. We are a cheese loving family, but I think my favorite would be sharp cheddar followed closely by havarti with dill 🙂

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  19. Cheese Gromit! Cheese! Oh sorry that’s what happens in our house when we see yummy, cheesy goodness. Let’s see our favorite is actually Manchego we love it aged a year sliced on onion crackers. Yum!

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  20. Oh dear…..um…..smoked Gouda…..although, I really shouldn’t. Aged Swiss then!! And the REAL Parmesan, parmigiano reggiano! Making dreamy eyes here!!! If only I had the $….. Just no moldy stuff. I prefer breathing over eating that kind!

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  21. i love, love, love smoked gouda. any smoked cheese is up my alley, but gouda definitely wins as my fave. and that mac and cheese looks fantastic, the perfect comfort food for this time of year.

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  27. My parents recently moved to Illinois near the border with Wisconsin. Needless to say my trip up there revolved around CHEESE and touring cheese factories! and breweries of course (: My favorite cheese is a tie between a good sharp white cheddar, and port salut

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  28. I love all cheese really. But I might not be able to live without Cabot’s Wicked or Seriously Sharp Cheddar. Oh! And the Habañero Cheddar. Yum!

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  32. I have never heard heard of that brand cheese. It sounds delicious though. Mostly, I just love cheese
    Sharp cheddar, blue, asiago….

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  33. A good sharp white cheddar is a constant treat, but sheep feta is my favorite.
    Also, have you tried acupuncture for your hand? I highly recommend.

    Reply

  35. I loooove cheese. My #1 is provolone, preferably aged, smoked or non smoked. I love most cheeses, particuarly Italian and Greek ones. Always a sucker for some good white cheddar though. 🙂

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  36. I have loved just about every cheese I have encountered, but if I had to pick one, it would be Parmesan.
    p.s. I second Randi’s recommendation that you consider acupuncture. I’ve tried it and found it helpful. I was also prescribed herbal teas. The teas were not tasty by any means (and don’t use your good pot to brew it, because I found the smell of the herbs lingered in the pot), but they believe that the tea and acupuncture work together.

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  37. Yummy from Texas! Thanks for this recipe. I added some chicken I had thawed and the family went crazy!

    I haven’t been following the hand problems, but five years ago I went through the same thing and it was carpal tunnel. They operated and I was good as new, no problems since. Hope you get some relief.

    Great blog!

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  38. I’m sorry to hear about the hand. If you can stand one more suggestion from a well-meaning person who has gone through something similar (years of pain and unusefulness, physical therapy, surgery, etc.), please take a look at Egoscue’s book _Pain Free_. He’s a physiotherapist who works with athletes and other folks with joint and mobility problems and his approach is totally noninvasive and something you can do on your own (big plus!). So when you’re ready to try yet another thing that’s not a doctor, give it a shot. Changed my life.

    Onward to cheese… I have to say I love a good triple-cream brie. Yum!

    Good luck.

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  39. Does fried cheese curds from the greasy spoon near my parents’ house in Wisconsin count? So delicious (and so unhealthy) – hands down the best food to get in that small town. Well after the two places that make ice cream and candy, that is.

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  41. We lived in Pullman for 3 freaking years and I knew about the dairy but never sampled their cheeses! Later I learned what level of stupid that was. As for cheese… Cheddar! Cheddar! Cheddar!

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  42. My daughter is a Coug and in her third year and we have tried the cheese and it’s great! Cheddar or Gold would be great.

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  43. My favorite cheese is Point Reyes blue cheese. I am a Nor Cal girl. Surprisingly, blue cheese, candied walnuts, poached Pearce and port is a magical combo. Congrats on your win!

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  44. Count me out on the giveaway as I can’t eat cheese =(, but my favorite when I could was a ball of fresh burrata! I echo the thought of trying acupuncture for your hand. I just started trying that for crazy foot pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis and have been really surprised by the improvement in my range of motion and the corresponding decrease in shooting pain. Also, I wanted to encourage you to not give up on finding a doctor that can figure out what is going on. Sometimes it takes a lot of perseverance to get to the bottom of things in our medical system.

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  45. I love Brie and goat cheese! I’ve never had cougar gold even though I live in the NW but I would love to try it!

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  49. favorite? not sure i have one as it depends on the mood/paring. there is a smoked swiss made by a local amish group that i have been enjoying lately and a cheese from ireland – red liechester (sp?)

    fruitcrmble AT comcast DOT net

    Reply

  50. My favorite cheese is the cheese curds from the store at WSU. So yummy! Thankfully my sister went to WSU (even though we grew up in a UW house 🙂 ) and was able to bring me some home quite often. This recipe sounds amazing and I can’t wait to try.

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  51. Well..cheese is just amazing. .I live in New Mexico we have really unique cheeses all special In their own way. My favorites would be muenster love the buttery flavor and Asadero real creamy. Cougar gold Sounds amazing..would love to try..Sharp chedders are perfect when your having a bad day. Slice yourself a chunk and chew your worries away.

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  53. So there’s this cheese that I randomly bought at the grocery store, just for the heck of it, and OHMYGOSH it’s so good. It’s called the Lechester Cheddar Applewood Smoked Wheel, and it’s got this really smokey, sharp cheddar, super creamy sort of taste. I’m totally obsessed with it. ^_^

    Reply

  55. I love your recipes! I have been following your blog for a while now and I’m sorry you are in a lot of pain. I have had back pain for years, tried different doctors, physical therapy. Nothing worked and I was taking many many pain pills just to get through the day. My husband convinced me to try acupuncture and it is amazing. I don’t know how it works, but it helps so much with pain. It doesn’t hurt either (that is what most people first ask me). It didn’t relieve much pain after the first session, but after about 4 sessions I was pain free. I have seen different acupuncturist, but the best seem to be the ones that learned in China. I hope it can help you. It would at least be worth a try.

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  57. I love Munster cheese! I just discovered your blog a couple of months ago and love it!! Thanks for the great recipes and for making me laugh!

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  58. Oh good golly that mac and cheese looks great! My college makes cheese too. It’s kind of weird, but they have a dairy farm type thing, so they make blue cheese and ice cream, kind of cool.

    And I’m not usually a cheese person, but when I do have mac and cheese I always grab the gruyere. It’s so creamy and delightful 🙂 Oh and I’ve been putting swiss cheese on my turkey sandwiches lately. It’s so good 🙂

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  65. Well how can anyone pick a favorite cheese? I started thinking about this and realized that probably feta is my favorite. But I also have to mention a really great stilton and then of course how can anyone live without cream cheese! I would love to win the Cougar Gold and thanks for the giveaway!!!

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  66. I do love a good mac & cheese…my favorite cheese would probably be a jalepeno havarti, or sharp cheddar, or smoked provalone…okay I just love cheese. I will admit it. Can’t wait to try out a new m&c recipe…hopefully my kids will learn soon to apprciate a better mac & cheese than the kind from the blue box…

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  67. OMG I have been craving a good mac & cheese. I am so spoiled to live near WI so I have this aged WI cheddar that has little salt crystal in it….OMG good.

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  68. Sorry to hear about the hand Peabody, but don’t lose hope. There may be better treatment yet, in the mean time – checkout active release therapy to release any sort of nerve entrapment that could be causing the problem.

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  69. Hi Peabody! I hope that someone has a treatment up their sleeve that will work for you and find you some relief from the pain. Beer, I am certain, can only take you so far (in the pain relief department!)

    I was able to visit the Cowgirl Creamery my last visit to San Fancisco and sampled the Blue Moon cheese – and it was spectacular! Always game to try new and exciting cheese flavors. Thank you for the chance!

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  72. I have to say that I haven’t found a cheese that I don’t like! Colby is one of my favorites and I’ve just started enjoying some of the sharp cheddars, but honestly I like them all!

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  73. Where can I find the cougar gold? Is it only sold near Spokane? I would really love to try it. and that Mac n cheese looks Sooo delicious.I really like applewood smoked cheddar.

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  74. Growing up in a greek household (grandmother – 100%) I was exposed to a rather delicious cheese made of sheep or goats milk called mizithra. My favorite dish is orzo pasta, with browned butter, fresh parsley and dripping in mizithra (baked is the best!). It can have a rather salty flavor to it, but infused in the right dishes, it adds a special something. We use it to top off most pasta dishes, along with roasted veggies such as broccollettes and zucchini.

    If you haven’t tried it, I insist you must!

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  77. Seriously – Cougar Gold is probably my favorite cheese. One of my girlfriends orders it every year and I stalk her until she shares with me. The crystals that develop add such a great texture, it’s absolutely addicting. I always love a good goat cheese too, you can never go wrong there!

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  78. I can’t possibly pick a favorite cheese. Havarti? Maybe. Mozzarella is so good and gooey. Pepper jack? Parmesan? Cream cheese – without which there would be no cheesecake? Or ricotta? Good old cheddar?

    I want them all.

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  80. cheese is social to me- if I’m with my friend WE like gouda. If I’m with my mom WE like havarti. Any kind of cheese is great.

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  81. Favorite cheese? That’s like asking a parent about favorite child.
    I think I’d have to say….my favorite cheese, is the one I’m about to take a nibble of. Cougar Gold sounds intriguing……

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  83. back in the day I worked in the offices at a culinary school (sweet gig, I wish I could still work there). Anyways, they offered a night time cheese class and one week the teacher brought in a weeping goat cheese rolled in ash. OMG I still try to find something close to that and probably never will. It was amazing.

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  84. I love cheese, but I actually haven’t tried a huge variety. I always see some at the grocery store I’d like to try, but I’m hesitant to buy them without an idea for how I’d like to use them. I deeply love feta and of course standard sharp cheddar!

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  85. Long time lurker, first time commenter. I love reading your blog and trying your recipes! Thanks for all the work that goes into this! I am a cheese fanatic! My oldest attends Humboldt State U in Northern CA and there is a little cheese factory in Loleta. I am in love with their Habenero White Cheddar! It is awesome!

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  86. Hmm, I love cheese so much I don’t know if I can pick one kind! 😉 I’ll have to go with goat cheese. Yum yum!

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  87. I love cheese, so it’s hard to pick just one favorite. Brie on crackers is wonderful. Nothing beats a sharp cheddar in Mac and Cheese. Munster is wonderful when melted and bubbly on top of bread. No, I just can’t choose one.

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  88. Hey Peabody, sorry to hear about your hand, hope it doesn’t slow you down too much @ hockey. That looks so yummy but then anything dripping in cheese is going to be delish. Mac n chez is our go to meal when we need comfort food! While we pretty much love any kind of cheese, you will always find a sharp cheddar in our fridge. My husband swears that one day my tombstone will say, “She was part rat!” Lol

    Love your blog.

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  89. Courgar Gold…YUM! Right up there has to be any Tillamock cheese. We can finally get it at our Sam’s Club in the Midwest. I used to bring at least one brick back after each visit home.

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  90. A better question is what cheese DON’T I like? 🙂 But if I had to choose, I couldn’t, and it would be a toss up between Dubliner Cheddar and Goat Cheese.

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  91. I’m so sorry about you hand pain. I know from experience what that entails… My favorite cheese is Wensleydale, of Wallace & Gromit fame. It’s hard to come by, but worth the trouble…

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  94. My favorite cheese is Gourmandise, a soft French cheese with walnuts in it. Sadly (luckily?) I can’t find it near me anymore. When I could find it, I bought some and ate the whole thing. I, and my stomach, loathed myself.

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  95. Can’t pass up a good smoked provolone, although a shredded sharp cheddar can’t be beat on the top of a bowl of chili.

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  97. How can you ask me to pick a favorite cheese? That’s like asking me to pick a favorite child. And I only have 2 of those! All right. If i have to pick …. Swiss. Besides being yummy, it has those adorable holes.
    canewton42@yahoo.com

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  98. My favorite cheeses would have to be a tie between Wensleydale (I also love the name and it reminds me of Wallace & Gromit) and Pecorino al Tartufo (Tuscan Pecorino with bits of Black Truffle). Neither of which I get very often, but they are awesome when you do.

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  99. Can there be a favorite kind of cheese??!!! I love too many to name just one, but the stickier the better. I live gruyer, Brie, sharp cheddars, Gorgonzola, blue, havartie, etc. I’m a cheeser for life & my friend is a Mac & cheeser! He lives for the stuff- he’ll probably be burried with it. Lol.

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  100. I love me a plain piece of Muenster. Also living near the Heart of Amish country in Ohio, we have some EXCELLENT local cheeses- including several famous swiss cheeses.

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  101. I love all sorts of cheese. My favorite recent pick was a cheese festival find, which was goat’s cheese with honey in it. DIVINE. Though for everyday cheeses, I think I’d have to go with smoked cheddar, or real parmesan. Or good ricotta. (Yes, you said one; but picking one type of cheese as a favorite is almost as hard as picking one favorite book.)

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  103. One kind? I have favorite memories of sitting on the porch with my Grandpa and eating smoked swiss with caraway seeds & crackers. Our University has a Dariy Store and some mighty fine ice cream. I will have to check out their offering of cheeses. 🙂

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  104. If I had to pick only one kind (what a cruel world that would be) – I would have to pick manchego…just for my memories of trying it for the first time in Seville, Spain 🙂

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  108. Yummmm! I’m a Coug and a big, big fan of homemade mac n cheese, how come I never thought of using Cougar Gold??!! Looks so good!

    Oh, and if I have to pick a very favorite cheese, it would just be a good sharp Cheddar. I love most all cheese though.

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  112. Cougar Gold is the bomb! The creamery at WSU makes lots of different kinds of cheese, but Cougar Gold is my favorite. I love using it for mac n cheese and for nachos.

    Reply

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