Macaroni & Cheese Surprise
 

No matter how old I get, I still love the occasional meal of mere macaroni & cheese. Sometimes I add crushed Doritos or the Hormel "real" bacon pieces (not bac-os) to give them a little crunch. However, avoid adding sliced hot dogs, grilled onions, and crushed Doritos all in the same batch. That particular combination turned out to be pure barf.

Food for thought.

Do you use box Mac and Cheese or make it from scratch?

First of all, box macaroni and cheese is what the VC served in the Hanoi Hilton. It is cruel and unusual punishment and an abomination.

This is an interesting website for some good mac and cheese recipes.

http://www.macaroniandcheeseandcheese.com/

They have a contest every year based on nationwide submissions.

We have made some of them...very delicious.

SO if you eat it you might grow up to run for president?

If you eat it, it makes you more qualified in areas such as national security and immigration/border control.

I have several variations, the most complicated being a recipe that was featured by the smiling Italian lady on the Food Network (the one who likes to show us her boobies). Usually though, for the sake of time, I use the "deluxe" versions from a box that have their own cheese pouch, therefore I don't have to bother with the butter or milk.

This is a good one from Bobby Flay that I gave to LiveCoug back when he and I were dating.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/b...ipe/index.html

It is really good and pretty easy to make.

If I'm going to go through that much work to pick up all those different ingredients, it's not going to be Mac 'n Cheese that I make.

You dated Bobby Flay? Did he keep asking whether you wanted fries with that?

That's not really Mac n Cheese, it's really a version of spaghetti carbonara using elbow mac noodles instead of spaghetti.

He tried to rub down Triple Dad with pablano peppers and ancho chile powder.

You just told me all I need to know about dining at the Levin house.

btw, what you call "that much work" I simply call going to the grocery store once a week with a list. You have to go anyway, pick up some ingredients.

When I dated Emeril, I knew he was in the mood because he would always yell, "let's kick it up a notch!"

He never got past second base, though, even though his Essence is delicious.

If you came to the Levin house and were offered a meal with 20 ingredients, it would not be Mac 'n Cheese.

The smiling Italian lady on the Food Network who likes to show us her boobies is Giada De Laurentiis.

You really should expand your epicureanism.

There is a whole world out there.

If you eat mac and cheese, you have two choices....heat up your box of pasta and cheese sauce.....or.......spend some time and make something new. These dishes take on much more character than simple comfort food when they are layered with new ingredients. They cease to be sides and can be legitimate mains.

I am down for a meal at your pad, though. I will bring the mac and cheese.

Lebowski makes an awesome Mac 'n Cheese caserole. Toss in some macaroni, a little milk, a can of Cream of Mushroom, a handful of cheese. Slap that in the caserole dish and top with more cheese and some crumpled Lays. 425 for 25 minutes and you have yourself a dish any RSP would be proud of.

Hmm, I'll have to try that one.

In one of the areas I served in as a missionary, my companion was a native and the rest of us from the states. On one occasion, when it was the turn of one of the other Elders to make lunch, the kid - who had only been out for about 2 months or so - whipped up a batch of mac and cheese from scratch, though he used rigatoni rather than macaroni, as I never came across macaroni in Italy.

Anyway, my companion, who was always ready to eat (though he wasn't fat at all) sat in his seat, looked at what had been prepared, looked at the Elder who had made the meal and yelled "WHAT IS THIS ABOMINATION?"

After some prodding, he finally relented and ate it, but declared that from that day forth, if he was in the same apartment as this other Elder, my comp would cook the days the other kid was supposed to cook.

It was win-win. We ate his great cooking more often and that kid didn't have to cook for the next 2 months or so.

Il Pad, in reply to your post, Indy Coug is in a meeting with the Cub Scouts and asked me to post the following:

About macaroni in Italy?

They call it pasta secca in Italy (dried pasta) but it is applicable to just about any dried pasta.

I should have clarified that I never came across elbow macaroni that we traditionally use for mac and cheese.

How about this Sunday? And I can't wait to try the mac-and-cheese dish. My 20-ingredient dish will just involve grits with melted bleu cheese, mashed potatoes, and a juicy steak.

Bastard.

No him and Livecoug were the ones who were dating