Smoky Bacon Baked Mac & Cheese

Happy Wednesday to you. This recipe is a gem that you'll definitely want to try!  I made it for the first time a week before Thanksgiving and then again just a few weeks ago. It works great as a potluck bring along, side dish or a main dish. This is comfort food at its best. 

Smoky cheese + smoky bacon + crunchy topping 

+ creamy whole wheat pasta = delicious!

Most people are looking for something healthy and light during the beginning of the year, but most people I know have kiddos. Kids love mac & cheese.  I love mac & cheese. On the family front, pasta is a great place to introduce a new veggie and or a new type of cheese to your kids or your hubby. Think of it as a delicious food exploration lesson versus the diet killer that it could be. But yes if you are on a diet serve this as a side dish with some grilled chicken, fish, or a burger sans the bun and a grilled/roasted vegetable. This recipe has some serious flavor and some serious calories hence me only making it once a month or so. 

Serves 3-5 as a main dish 

Prep + cooking time: 25- 35 minutes

Recipe lighted up and adapted from

Shugary Sweets 

(a fun blog with beautiful pictures)
Posted in collaboration with other bloggers at Whats Cooking Wednesday

Ingredients:
half of a box of veggie or whole wheat short dry pasta (approx 5-7 oz)
2 Tbs butter + 1 1/2 Tbs melted in a separate dish via microwave
1 1/8 cup of 1 or 2 percent low fat milk
1/4 cup of whole wheat white flour
3/4 cup of half and half
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/2 lb of smoked gouda or smoked cheddar cheese, shredded or grated
1/4- 1/2 lb of sharp cheddar cheese, shredded or grated
*optional I have added 3 cups of blanched broccoli into it before right before baking and worked out great
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup of panko bread crumbs (depending on the size of your baking dish - you want the top completely covered - you'll use more if you have a rectangle sized dish). 
4-6 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled (I usually just make bacon earlier in the week and save some of it for this later)

Directions:

1. Cook half of a box 1 minute short of the al dente cooking time of veggie shell pasta or your favorite whole wheat small cut dry pasta. Then drain it. Should end up being 6-7 minutes but do check your own box directions.

2. While pasta is cooking preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare a baking dish with nonstick spray or some butter to prevent sticking.  

3. While pasta is still cooking make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter over medium heat in medium sized- large pot. Then add the flour. Let it cook for a minute. Keeping the heat on medium add in the milk and half & half. Whisk it until the sauce begins to thicken. It should be boiling but not hard. Should take about 3-5 minutes for the sauce to get the consistency you want. Remove the entire pot from the heat and add in rest of the cheese sauce ingredients after it it is thickened. Trust me. Doesn't work well the other way. Add in the pepper, dry mustard, and grated or shredded cheese last. Once the cheese is melted you are done with the sauce almost. Taste it carefully - don't burn yourself. Add salt here if needed.

4. Add the sauce to cooked pasta or vise versa depending on which pot is biggest. Stir to coat the pasta with the cheese sauce and carefully pour the hot mixture into the baking dish. 

5. Top the baking dish with crumbled cooked bacon, panko bread crumbs, and last but not least a bit of melted butter to give that great golden yellow color. 

 6. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes uncovered. 

Enjoy!
Stephanie

Spicy Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

I am back from my little break. Feeling much better. Thanks. I wanted to share this before I jumped back into my challenge of 30 Rachael Ray recipes. This recipe is from one of my favorite bloggers, Lindsay. She posted this yummy pasta mac and cheese recipe and her pictures immediately made me hungry. But as I was making it I was like you know this would taste better if it had a zing or punch to it. I blame it on football season - all those chip and salsa first downs... lol. So i upped the ante a little bit by giving it some heat and adding all my favorite things more cheese, more fat, and more veggies. What recipe doesn't need a touch more bacon? Love that stuff. Its also safe to say I have a good working relationship with cheese.  So here goes it. Happy Pumpkin eating!

 The recipe 

Serves 4 comfortably

prep + cook time = 20-25 minutes 
(including time for bacon to cook & water to start boiling)

2 cups of veggie pasta rotini 

3 large carrots, peeled if you want, or just washed well and finely diced ( 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup of pumpkin puree
1 clove of garlic, minced

1/4 cup or 6 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup (6 pieces) of cooked crisp crumbled bacon 

2 oz cream cheese (not fat free)
1/2 tsp salt + 1 tsp for the pasta

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 cup of evaporated milk, fat free
1/4 - 1/2 cup of pepperjack cheese *

Step 1: Cook pasta as per directions on the box with 1 tsp salt. Half way through cooking time add in the chopped carrots (no more than 5 minutes so they stay tender crisp)

Step 2: Drain pasta the return it to the same pot on the stove over low. Add in all the rest of the ingredients except green onions. 

Step 3: Stir the pot until all the cheese is melted and it looks like mac and cheese. Taste add additional salt or/and pepper if needed. 


*Note: I have an approximate amount of pepperjack cheese listed because this brand was spicier than most and I didn't put it in my son's mac & cheese. So I scooped his bowl up and then left the pot on low while i let the rest of the cheese melt into the remaining pasta for everyone else. I am telling you this because I do look for family friendly - kid friendly recipes and want to be real on how things really work in my kitchen. 


Step 4: Sprinkle each bowl you serve up with green onions for texture, color and freshness :)

the kid's bowl - hes not super fond the purple color but it looks good in this picture with the orange veg.

Enjoy!  We really liked this meal and I enjoyed how easy it was to incorporate veggies into homemade mac & cheese (a staple at my house) Next time I might cut half of the carrots out and put in some frozen peas. I really like the whole green orange october color themed bowl I stumbled onto :)