Unbelievable Mac and Cheese

We went to my niece's birthday party a couple weeks ago and my sister in law Kristin made this YUMMY mac and cheese. I have been looking for a good homemade mac and cheese recipe and trust me this is the one!! My girls ate it and loved it. Dave loved it because it has bacon! I had to have her email me the recipe so here it is!

7 Tablespoons Unsalted butter

1 clove of garlic minced

1 1/2 cups coarse bread crumbs ( I used Panko in the one I made for you guys)
1 bag for real bacon bits (or 6-7 peices of bacon, cooked and crumbled)

salt and ground pepper

1 pound elbow macaroni

1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 cups whole milk-warmed

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese-shredded

2 cups fontina cheese-shredded ( I used Dubliner cheese in the one I made, but any sharp cheese would work)

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

in a large frying pan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until tender but not browned about 3 minutes. Add the bread crumbs and stir until coated with butter. I then added crumbled bacon. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a shallow 3-quart baking dish. Cook the macaroni according to the directions until not quite al dente-it will go in the oven and cook more. Drain and set aside. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons butter to the pot used for the pasta and melt over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Reduce heat to medium-low and let bubble for 1 minute without browning. Gradually whisk in the milk, raise the heat to medium and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Remove from heat and stir in the cheeses along with the mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the pasta. Spread in the prepared baking dish and sprinkle evenly with the buttered crumbs. Bake until the crumbs are browned and the sauce is bubbling about 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then serve.

Fiesta Chicken Casserole

 

Michelle made this for lunch during our Sister Saturday Spectacular. It was easy to make and everyone loved it. Even the kids ate it. There was none left! I'm not sure where this recipe comes from because she found it on pinterest and the recipe is in the description and when you click on the picture, it takes you to the twitter login page, so if you know where this came from let me know. We would love to give credit for this recipe.

 

2 cups chicken breast grilled & cubed

 2 cups medium shell pasta cooked

  2 cups cheddar/jack cheese blend

 1 can of cream of chicken soup

 1 can Rotel

1 can green chilies

 1/2 cup of milk

  Cover with cheese

salt and pepper to taste!

 

Cook noodles according to the package

Mix all the ingredients together and place in a 9x13 pan

Cover and Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

Baked Cream Cheese Speghetti Casserole

Again Pinterest is the blame for this recipe! We made it the other night for our annual Oscar party, and I thought it was really good. Plus it was way easy to make. I got the recipe from here.

12 oz spaghetti
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (28oz)
1 lb hamburger
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 clove of garlic minced
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 pan.

In a skillet brown meat and drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and set aside.

Cook the noodles according to the packet. Drain noodles and place in a bowl. Add the italian seasoning, garlic and cream cheese, mix until cream cheese is melted and the noodles are coated.

put a little bit of the sauce on the bottom of your pan. Then put in the noodles and cover with the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle the parm cheese on top and bake for about 30 minutes!

Enjoy

Feta Cheese and Spinach Orzo Pasta

 Beleive it or not I got this of the container of feta cheese!

1 Cup orzo pasta

1/2 tsp minced garlic

2tbsp olive oil

10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 tsp salt

2 oz feta cheese

dash of fresh ground pepper

cook pasta in boiling water until tender, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, saute garlic in olive oil; add spinach and stir until hot.

Drain pasta and stir into spinach mixture. Stir in salt and pepper, then gently fold in feta cheese.

(serves 4)

This would be really good as a side to chicken or pork or..well, anything really,because it is yummy!!

Fettuccine with Sweet Pepper-Cayenne Sauce

Umkay, so I made this last week, and it is easy and really good. I dumped waaaay too much cayenne pepper in (my bad) but the hubs loved the spice. Will definitely make again!

12 ounces dry fettuccine pasta
2 red bell peppers, julienned
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup reduced fat sour cream
3/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste




Directions
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Meanwhile, spray cooking oil in a large skillet and saute red bell peppers, garlic and cayenne pepper over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Stir in sour cream and broth; simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cheese.
4. Toss hot pasta with sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste; serve.

Fettuccine Alfredo

1/2 c. Butter
1/2 c. Heavy Whipping Cream
3/4 c. Parmesan Cheese (if you have it use the grated cheese in the package, not the stuff in the bottle, it tastes the same but it makes a smoother sauce)
1 tbsp Lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

You can add red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit too.

Melt the butter while stirring in the whipping cream. Continue stirring until the butter is melted. Stir in parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and lemon juice. cook until cheese is melted.

Serve over any noodles you like. You can also add stuff like chicken, or vegetables to it and it is always good.