Thursdays Are For Cooking
It’s a casserole this time. The holidays are coming up and you will have leftovers galore, including ham and chicken and turkey and that can be either sliced or diced or just plain nibbled on.
But first, because I love bacon, it’s Bacon Mac and Cheese. You will need the following:
2 cups of cooked short pasta. Penne is good for this. Those ridges hold lots of sauce.
1 garlic clove, minced (smashed flat with a spoon)
2 tablespoons of butter
¼ teaspoon of black pepper
2 cups of milk
3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup (or more) or crisp, crumbled, crunchy bacon – I have found LOTS of bacon is good for this, as it is mixed in with the pasta as well as sprinkled on top, so if you want more than 1/2 cup – go for it!!!
Cook the pasta according to the package directions until it is al dente. Put it in a 2 qt baking pan (line with foil for easy clean-up).
To make the roux base for the cheese sauce: over a low flame melt the butter in a saucepan, sauté the garlic in it until softened, add flour and pepper, stirring all the while, until the roux is smooth. Then slowly add the milk and stir until it thickens, then add 2 cups of shredded cheese and keep stirring until the cheese is all melted and blended in.
Add half of the bacon and stir into the cheese sauce. Then remove the pot from the heat.
Pour the cheese sauce with bacon over the pasta and give it a mix with your spoon.
Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
Uncover the casserole, sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese and bacon on the top of the casserole, and bake at 350F for another 5 to 10 minutes.
Obviously, you’ll also need rolls or fresh-sliced crusty bread, butter, jam, and some freshly cut veggies on the side, along with appropriate drinks. Enjoy your day and the rest of the week.
Num Num! Ya had me at bacon! “…LOTS of bacon…” On the 8th Day, God created BACON! Way to go Big Guy. This recipe ties in nicely with today’s gun pr0n of the Wilson SBR (Shoot Bacon Rifle) and the “…harvested hundreds of wild pigs…”
You prolly had Jeff LPH3 at penne, you know how he is.
Down heah, mac n cheese IS considered a veggie. I got a little hongry a’waiting on today’s offerings, so I whipped up a pot of cheese grits, mixed in scrambled eggs and some of that hickory smoke Conecuh Sausage to tide me over. Kinda nippy and wet down heah @ Firebase Magnolia.
Thanks Ex. Mama made this for us on many a’time. Pro tip…while the oven is on, go ahead and put a skillet of buttered milk cornbread in there too.
Let’s Eat!
Yeah, sorry I left out the recipe for cornbread (there are several, but I’ll go to your idea) and all those things that make a meal completely satisfying should be included.
It’s nippy and wet and gloomy up here in my AO. I saw several flocks of geese heading south yesterday, got photos, and found a flock on the river not ready to take off just yet. Some of those fat Canuck geese were solid black with white tail feathers and the standard chin strap. That’s new, by itself.
Take care and stay warm!
Oh yum! This really is the best way to make mac n cheese! Perfect for this weather. Maybe soon I can afford the bacon. 😉
Thanks Ex.
For those who like to cook under pressure…
Instant Pot Bacon Mac and Cheese
12 oz bacon, chopped
1 pound uncooked macaroni pasta
4 cups water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons salt
1 (5-ounce) can evaporated milk
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
8 ounces shredded Gouda cheese
black pepper to taste
Instructions
Add chopped bacon to the Instant Pot and sauté for 8 minutes or until crispy.
Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Turn off the Instant Pot, and add the pasta, water, butter, and salt.
Close and lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 4 minutes cook time
Quick release to vent
Remove lid and stir in the evaporated milk, cheeses and black pepper.
Using the sauté setting, cook for about 4 minutes or until the cheese had melted, stirring frequently.
Stir in bacon and serve warm
Garnish with additional bacon if desired
Ex-PH2 is absolutely correct in the penne pasta is the way to go with something like this.
Have a confession.
One of our PXs had a sale on those Instant Pot…over a year ago.
We bought one.
We printed all your recipes..and have only used the Instant Pot once…
Guess old habits are hard to break…Heck, we still use CASH to buy stuff…once in a while, we will use our Credit Cards to keep our credit score high..
And we still write checks to pay our bills.
Most likely, oneday, some Woke person will demand that Washington be taken off the $1.00 bill…that Jefferson be taken off the $2.00 bill…that Mount Vernon and Montecello will be shut down as well as the Jefferson Memorial…
And that “1984” and “Animal Farm” become “banned” books.
Probably “Charlotte’s Web” will go next as well as “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”..and then eventually, Thanksgiving will be banned as well as Easter and Christmas.
Same with Mothers and Fathers Day…AND the 4th of July…
😔
Guess old habits are hard to break. People do what they are comfortable with. It’s understandable. Recently, the wife and I got tired of cooking the same thing over and over and over. We got tired of the same flavors and things. So we started looking for new things. Nando’s Peri Peri sauce, harissa, aja, Jamacian jerk rub are all in the pantry now and we always look for new flavors to try and use. My parents had a pressure cooker that had the old style “wobble” release on the top. Those things are dangerous and probably should be thrown out. But when we started looking at the Instant Pot, we were looking at it to save time and effort and frankly, cleanup. There are things that we use it for that are traditional dishes. Soups for one are great. You get so much more flavor in a short period of time. The thing is a great rice cooker too. Not many people realize that. Beef / chicken stroganoff are easy and take a lot less time over conventional methods. Better yet, because of the pressure, you can take lesser quality of meats and make them melt in your mouth. Baked potatoes are winners as well. You can cook a tater in 20 minutes in the Instant Pot. You can’t do that in an oven. I would never tell people to abandon the use of a traditional stove, oven or even in some cases, a crock pot. There are things that we can make in the Instant Pot but choose to make on the stove or in an oven. The Instant Pot is another tool in the cooking arsenal. Nothing more. Nothing less. I love mine because of the flexibility it gives my wife and I. If we come home late, we can whip up something fast and tasty in the IP before the oven gets warmed up. We don’t use it all the time, but it is fun to use when we want and need it. Finally, try something easy like this dump cake in the IP. If you… Read more »
Another GREAT recipe provided by our very own Ex-PH2.
Thank You!
KoB NAILED it with the Bacon comment.
And you as well, Ex…when you wrote LOTS of Bacon. Thank You again!
Speaking of Bacon…
Went Commissary shopping last weekend…and was taken back by the increased price of Bacon…and other grocery consumables..
Sometimes the ninja family uses grocery stores that are outside of a Military Base…Prices for food and other items ARE alot less expensive at the Commissary.
We really feel for those who have to pay those higher prices…especially for those young people who are working and not asking for government handouts.
Or for those who do not have access to a Commisssary.
At least the shelves at the Commissary and the civilian grocery stores in our AO are not empty. Hopefully for KoB, your K Rogers are now stocked with necessities to keep you, our Rebel (gabn/hbtd/rtr) and your love ones to include your 4 legged critters happy and content.
Thank Goodness the ninja family bought those MREs a while back…they were supposed to be backups for bad weather conditions, storm outages, etc.but with the current supply situation with Plugs Biden and his USELESS VP and his Transport guy..
Again, we shared with our grown children (before the last election) about our lives during the Jimmy Carter Days.
Out kids are now starting to get it. Painfully. As in paying more $$$ for gas,food,etc.
Just wait until our Federal and State taxes start changing, i.e. INCREASING.
Thank Goodness our kids all have jobs..and also worked during the 2020 situation instead of seeking the “free” $$$ that was handed out to some during the “Pandemic”.
Sadly, there are folks out there who still refuse to accept responsibilty for their actions and still rely on getting “free” $$$ as well as other “free” stuff to support their irresponsible lifestyle.
FDR created it. So did LBJ.
And now we have Plugs and Crew doing the same stuff. History repeating itself.
We never learn…
Lets Go Brandon.
😉😎
I agree on prices. Bacon and ham have both gone up considerably where I live and while I don’t ssop at the commissary, I doubt that anyone at the nearby base is getting any real breaks at all.
If you can find a good price on things like bacon, buy it in bulk, get a load of Ziplock freezer bags and freeze it for future use. Unless things chill soon (and I have my doubts about that), I’m concerned that prices will rise even more.
Sad, sad, sad.
It’s usually Fish on Fridays at the Hatchet household. However, NOT tomorrow! Just in from her day at work and glancing over my shoulder as she settled in, our Missus Hatchet took one look at this mouth-watering recipe and declared that tomorrow Fish is on hold and tomorrow is BACON Mac & Cheese night. YeeHaw!! The only thing better than Bacon? MORE Bacon!!!
And yes, it’ll be replete with my all time fav – CORN BREAD!! Ex-PH2, the Missus says Thank you for posting this dinner-delight and sends her very best. As my little nephew loves to declare ‘Yum! Eat yum-yum’!! Cheers to all here.
Thank you, Hatchet! And thank Mrs. Hatchet for going for the gusto, too!
With things going the way they are, and inflation taking a sorry, heavy toll on ordinary citizens, anything we can do so economize is worth the effort.
I’m going to include more of those old Better Homes & Gardens 1950s cookbook recipes in the future, because they work with today’s ingredients and timing, and if the shelves get cleared off again, having raw ingredients on hand will make good home cooking possible.
Also, the Hillbilly Chef shows us how to use current stuff on the her down-home recipes, which I think we all need to value.