Thursdays Are For Cooking
Bacon and penne pasta
That’s another name for bacon mac & cheese. For some reason, people seem to have to dress things up when it isn’t necessary, and there are mac & cheese recipes allovertheplace, if you look for them. But this is simple, easy to fix, and with still-chilly weather in many places, adding mixed veggies to it, (after you use hot water to thaw them from the freezer bag) will simply make it a complete meal.
So here you are:
Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked penne pasta
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
2 cups of 2% milk
3 cups (or a 12-ounce pack) of shredded cheddar cheese, divided (meaning hold back enough for the topping)
1/2 cup of cooked crumbled bacon
Directions:
Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
In a large saucepan, saute the garlic in butter for 1 minute. Stir in flour and pepper until smooth, then gradually stir in the milk. Keep stirring it until it thickens, reduce the heat and stir in 2 cups of the shredded cheese. Remove it from the heat.
Drain the pasta. Add the pasta and 1/3 cup of the bacon to the cheese sauce. Pour the mixture into a greased 2 quart baking dish.
Cover the mixture and bake it at 350F for 30 minutes, then uncover it and sprinkle the remaining bacon and cheese on top of the pasta/cheese/bacon mixture.
Bake it for another 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese is melted.
This should provide 4 to 6 servings, but if you have more people to feed, increase the recipe amounts accordingly. And be generous with the bacon and the cheese.
As I indicated above, you can add thawed mixed vegetables to this for a complete meal in one dish, and have crudites (cut veggies) on the side, along with a good, crusty bread and fresh butter. And for afters, how about a nice apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream?
Category: Economy
Comfort Food!
Thank You, Ex-PH2, for another great recipe.
The 2 B’s…Bacon & Butter…
And of course, CHEESE!
🥓🧀🍝
timetoeat
I like simple food with good ingredients, as does everyone else. It should be something you can enjoy with a good book, or good friends.
This was the simplest recipe I could come up with.
And it is inexpensive as well.
Some Resturants may charge $15.00 for a helping of that dish.
🍝🍴
Put some South in yo Mouth. Mac & cheese IS a veggie down here y’all. Bacon goes with anything! Every thing is better with bacon! And on the 8th day, God created bacon. Best way to eat veggies? Feed ’em to a pig and eat the bacon the pig makes.
And hot apple pie with vanilla bean Ice Cream = Heaven on Earth.
Thanks Ex-PH2, make this fairly often. Goes real good with turnip greens or cabbages, (flavored with bacon/drippings), a skillet of buttermilk cornbread (heavily buttered), and if you’re serious about supper, a porked chop, fried, baked, or grilled.
eatmorebacon
Happy to grant that any way mac & cheese comes together, and whatever it’s called, it’s goooooood. Yummy, yummy.
After trying many ways of preparing it, our favorite is still simply cook the mac, drain it, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Add Velveeta, some sautéed onion, salsa and as much of the reserved liquid as needed to make it the consistency you want. Crumbled bacon would be a great addition, and would require no additonal pans, if you cook it first and then saute the onions in the same pan.
Too bad that most of what is in it is no longer on the diet plan.
5lbs of russet potatoes unpeeled
1 package of chopped spinach
1lb of bacon
2 onions
12oz of heavy cream
2 sticks of butter
Combine and welcome to weight gain