Can't. Stop. Eating. This.

Warning: This is NOT by any means a healthy recipe but it does make excellent use of leftovers, not very expensive to make and overall god damn delicious. Please, stop yourself after two helpings to be sure you have enough for the next day, because you will shed some tears after it is all gone.

Who doesn't like a good ole' box of Kraft macaroni and cheese once in a while? Minus all the crap they put in it...I've graduated from that and moved on to the real deal with real ingredients and no artificial coloring or flavoring.

Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food and I like to feel comforted ALL the time.  The homemade mac and cheese I'm used to is my Noni's. She bakes it in the oven, adds lots of milk, uses American cheese and a variety of noodles, usually spaghetti and elbows. The best part is the few slices of cheese she puts on towards the very end that get all brown and crispy. We all usually fight over that part, in addition to the "coolie" end of the loaf of Italian bread.

A few years ago I began making my own mac and cheese, starting with a bechamel sauce then throwing it in the oven. I tried to make it a bit more "healthy" by adding broccoli or peas but it just took away from that comforting feeling I get in my belly when I eat a whole bowl of creamy, oozy, unable to move, deliciousness.

I started using my crock pot to make mac and cheese, after coming across a recipe for it, which I cannot remember from where.  It's quick and easy and requires the least amount of steps.  As incredible and easy as it was, it was missing that toasty almost burnt cheese on the top that I love from my Noni's.

I got home late the other night and had my heart set out on eating some crock pot mac and cheese but now I just didn't have the time. It usually takes about 3-4 hours on a low setting for everything to melt together. So I figured I'd go back to the traditional way of putting it in the oven, solving my cheese crisp dilemma as well.  Have I mentioned that this recipe is for BUFFALO CHICKEN mac and cheese?!  We have a slight addiction to anything edible with the word "buffalo" in it.

We had cooked an entire little chicken on the grill the night before and had leftovers. Frank's Red Hot Sauce is always in our fridge. I knew I wanted to make mac and cheese soon, so the last time I went to the grocery store, I picked up a package of mixed cheese from the deli. They usually toss the "scraps" from the ends of different cheeses and sell it that way for only a few dollars. This is the secret to a good mac and cheese...lots of different cheeses.

I will try to do my best with the amounts since I tend not to measure so here we go....

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese
Serves 2...lol 
Ready to eat in.. not soon enough, but if you can wait 45 minutes, you will be very happy 

About 1 good size chicken breast, cooked and chopped

1 pound of elbow macaroni

What's left from our grilled chicken

2 1/2-3 cups of a variety of cheese (American, Cheddar, Monterrey, Swiss, Mozz, Provolone all work great)

2 cups of milk

1 egg (replaces the need for a the bechamel)

At least 1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Original  (I add more when I'm ready to eat it)

1/2 stick of butter (cut into chunks for easy melting)

6 strips of  bacon

1/4 cup Ken's Blue Cheese Dressing (Ken's is the only blue cheese dressing)

!/2 stack of Ritz crackers, beaten with a rolling pin

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook you macaroni per directions. Don't forget to salt your water!

While the macaroni is cooking, cook your chicken. I usually do it in a pan. You could also cook your bacon in the same pan afterwards or vice versa if you want to give your chicken some extra bacony flavor. To see other ways to cook bacon check out my post, The Potatoes Have Eyes...

Combine your milk and egg.

In a bowl, throw in your chopped chicken, cheese, bacon crumbles, milk and egg mixture, butter and hot sauce.  When the pasta is drained, toss it right on top of the other ingredients in the bowl and combine until everything is incorporated.

Leftover chunks of cheese from the deli! Only $3.45

Put the ingredients in a large baking dish. Cover with tin foil and bake for about 25 minutes, stirring frequently making sure all the ingredients are fully doused in cheese and hot sauce. You may also notice you might need a little bit more milk if the pasta is too dry. Add some and stir.

After 25 minutes, drizzle on your blue cheese dressing and stir carefully. We wouldn't want any of this to get wasted on the bottom of the oven!  Last, sprinkle your crushed Ritz crackers on top.

Broil for about 2 minutes or until the top is nice and toasty!

If you want to try the crock pot version, I highly recommend it! All you would do is combine all the ingredients in your crock pot and cook it on a lower temp for just a few hours. Like I said, it's super easy and comes out great but lacks the texture of oven baked mac and cheese. I would not put crackers in top. They might just get a little mushy.

If for some strange reason you don't like buffalo sauce...I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't...you can omit it. You can even omit the bacon too and try to make it with veggies but as I also said, for me, it's just not the same. Sauteed onions would be a good addition as well.

When you want to reheat this either later that night for a snack or the next day for breakfast, pour a little bit more milk on it and probably some more hot sauce too. You can never have enough. It will make it nice and moist again.

You're Welcome.

The Potatoes Have Eyes...

Photo www.newlifeonahomestead.com

White potatoes have gotten a pretty bad reputation I feel like and honestly, I kinda miss eating them. They're known as being really starchy, filling and just not nutritionally beneficial to you. Sweet potatoes have become the only "good" potato....I personally LOVE sweet potatoes, especially with lots of brown sugar and butter! But how good can that be?  I recently bought some Russet potatoes because sometimes you just need a loaded baked potato with butter...and sour cream...and cheese...and bacon...and a lil broccoli. My plan was to cook a nice London Broil with a baked potato on the side. However, my husband's stomach decided to take a vacation from eating and feeling good, landing him in the emergency room two times in one week. His diet has consisted of bland, dairy free low carb, non fatty foods...served with a side of Nexium. So my "lowly" and lonely potatoes sat on the counter untouched and ignored for many days.

I hate wasting food, plus potatoes have a pretty good shelf life...until they start to grow eyes...those little green sprouts that begin to creep out of the skin (The photo is from another page I like, as I didn't take photos or expect to blog about old potatoes). Other people would probably look at them with disgust and toss them in the trash...sounds kinda like my Save the 'Nanas post. My husband wanted to put them in the garden but it being March, the ground is still frozen.  Me with my make do with what you have mentality said "Why don't we make home fries?! BUFFALO Home Fries!" Uh YES!  We love going out to breakfast and haven't been for some time. One of the places we go to has Buffalo Home Fries on the menu and they are AMAZING! I'm pretty confident I can make them at home just as good, if not better. My husband is finally feeling like he can eat real food again! I am so relieved to able to go back to normal with my cooking or even cooking at all!

I do have to give my husband credit for being the one to actually cook these up because my breakfast, as I have stated in previous posts, is coffee...with a side of more coffee. He is the one to cook breakfast 9 times out of 10.  But I have made these home fries before for him so I talk him through the steps as I drink my breakfast in front of the laptop.

Buffalo Home Fries
Makes about 2-3 servings

2 large Russet potatoes
Half of a white onion
Half a stick of butter
Olive oil
Frank's Red Hot Sauce
Paprika
Garlic Powder
Bacon

The potatoes have to be partially cooked before entering the pan. I have a handy little button on my microwave strictly for cooking potatoes. Pull off the eyes, pierce them with a fork a few times and pop em in for about 5 minutes. You want them to be somewhat soft but not completely cooked or else they will turn to smashed potatoes in your pan.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat a skillet on medium heat.

Dice your onions. As ridiculous as you will look and as silly as it sounds, wearing sunglasses while you chop onions usually helps prevent your eyes from watering. Add 2 TBS of butter to your pan. Add the onions.

When the potatoes are done, chop into chunks discarding any brown sections or parts that don't look good. Toss them in the pan with the onions.

While the potatoes and onions are cooking, make your bacon and set aside. I have a few different methods to cook bacon. My husband prefer the stove top way, but I kinda like the microwave method.

1. Stove Top- Cook in a separate pan over medium heat, flipping a few times. Place on a paper towel to absorb excess grease.
2. Broiler- On a tin foil lined pan, place strips of bacon under the broiler for about 8 minutes.
3. Microwave- Line a microwaveable dish with a paper towel and place strips of bacon. Cover with another paper towel and microwave for about 3-4 minutes until bacon is crisp.

Add the rest of the butter to the pan of potatoes and put the heat on medium high. Drizzle some olive oil if the pan gets too dry. To get a nice crispiness to the potatoes the pan should be moist and on a higher heat. Toss and flip your potatoes often so they cook evenly on all sides.

Add some sprinkles of paprika and garlic powder, maybe about 1/4 tsp.  Squirt as much or as little hot sauce on the potatoes still in the pan. We likes things super spicy so I do about 10 shakes of the bottle then add more once they're on my plate.

My husband's breakfast

Once the potatoes are brown and crispy, crumble your bacon on top and serve with a side of Ken's Blue Cheese dressing...or Ranch works too.

I think potatoes will reenter my kitchen again. They really aren't all that bad for you and do have great health benefits...I mean they grown under the ground and absorb all kinds of nutrients from the soil. I kinda feel like I'm eating the Earth when I have a potato. Can't have them all the time with heavy toppings but there are sooooo many other things you can do with with them.

Instead of potato "flakes" make some real effing mashed potatoes!!!

My breakfast