Mac and Cheese with a Twist

Here's the mac and cheese recipe I talked about the other day. With it I had a salisbury steak-like burger patty with fresh, homemade gravy. I didn't realize brown gravy was SO easy to make...seriously, why have I been using the junk in the package for so long?

With the macaroni and cheese, I made the macaroni and cheese from a few posts back, but I added about 4 slices of Canadian bacon that I had cut into pieces. If you add them to the cheese sauce before you add the noodles, the cheese sauce will get a little bit more of the flavor. Also, I put the whole mixture in a glass baking dish and topped with some of the Italian bread crumbs and mozzarella cheese and it made it even better! You might throw in a teaspoon of melted butter or soft butter to make the bread crumbs a little crispier.

If you find the original recipe of macaroni and cheese a little 'soupy' (honestly, I was a little worried it was at first) you can add cornstarch if you're making just the original recipe. HOWEVER, if you are making it with the canadian bacon and bread crumbs, don't thicken it. Baking the macaroni will dry it out a little and we don't want it to be extra thick and gross.



Here's the hamburger and gravy gig:

1/4 lb hamburger meat
dash of garlic salt
1 tablespoon butter
2-3 mushrooms sliced

2 cups beef broth, chilled
2 bouillon cubes
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Mix the hamburger and the garlic salt and shape into a patty. Heat in a large frying pan, staying to one side of the pan. On the other side of the pan, drop the tablespoon of butter and as it melts, add the mushrooms. Keep the foods on their respective sides of the pan.
2. Cook until the burger is done and the mushrooms are tender.
3. Remove the meat and add 1 cup of the beef broth and the bouillon cubes to the frying pan.
4. Combine the cornstarch with the remaining beef broth and blend well.
5. Slowly add the last cup of broth to the pan, after the bouillon cubes have started to dissolve. Cook together until it begins to thicken.
6. Add the burger patty back to the gravy mix and let it all simmer for a few minutes as the gravy thickens.

This will probably make more gravy than you need...in fact, I know it will. BUT, you can save some for use later in the week, or you can chunk it. Or, you can put some on top of your dogs food like I did. Yes, my dog is spoiled.


I hope you go and make your own gravy tonight! It is stupid easy!

Happy Cooking! I'll have a 'fresh' recipe for you later this week! I just didn't want y'all to think I'd finished cooking everything I wanted to.


ALSO, if you're not sure about the risotto, you need to just hush and make it. I tried risotto in a VERY fancy restaurant this weekend and mine was without a doubt better. And it isn't going to cost you nearly as much as my dinner did.

Do stuff and happy cooking!

amy