Comfort Foods Part 3 - Mac and Cheese

It’s the last week of comfort food. I can’t believe Halloween is next week and October is over already. 

There is nothing more comforting than a good ol’ plate or bowl of mac and cheese. You can keep your mac and cheese real simple by doing a simple cream sauce with macaroni and a cheddar cheese baked topping. You can do a time saving pressure cooker mac and cheese (Nicole will share more about that later on) or you can do a “grown up” mac and cheese with chicken and bacon and a few different cheeses. 

Nicole has a recipe for mac and cheese that you can do in a pressure cooker. It looks so simple and quick to make. For this you will need a pressure cooker of course. You will also need...

4 tbsp. of butter

¼ cup of flour

4 cups of low fat milk

1 ½ cups of chicken broth

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. dried thyme

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper  

1 pound of dried Penne pasta

1 cup Gruyere cheese

1 cup of Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in the pressure cooker on the browning setting. Then sprinkle in the flour and whisked until dissolved. 

Whisk in the milk slow and steadily. Pour in the broth and whisk until smooth. Then whisk in the mustard, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir in the dried and uncooked Penne pasta.

Lock the lid and cook at high pressure for 5-8 minutes.

Use the pot’s quick release method to bring the pot’s pressure back to normal. 

Unlock and open the pot and stir in the cheeses. Cover without locking and let sit for a few minutes to melt the cheese in. Open and stir thoroughly before serving. 

For my more “elaborate” version of mac and cheese you will need a simple white sauce. You can make your own or buy a plain Alfredo sauce in a jar from the supermarket.

First of all boil some pasta. Penne, Rotini’s, or regular Macaroni will do. Your choice. I usually do 4-5 cups or more of dried pasta because I cook it for my family, but you can make enough for how many people you are cooking for. Once that has cooked, drain and set aside. 

Warm up the sauce in a pot. Stir in some grated Parmesan cheese about a cup and about 2 cups of either cheddar cheese or Mozzarella. Warm it up, but be sure not to boil it. Keep on low heat.

While you are cooking the sauce and pasta, you can put the chicken in the oven. Use the method from a few weeks back when we did the chowder. Cook about 3-4 chicken breasts if you’re cooking for a large amount of people. This will take about 30 minutes. Then chop up into bite sized pieces and add to the sauce. 

After you make the sauce, fry up some bacon in small bites. Drain and pat and then add this directly to the sauce. If want a healthier mac and cheese then you can add some boiled broccoli or some spinach leaves. 

Once you have the bacon and chicken in the sauce, pour the pasta in and stir until all is coated. 

You can put it in a large casserole dish or you can do what I enjoy doing and make individual mac and cheeses. 

 Sprinkle with a mix of cheddar and Mozzarella cheese. 

Bake at 375 degrees for about 30-45 minutes or until bubbling and the cheese is browned.  

Serve right out of the oven, but be careful... don’t burn your tongue.