Recipe spam ahoy!
I initially wrote this up when Very Bored in order to spam the GCS on Gaia with my dark arts, but since it's all typed up so neatly, I figured I should share. You will read the following, and one day, ONE DAY, when you're hungry. . . you will make it and taste the awesome.
I have this strange passion for turning quick and easy boxed meals into things of wonder with fresh ingredients. . . On one hand, tasty! On the other hand, totally perverting the quick and easy nature of mac and cheese in a box! This takes about half an hour to make, but satisfies three or four people deeply. Please note that you may alter the veggie ingredients and spices according to your tastes and what you have available- and I'm not used to actually measuring at any stage, so this is a bit of guesstimating.
For Spicy Chicken Awesome mac, you will need. . .
One box of Mac and Cheese (for this, I suggest Kraft Thick and Creamy Mac and Cheese)
The ingredients necessary for making the sauce packet included in your box. If the cheese sauce is normally lacking, how about we finely grate 1/2 cup of cheddar to add to it? Make sure you add an extra dash of milk to compensate!
One chicken breast, cut into about 2cm cubes
2-3 good sized garlic cloves, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced OR one to two medium shallots diced
1/4 red bell pepper, cut into medium .5cm/1cm chunks
~2/3rds cup chopped broccoli florets, either fresh or frozen. (If frozen, microwave in a bowl with a good sprinkling of water ~30-90 sec until thawed. These will need less cooking time than fresh broccoli.)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/8th tsp cayenne pepper to taste
1/4 tsp oregano and basil as desired
1/4 tsp ground black pepper to taste
Butter or your oil of choice - but butter tastes better!
optional sliced green onions or chives to garnish
1) Get all your goodies together - I'm personally bad at making sure I do this first, but I'm also used to having help. Order your peons to start chopping!
2) Place a good medium-size pot on a back burner, filled with water to about two inches below the rim. Turn it on so it will start boiling as we do everything else; this is going to be your noodle water!
3) While your water heats up, bring out a decent-sized frying pan/skillet. I'm advising something bigger than what you make your grilled cheese in, but smaller than say, a cast iron frying pan. This is what /everything else/ is going to go into until it's cooked.
Melt a pad of butter or heat up a good drizzle of the oil of your choice in the bottom. If you're going to be fancy pants, white wine and extra virgin olive oil might work fine, but I kind of like butter. When the bottom of the pan is coated with a nice lubricating layer of fats at about medium-low heat, throw in the onions or shallots to sautee!
4) Have the onions stopped making your eyes water yet? Good! Garlic away, then.
5) Is the water boiling? All right, time to throw in the noodles from your mac and cheese- make sure you don't lose your sauce packet!
6) Quickly after you've put in the garlic, get your chicken spread across the pan. If you need to, add a bit of butter/oil to make sure it isn't sticking or burning. If your onions are cooking too quickly, turn down the heat!
We're about to turn up the heat with the spices- immediately add the crushed red pepper and the cayenne to the frying pan. Stir everything around so it gets a good coating and the spicy bits are evenly distributed!
7) I sure hope those macaroni are cooking by now! Keep an eye on 'em to make sure they're getting done and not overdone. Everyone's got their own preference as to how al dente they want their noodles, and if your box of mac of choice includes shell noodles, this might take a bit longer. I personally like my macaroni with the life cooked out of 'em; nice and limp noodley, but not mushy.
8 ) Wait, we've got other vegetables, don't we? The chicken is looking browned, if not cooked through, so it's time to throw those other veggies in! The red pepper and broccoli don't take too long to cook, but you need to make sure they're heated through and the fresh broccoli is not too crunchy. Keep stirring things intermittently so you don't have burnt onion bits!
Tip: If your noodles are already done and the broccoli is being stubborn, put a lid on the frying pan while you go about the next step. The trapped heat and liquid will steam the bejeesus out of your greens without you needing to fry everything else by turning up the heat.
9) Rescue and drain your cooked mac in a colander. Toss it a few times to make sure you get the worst of the water out, and keep that pot empty.
10) Most mac and cheese boxes ask you to add milk and butter; at this point, throw the butter component into the hot pot that formerly held your noodles. You don't need to have it on a hot burner; the heat trapped in the metal will melt things pretty nicely for you.
When the butter is at least halfway melted, you may add your newly-drained noodles back in. If you've decided that your store-bought cheese sauce is lame and needs enlivening, sprinkle the grated cheddar in between layers of noodles as you add them in. When all your noodles are in, you can add the dry cheese packet and stir it around until you've got a nice disgusting coating of cheese crumbs on the noodles. Yes, there's a point to this. NOW add your liquid (usually milk) and stir vigorously enough to distribute the liquid without breaking your noodles. Add an extra dash more than what it tells you for good luck; you're going to be making that sauce packet cover more than what it was originally planning for!
11) Your pot should be holding what looks like uninspired mac and cheese. Time to fix that! Go grab your frying pan with all its cooked goodies off the other burner, and gingerly scrape everything into the pot without slopping all over your toasty stove. Stir it in so that all your goodies are distributed more or less evenly. At this point, you can also stir in a good helping of that ground black pepper to taste.
12) Serve up your newly made awesome mac into bowls, and garnish with a sprinkle of black pepper and green onions or chives if you wish. Tadah! Enjoy your bowl of spicy chicken goodness!
And now, for some suggestions. . .
This makes awesome leftovers! Just add a little dash of water or milk to the cold pasta before you reheat, and stir well afterwards. You'll make everyone in the break room jealous~
If you don't have chicken breasts, use a hot and spicy sausage! Andouille is awesome. Everyone should have some!
If you're not in the mood for spicy, cut out the spices and use Kraft three cheese mac and cheese instead. For this variation, you can leave out the chicken if you want, or substitute diced bits of ham or anything else you'd like. When making the cheese sauce for this one, make sure you throw in only a handful of cheddar, but a good heaping handful of asiago, parmesan, and/or romano. (If you've got a bag of Italian blend cheeses, this is perfectly acceptable.) The finer grated it is, the better it will melt. Remember, the more cheese you're melting into it, the more you have to add a bit more milk to help it liquefy happily, but I think you'll find the results a lot better than your average cheese sauce packet!
I have this strange passion for turning quick and easy boxed meals into things of wonder with fresh ingredients. . . On one hand, tasty! On the other hand, totally perverting the quick and easy nature of mac and cheese in a box! This takes about half an hour to make, but satisfies three or four people deeply. Please note that you may alter the veggie ingredients and spices according to your tastes and what you have available- and I'm not used to actually measuring at any stage, so this is a bit of guesstimating.
For Spicy Chicken Awesome mac, you will need. . .
One box of Mac and Cheese (for this, I suggest Kraft Thick and Creamy Mac and Cheese)
The ingredients necessary for making the sauce packet included in your box. If the cheese sauce is normally lacking, how about we finely grate 1/2 cup of cheddar to add to it? Make sure you add an extra dash of milk to compensate!
One chicken breast, cut into about 2cm cubes
2-3 good sized garlic cloves, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced OR one to two medium shallots diced
1/4 red bell pepper, cut into medium .5cm/1cm chunks
~2/3rds cup chopped broccoli florets, either fresh or frozen. (If frozen, microwave in a bowl with a good sprinkling of water ~30-90 sec until thawed. These will need less cooking time than fresh broccoli.)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/8th tsp cayenne pepper to taste
1/4 tsp oregano and basil as desired
1/4 tsp ground black pepper to taste
Butter or your oil of choice - but butter tastes better!
optional sliced green onions or chives to garnish
1) Get all your goodies together - I'm personally bad at making sure I do this first, but I'm also used to having help. Order your peons to start chopping!
2) Place a good medium-size pot on a back burner, filled with water to about two inches below the rim. Turn it on so it will start boiling as we do everything else; this is going to be your noodle water!
3) While your water heats up, bring out a decent-sized frying pan/skillet. I'm advising something bigger than what you make your grilled cheese in, but smaller than say, a cast iron frying pan. This is what /everything else/ is going to go into until it's cooked.
Melt a pad of butter or heat up a good drizzle of the oil of your choice in the bottom. If you're going to be fancy pants, white wine and extra virgin olive oil might work fine, but I kind of like butter. When the bottom of the pan is coated with a nice lubricating layer of fats at about medium-low heat, throw in the onions or shallots to sautee!
4) Have the onions stopped making your eyes water yet? Good! Garlic away, then.
5) Is the water boiling? All right, time to throw in the noodles from your mac and cheese- make sure you don't lose your sauce packet!
6) Quickly after you've put in the garlic, get your chicken spread across the pan. If you need to, add a bit of butter/oil to make sure it isn't sticking or burning. If your onions are cooking too quickly, turn down the heat!
We're about to turn up the heat with the spices- immediately add the crushed red pepper and the cayenne to the frying pan. Stir everything around so it gets a good coating and the spicy bits are evenly distributed!
7) I sure hope those macaroni are cooking by now! Keep an eye on 'em to make sure they're getting done and not overdone. Everyone's got their own preference as to how al dente they want their noodles, and if your box of mac of choice includes shell noodles, this might take a bit longer. I personally like my macaroni with the life cooked out of 'em; nice and limp noodley, but not mushy.
8 ) Wait, we've got other vegetables, don't we? The chicken is looking browned, if not cooked through, so it's time to throw those other veggies in! The red pepper and broccoli don't take too long to cook, but you need to make sure they're heated through and the fresh broccoli is not too crunchy. Keep stirring things intermittently so you don't have burnt onion bits!
Tip: If your noodles are already done and the broccoli is being stubborn, put a lid on the frying pan while you go about the next step. The trapped heat and liquid will steam the bejeesus out of your greens without you needing to fry everything else by turning up the heat.
9) Rescue and drain your cooked mac in a colander. Toss it a few times to make sure you get the worst of the water out, and keep that pot empty.
10) Most mac and cheese boxes ask you to add milk and butter; at this point, throw the butter component into the hot pot that formerly held your noodles. You don't need to have it on a hot burner; the heat trapped in the metal will melt things pretty nicely for you.
When the butter is at least halfway melted, you may add your newly-drained noodles back in. If you've decided that your store-bought cheese sauce is lame and needs enlivening, sprinkle the grated cheddar in between layers of noodles as you add them in. When all your noodles are in, you can add the dry cheese packet and stir it around until you've got a nice disgusting coating of cheese crumbs on the noodles. Yes, there's a point to this. NOW add your liquid (usually milk) and stir vigorously enough to distribute the liquid without breaking your noodles. Add an extra dash more than what it tells you for good luck; you're going to be making that sauce packet cover more than what it was originally planning for!
11) Your pot should be holding what looks like uninspired mac and cheese. Time to fix that! Go grab your frying pan with all its cooked goodies off the other burner, and gingerly scrape everything into the pot without slopping all over your toasty stove. Stir it in so that all your goodies are distributed more or less evenly. At this point, you can also stir in a good helping of that ground black pepper to taste.
12) Serve up your newly made awesome mac into bowls, and garnish with a sprinkle of black pepper and green onions or chives if you wish. Tadah! Enjoy your bowl of spicy chicken goodness!
And now, for some suggestions. . .
This makes awesome leftovers! Just add a little dash of water or milk to the cold pasta before you reheat, and stir well afterwards. You'll make everyone in the break room jealous~
If you don't have chicken breasts, use a hot and spicy sausage! Andouille is awesome. Everyone should have some!
If you're not in the mood for spicy, cut out the spices and use Kraft three cheese mac and cheese instead. For this variation, you can leave out the chicken if you want, or substitute diced bits of ham or anything else you'd like. When making the cheese sauce for this one, make sure you throw in only a handful of cheddar, but a good heaping handful of asiago, parmesan, and/or romano. (If you've got a bag of Italian blend cheeses, this is perfectly acceptable.) The finer grated it is, the better it will melt. Remember, the more cheese you're melting into it, the more you have to add a bit more milk to help it liquefy happily, but I think you'll find the results a lot better than your average cheese sauce packet!