That was the compliment that my daughter gave me at dinner last night. She started as a picky eater but has been expanding her palate recently. Oddly one of the main things she still does not eat is hot dogs.
We were having taco mac & cheese - my own creation. I took the mac & cheese recipe that I typically use (Alton Brown's recipe) and mixed taco meat with it. When I make the macaroni and cheese I typically double the recipe and bake it in a 13x9 glass casserole dish. Since I was adding the meat, I did not double the recipe, but still used the 13x9 pan.
To make the taco meat I browned 1 pound of ground beef with onions and then added taco seasoning, a can of diced tomatoes (drained), and a can of diced green chilies (drained). I let that simmer for about ten minutes.
I mixed the taco meat with the macaroni noodles before adding the cheese sauce. Instead of using all cheddar cheese, I used a Mexican blend of cheese to top the dish and then added the Panko bread crumbs.
I was very happy with how this dish turned out. Some of my recipe creations don't turn out as well as I envision them, but this was a success. My daughter loved it. Although she split the dish eating the macaroni separate from the beef.
There were two downsides to the dish...the number of dishes it generated (pasta pot, ground beef pan, panko pan, and sauce pot) and the fact that macaroni and cheese was the school lunch today. Since we're having leftover tonight, she didn't want mac & cheese for lunch as well and I had to pack her a lunch today. She remembered me saying that it isn't good to eat the same foods all the time because you have the same good and bad nutrients each time. Next time I'll check the school lunch menu before making dinner.
If you are making the mac & cheese, make sure to keep stirring the milk mixture so it does not thicken. It is also important to temper the egg. Both of these steps are key to achieving the proper consistency in the sauce. I can't wait to try a few other variations on the macaroni and cheese.
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