Monday, June 13, 2011

A Cheesy Macaroni and More Casserole Recipe and a Freezer Cooking Tale

We had a little mini disaster in our house yesterday, but I couldn't really muster the energy to be upset. It was really one of those moments when you shrug, think, "wow, that's bad..." and then go on with your day. Here's what happened.

I was about to take the girls to Nani's and I asked Paul to check the freezer to see if he could find a bag of split pea soup to throw in the crock pot so it would be ready for dinner when we got home. A minute later he glanced in through the sliding glass door (our giant freezer is on our back porch) and shook his head. For a split second I thought he meant there was no soup (which I thought was odd because when I make soup I make giant batches in our stock pot and I just made one a couple weeks ago). Then I realized what he meant: the freezer was not working. The smell that wafted in through the door moments later confirmed that all my carefully prepared meals had in fact gone bad. Hundreds of dollars of food (and more than that, hours and hours of homemade meals!) gone.

Anyways, as a result I'm cooking a lot more! And today I was looking to create a recipe with the food that hadn't been spoiled. Here's what I came up with. It is a definite success. So that's one positive out of this whole less than positive situation!

It got a thumbs up from the family. Paul has asked that it be put into the dinner rotation. I agreed!

Here's the recipe to our new Cheesy Mac Casserole:

1 lb of your favorite macaroni and cheese
1 onion
1 can peas (drained)
6 pieces of bacon (cooked)
3 hot dogs
8 oz cheddar cheese
½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook your favorite macaroni and cheese according the your recipe. Chop onion. Crumble bacon. Half and the slice hot dogs into small, half moon shaped pieces. Grate cheese.

Combine cooked macaroni and cheese, onion, bacon, peas and hot dog in a baking pan. Stir. Add milk. Stir. Sprinkle cheese so dish is covered.

Cook at 400 degrees for 16 minutes. Allow to set for five minutes and serve! This made about six servings in our house!

Enjoy!

Edited to add: I was suspicious of a neighbor when our freezer went off (some refrigerator drama that's been going on) but the culprit (or culprits) have been identified. There was an unfortunate, low power switch in a corner of our house that I didn't realize controlled the freezer. Sadie and/or Mae are likely guilty of the fiasco. And I need to go with the impulse not to think badly of our neighbors... even when he isn't the friendliest...

7 comments:

  1. I"m sorry your food spoiled. I'd be really upset if something like that happened to us. In our house I just need to check the freezer door frequently because there's something genetic that prevents my husband and children from being able to properly close doors to freezers. My parents could tell you stories about my husband defrosting their deep freezer multiple times over the course of a summer back when we were dating. To this day, he's not allowed to touch their freezer door.

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  2. Sorry to hear about what happened to your freezer and all your hard work! Glad you were able to salvage something from it - it looks like something my kids would enjoy:hot dogs, bacon, and cheese, how can you go wrong?

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  3. Oh, I would have sat down and cried all day long if I'd lost that much work! I admire your attitude. I've always thought that mac and cheese was a great basic to try to slip vegetables and fun things into.

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  4. I would not have had the fortitude of character not to fall to pieces if that happened to me.

    In our giant freezer we keep homemade chicken and turkey stock, beef (and buy our beef in split halves so full is usually about 130lbs, chicken, homemade soups, 10-15 gallons of frozen tomatoes of the garden prior to being processed, plus any frozen casseroles etc. If all that went spoiled, we would be out hundred...maybe close to a thousand dollars, and all our good pastured beef would be irreplaceable until the next year.

    I had to run downstairs and check my freezer before I could even comment on this. You are a much stronger than I.

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  5. Oh, but your recipe is one that my boys would definitely love. Especially Jacob. You have combined all of his favorite things into one dish! Macaroni...hot dogs... PEAS. He would eat two man sized portions. I'll have to make it sometime. Thanks!

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