Mac n Cheese

Lavina sent me an article today about the best Mac N Cheese in New York. Naturally this set off a food craving. I considered going to s'mac...but then thought, "maybe I can make it 'healthier' if I do it at home!" since I have been eating like crap all week.

Then I scoured recipes in my last hour at the office...trying to find something creamy and cheesey and ooey and gooey. My weakness...well ONE of my weaknesses is ooey gooey stringy yummy cheese. Like pizza...or mac n cheese! Some days I crave chicken parm sandwiches from toasties. Other days I crave chipotle carnitas tacos. Today was a mac n cheese day.

I finally settled on a recipe that seemed easy enough. It also seemed as though I could avoid the mishap that occurred last time I made mac n cheese (um...let's just say the smoke alarm went off...). Ta-Da!

When I am first trying recipes out, I follow them to the T. Woo whole-wheat elbow macaroni!

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

Breadcrumbs with sage...I recently discovered that sage "fried" in melted butter is amazing. A.MAH.ZING. (especially with scallops, but that is a story for another day)

I almost feel as I was on Giada at Home and I had neutral painted nails with the California sun shining in the background (mas-car-pon-aye). God.Bless.Mascarpone. Creamy mascarpone. So versatile too. I can make a savory pasta sauce...or a sweet dessert (mascarpone with berries!). Yeah yeah, it's not the 'healthiest' thing out there, I'm sure it causes cancer, blah blah blah...but it is.so.decadent.

See that whole foods parmesan cheese in the back? First of all, it smelled AMAZING. And so fresh. YUM YUM YUM. I might eat the rest of it straight out of the container. When I was little, my mom used to make Halibut with that cheese and my sister would steal some and munch away. Now, our puppy steals cheese that falls on the floor. How time flies.

Mascarpone + Fresh Parmesan = Heaven. HEAVEN. My heart is racing. (or maybe my arteries are clogged. I'm not sure)

Ooey gooey hommity nommity. If this doesn't inspire you to make mac n cheese tonight then, well, you are dead to me. DEAD.

This was the best mac n cheese recipe I've tried so far. It was just the right amount of salty, and the cheese was very creamy. Mascarpone saved the day. Definitely keeping this one around. Maybe one day I'll throw bacon or proscuitto into it!