Boxed Mac and Cheese PLUS!

So, Chuck and I were thinking "What to eat?" tonight, when he suggested boxed macaroni and cheese. I said "hmmm, boxes are not my thing, but I feel lazy. What can I add to it?" I looked in the fridge, and lo and behold, I found the perfect medly of mix-ins for easy-peasy mac and cheese(y)! Here's what I found:

1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic, lightly browned

4 oz (or half of a regular pkg) cream cheese

1/4 lb Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar cheese

3/4 cup ricotta cheese

1 1/2 tsp black pepper (to taste)

5 Tbsp butter

2 boxes Kraft Macaroni and Cheese The Original

Cook the pasta; drain. Add the butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pats, and the cheese packets. Stir in the ricotta and cream cheese; add the garlic. Slightly melt in the cheddar, then grind some pepper on to taste.

Seriously, folks, that's all there is to it! I served it with apple sauce, to lighten the effect on our stomachs. Chuck nearly fainted when he first tasted it, so I know you will love it, too!

First...One of Our Faves

To start off with, we'd like to share one of our favorites. It started out as a friend's experiment - which turned out well for him - so we tried it for a party. We planned on making maybe two pans of the lasagna, but ended up with three. The 11 people at the party ate 1 1/4 whole lasagnas! There are only a couple of changes we would make to the original (my orginal), which we will list at the end. All cheeses listed will be as a block, not as pre-shredded, unless otherwise noted.

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3 boxes flat (not with ruffled edges) lasagna noodles

6 c whole milk

3 tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

1 jar of pre-fab Alfredo sauce

1/3 lb Asiago

1/2 lb Parmesan

1/2 lb Romano

2 8oz tubs of pre-shredded/mixed Parmesan, Romano and Asiago

1 lb Mozzarella, split into thirds

2 8oz tubs of Ricotta cheese

2 medium handfuls of fresh spinach, chopped

2 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce

1 Tbsp black pepper

random Italian-like herbs and spices to taste (sadly, I didn't make notes on this part)

First, start the water for the pasta. As you're waiting for the water to boil, make a roux out of the flour and butter. Add milk to convert into a bechemel, stirring until completely incorporated. Add the jar of Alfredo and worchestershire sauce, along with black pepper and random spices to taste.

Shred all cheese not already shredded. Melt in 1/2 of each of the cheeses, 1/3 of the mozzarella. Leave out the ricotta. Stir, and leave over low heat while the pasta finishes cooking. Mix together and set aside the rest of the cheese, still leaving out the ricotta.

Oil/grease/butter/otherwise lube sides (not bottom) of 3 11x9inch pans (we used the tin-foil, disposable kind). Pour a very thin layer of the sauce into the bottom, then layer in this order: 1. pasta 2. ricotta 3. spinach 4. sauce 5. shredded cheese. Repeat at least 3 times.

Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees, with cookie sheets under pans to save from terrible horrible cleaning messes with your oven later. Let sit for 15 minutes, then serve.

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OK. Now for the changes. Now these are changes we WOULD make, not that we have already.

• Triple amount of spinich
• Top with 1 cup Panko bread crumbs mixed with 2 Tbsp melted butter
• Replace spinach with eggplant (a small amount more than the spinach we used, not as much as the suggested change of spinach here), still chopped
• Use 1/3 less cheese
• Use double of the Ricotta, however

That's all of the changes that we can think of at the moment. More in comments later, once we test, and please add your own changes to the recipe! Remember, once you've made 5 major changes to a recipe, you can then call it your own! :-)

Food o'Clock

Ok, it's time to do this now. Chuck and I have decided to make our food experiments and adventures available to the public! *and the crowd goes wild!*

We will be posting our attempts at making various kinds of foods, as well as our long-standing favorites (for crowd and just for two), including 'Damn-Cheap', 'Nose-in-the-Air' dishes, and 'Can something this good be good for you too?'

Some of our experiments will be total failures, some will be amazing. Either way, we will expound heavily on what we think needs to be done with it in the future, or if we will never attempt that concoction again!

Please feel free to comment AFTER you have tried the experiment yourself, with any suggestions or comments on how it went for you.

Remember, we are doing this for science - food science - but also just to have a good time. So please keep this in mind when you comment: if you want to talk about the food, awesome! If its something completely different, keep it somewhere completely different!