Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate in comfort food, everyone knows it. Whether you make it straight from the box or you start from scratch with a béchamel cheese sauce, it's always a contender for the title of most-anticipated meal of the month. It's a perfect union of cheese and carbs, stringy and gooey, maybe crunchy on top. It's the food that dreams are made of. Yes, it's not really the healthiest of foods, but if you make it superwell and only once in awhile, you'll appreciate it more than ever. Hooray for moderation!
Because Tuesdays are hard, we're sharing five ways to make the macaroni and cheese of your recurring food fantasies. Hit the grocery store on your way home from work and pick up supplies.
1. Fried Mac and Cheese Bites: These use twice the cheese of normal mac and cheese to ensure they stay gooey and soft inside, despite being cooked twice. These require a good amount of effort, but the first (and 20th) bite of these crunchy, cheesy morsels of heaven will make it worth it.
2. Vegan Mac and Cheese: Even vegans need mac and cheese, so this recipe uses vegan cheese and nutritional yeast to get that cheesy flavor up to par. It's the best substitute you can find to curb those powerful macaroni and cheese cravings, and some say it's just as good as the real thing.
3. Easy, 6-Ingredient Stovetop Mac and Cheese: Lower-maintenance than its baked cousin, stovetop mac and cheese only takes half an hour to make and incorporates a supersmooth, extra-creamy cheese sauce with shell pasta. Shells catch the sauce and become wonderful pockets of cheesy joy.
4. Gruyere and Sausage Mac and Cheese: This decadent recipe is for the meat lovers out there. You can add bacon to up the smokiness and crispiness even more - the gruyere cheese is strong enough to stand up to lots of meat. It's the perfect cheat day dish.
5. Crunchy Baked Mac and Cheese: This recipe is perfectly balanced and makes the best baked mac and cheese around. Lots of crunchy, buttery breadcrumb topping complements a supercreamy, extra-saucy interior. Try to get through reading the recipe without drooling.
