Recipe 1: Macaroni and Cheese

I love macaroni and cheese.  I've made it lots of times, usually with just those two ingredients: macaroni and shredded cheese melted over top.  I know how to make a cheese sauce, and will occasionally, especially when I have some pureed butternut squash to add to it.  So I'm happy to try a new recipe - it's pretty difficult to ruin macaroni and cheese (aside from using powdered "cheese").

Homestyle Macaroni and Cheese from recipegirl.com was pretty dang tasty, but I picked the wrong night to try and make it.  I had a very hungry and whiny girl at my feet the entire time, and I know that something faster would have made us both happier!  I think it was worth the extra time though, and Cupcake enjoyed snacking on some bacon while she waited.  

The cracker and bacon topping was nice, and added some good texture.  (Next time add more bacon, because you can never have too much bacon.)  And adding cream cheese to the cheese sauce was awesome.  It didn't take much to add a nice flavor and it really helped to thicken the sauce.  Even if I don't make the entire casserole again I would make the cheese sauce.  (Instead of the mustard I added a touch of cayenne, garlic, and white pepper.)

EDIT: My husband is not usually a big fan of macaroni and cheese but he had TWO servings of this.  Hooray!  Totally made my day.  Definitely a success.