Who doesn’t love Mac & cheese?

Costco currently has a sale on the Annie’s Mac and Cheese. I only started eating this on occasion within the last 3 years or so. Having 10+ hour work days didn’t leave me with much time to make food, so quick and easy it was. And when I first saw these for only $1 a box and it was organic, I just had to try! I’m not really a huge fan of cheese, but melted cheese is okay with me–although I wouldn’t get a double double at In N Out burger, because that’s just too much cheese. (My usual order at In N Out is a double single, animal style, no lettuce, tomatoes, or pickles, French fries, and a water. I like to grab some lemon slices from the counter and squeeze that onto my burger as well…mmm, delicious!)

So, back to the Annie’s, BobaDad loves all things cheese, and Mac & Cheese is one of his top ranked–he even jokes that as long as I can make this, he won’t be too concerned about my lack of cooking skills and dinner.

But plain Mac and Cheese can only be enjoyed so much before you need to spice it up, so here’s a variation I like to make that doesn’t add too much time to preparation and can still be done while the baby naps.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
Worcester Sauce
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive oil
Garlic Powder
Paprika
*truffle oil if you really want a mushroom overload
1 box Annie’s Mac and Cheese
4 large Portabello mushrooms
1 chinese sausage (I like the pork and chicken variety as they taste sweeter) *before baby, I used bacon, but bacon just takes too long if you want it perfect and makes too much of a mess–definitely not something you want to deal with having a newborn in the house!

Prep:
1. Salt and boil water for the pasta
2. Take all the sauces and combine in a bowl or marinating container. I do it to taste, I don’t normally measure it but I would start equal parts olive oil, Worchester, and Balsamic, then add some dashes of paprika and garlic, or you can try cayenne to boost it up.
3. They say just wiping mushrooms are fine, but I like to rinse them anyway, the choice is yours. Clean your mushrooms and take out the center. Then coat in the marinade and set aside
4. Dice up the chinese sausage and the mushroom stems (or you can opt out of the stems) and wok/fry those up until crispy and put aside
5. If you haven’t already, add the pasta into the water and drain when done
6. Prepare the cheese mixture, although I like to add extra milk and let it reduce. Add pasta and sausage mix
7. Take the mushrooms and place on cookie sheet
8. Stuff mushrooms and place in oven at 350 degrees for 20ish minutes. (I bet you can already tell what a consistent cook I am lol)
9. Garnish with whatever you like: I like breadcrumbs before baking, but here I just have Sundried tomatoes
10. Eat and enjoy!