Another Mac to Consider

 First, I’ve had at least one reader agree with me that having the 4^th on the 4^th is dumb.  We’re not alone.  Check this out if you have (interest) and a few seconds.

  

Anyway we finally endured the “longest” day and enjoyed the Solomon’s fireworks which I thought were the best in years.

I suppose I should work "test kitchen" in here somehow, very trendy these days

So thought I’d stray from the recent “this and that” stuff to share a small out and out food topic/story.  One of our guilty pleasures here at the digs when we don’t turn out 5 star meals (never) is to have a quick meal of Macaroni and Cheese from a box.  Our gold standard has always been Kraft Deluxe (has to be the Deluxe line, it has a sauce pouch, not powdered) and mostly the “Original Cheddar” although we also enjoy the “Four Cheese” variety once in a while.  We usually pair this with some sort of sausage, usually Bob Evan’s regular (sometimes “hot”) in the bulk pack so we can slice it ourselves.   We have tried other brands of boxed product like “Annie’s Shells and Real Aged Cheddar” and keep coming back to good old Kraft.  Cheesy, creamy and properly gooey.   Oven bake the sausage, mostly almost crispy.

Anyway, MFO spotted another new (?) entry in the boxed Mac N’ Cheese market and brought it home, and since we still had some of the Father’s Day FOJTE sausage we paired it up for a comfort dinner.

At this point I should quickly point out that "Cracker Barrel" does NOT refer to the (chain) restaurant of same name, rather a brand of cheese products under the Kraft umbrella.  We sometimes enjoy their (cheddar varieties) cheeses for cocktail time, although there are certainly more exotic ones out there.

Anyway, upon opening the pouch you get quite a number of ingredients, plus they ask you to supply your own fresh milk and butter.

And the two little packets (reminiscent of the Blue Apron “knick knacks”) of bread crumbs and “special seasonings”.

The variety we used is the is “oven baked” product, although Cracker Barrel does offer “Classic” in the box, and both have various permutations on the cheese (Sharp, Cheddar with bacon, etc.,).

Anyway the cooked pasta is combined with all the “stuff” in a casserole, topped with the bread crumbs, and ready for the oven:

And finally plated for our dinner

I’m not sure we’ll replace the Kraft Deluxe box for this product, but it was quite tasty.  Did the “extra’s” push it over the edge?  Not really, the bread crumbs are kind of a nice touch, but might fall in the lipstick on the pig category.  The sausage was noticeably better than Bob Evans which couldn’t measure up to the Berger’s sausage.  nice meal.  Cutting edge culinary adventures….

A quick comment I couldn’t resist:

I’m watching Wimbledon as I finish this, and just saw a really (to me) nauseating commercial.   You might remember I went off the other day on the practice of marketing your product by selling the experience (“Love – it’s what makes a Subaru”).  The other product that is pushing (and now IMHO crossed) the boundary is Zillow, a real estate company.   Well, they’re not selling houses, they’re selling “where you’ll live the rest of your life”..  the latest entry shows Dad talking to young Son, sort of comforting him because Mom is no longer with us.  So they are in this presumably recent acquired edifice (free, i'm sure) with a skylight in the kid’s bedroom, and after Dad tucks him in his beddy bye, says good night and leaves, the kid looks out the skylight and says to the brightest star “night Mommy”.   Am I just a curmudgeon or is this repugnant..

Oh and back to the M&C, I am not sure how to be

DFD