Make Something Monday ... French's Quick and Crispy Mac & Cheese

As most of you know I love to cook, now to people that know me or have followed me from the beginning are laughing. Yup I use to be the BOX QUEEN! Everything was a made or actually prepared from a box and that is the way life was for us! So last September we had an exchange student come live with us for a school year. Something just happened and I started to make meals that were yummy! And get this they are actually really easy and quick!

Now I'm by far one of those amazing home chef's that make a recipe from scratch. I do love to tweak and make each dish my own. I was contacted by Michaelene offering to send me some wonderful French's Food, which is one of my favorite brands. I actually looked in my fridge and cupboards and was surprised how many items I have! So today and tomorrow I have two dishes to share with you.

And for you amazing cooks that can rock at making your own items I want to share with you some fun things that are going on right now.

• French’s Foods announces the launch of its first-ever LIVE National Cook-Off -celebrating home chefs who bring smiles to their families with time-saving, great tasting recipes. Revive the ritual of the family meal this autumn and submit your favorite family recipe featuring at least one-French’s product. 5 finalists will receive a trip to NYC to compete in the live cook-off for the chance to win $25,000!

• Just in time for the holiday season, The Manischewitz Company announces the launch of the 4^th Annual Man-O-Manischewitz Cook-Off, a cooking contest designed to encourage home cooks to challenge themselves in preparing a meal that is kosher, simple and delicious. The contest encourages people to experiment with ethnic cooking similarly to the way people enjoy preparing Chinese, Mexican and Italian cuisine. Entrants will compete for a chance to win the $25,000 grand prize package including GE Profile kitchen appliances. Featured celebrity guest judge and MC- legendary acclaimed chef, Jacques Pépin.

Now for my first recipe I made a version of French's Quick and Crispy Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups (2.8 oz.) FRENCH'S® Cheddar or Original French Fried Onions

1 (10 3/4 oz.) can CAMPBELL'S® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup (I substituted Cream of Chicken Soup)

1 1/4 cups milk

3 cups cooked elbow pasta (1 1/2 cups uncooked)

2 cups shredded Cheddar or cubed American cheese

1 cup diced cooked ham

1/2 cup frozen peas

Now I left out the ham and peas. As many of you know I was on a ham kick for a few months and I'm still banned from making it. No matter what anyone says I will be using ham these holidays! And not a fan of peas so I skipped those also. I did however add in some of the spicy mustard to give the dish a kick! I feel like it gives the dish a different dimension (I know I've been watching the Food Network too long)

Directions:

HEAT oven to 350°F. Crush French Fried Onions in plastic bag using hands or rolling pin.

MIX soup and milk in 2-qt. baking dish. Stir in pasta, cheese, ham and peas. Top with crushed onions.

BAKE 30 min. or until heated through.

Stay tune tomorrow I'm going to be making a chili (yes the one I promised Cole a few weeks back) and you never know I may throw in something else!

Ever want to send me a gift.

Yup a food basket is the way to my heart!

Oh yeah I love those yummy fried onions!

Here is my super yummy

Quick and Crispy Mac and Cheese!

Make Something Monday ... Not your mom's mac n cheese in a box

Well this is my mom's mac n cheese recipe ... she even brought over the ingredients for me ... LOL. Got to love mom's to come to the rescue! So here is an updated as mom says a Grown up Mac n Cheese. Check it out she even brought over homemade hotdogs for us!

This is what you need to start.

Put the cheese in just like the box calls for.
Yummy regular mac n cheese.

Add a can of diced tomatoes.

Stir up the mac n cheese with tomatoes.

Add in the homemade hot dogs!

Put in the casserole dish.

Add some mexican cheese on top.

Yummy I'm ready mom!

Plate up some goodness! Look at least a smaller plate.