Spinach-Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

Ok, I promise I will get a better camera or make myself a lightbox so my pictures stop looking so gross:/ It is really kind of disappointing to have such a tasty meal, but then end up with a photograph like this! Maybe I'm just too critical of myself. Or maybe I can blame it on winter and it getting dark so early, making it very hard to take nice pictures.

On a happier note, we had Andy's parents, his brother and our nephew over for breakfast this morning. I thought it would be nice to have breakfast before we headed out in the cold to decorate Grandma Lavon's gravesite, and I'm also really obsessed with finally finishing our 'fancy' living room and I wanted to show it off. Here's a couple pictures of it, because I really can't resist, and this room makes me happy everytime I walk through it.

But really, the point of this post is the macaroni. I actually saw the recipe on the back of the shredded cheese as I made the Eggbake for breakfast. I'm going to be gone every night this week so I thought this would be good to try so Andy would then have some leftovers. I have not had much luck with homemade macaroni in the past, but this actually turned out really well! However, I did not have spinach so I used Arugula instead and it tasted great. I also used 1 cup sharp cheddar and 1 cup mild cheddar, and grated my own parmesan cheese instead of using the stuff in the green can.

Spinach-Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

Source: Kraft Foods

Ingredients:

3 cups medium shell macaroni, uncooked

1 pkg. (6 oz. ) fresh baby spinach leaves

4 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, chopped

2 Tbsp. flour

2 cups milk

2 cups KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, divided

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees

COOK macaroni as directed on pkg., adding spinach for the last min. Cook bacon in large saucepan. Remove bacon; save drippings in pan.

ADD flour to drippings; cook and stir until bubbly. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to boil, stirring constantly; cook and stir 3 to 5 min. or until thickened.

STIR in 1 cup Cheddar and Parmesan; cook and stir until melted. Add bacon and macaroni mixture; mix well.


SPOON into 1-1/2-qt. casserole; top with remaining Cheddar. Bake 20 min.

Enjoy!