Macaroni and cheese is an extremely popular dish in our house. We are constantly trying new versions of macaroni and cheese. Macaroni and cheese with cottage cheese and sour cream, beer mac and cheese, gnocchi macaroni and cheese, macaroni and cheese with mushrooms, caprese macaroni and cheese; we have eaten A LOT of macaroni and cheese. Beer mac and cheese is our favorite basic mac and cheese recipe though. We still like to try different cheeses though. We have done gouda, smoked gouda, cheddar, a mix of cheddar and gouda. The combinations are endless! And now we have decided to try different toppings. Talk about endless combinations!
As I have mentioned before we love brussel sprouts in our house. It is one of my favorite vegetables to make. I have only ever roasted it and served it as a side though, I have never served it with pasta or even mixed with other vegetables. Many versions of macaroni and cheese have a panko or bread crumb topping and I like the extra crunch that panko gives to baked macaroni and cheese. But I decided instead of using panko I should make the “crunch” with bacon. Bacon and brussel sprouts pair really well together so I decided to throw the brussel sprouts in there too. I really loved this version. The brussel sprouts definitely gave it the crunch I was looking for and adding bacon to macaroni and cheese, who would complain about that?
Here is what you’ll need
Fry the bacon
Brown the brussel sprouts in the bacon grease, sprinkle with salt
Sprinkle the mac and cheese with brussel sprouts
And bacon!
What is your favorite mac and cheese recipe?
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Ingredients
1 batch of beer mac and cheese- recipe here
6 slices of pepper bacon(or regular)
1/2 pound brussel sprouts
salt
Directions
Prepare your mac and cheese. Do not bake yet. Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Fry the bacon until crisp. While the bacon is frying slice off the bottom of each brussel sprout and slice the brussel sprouts. Once the bacon is done, remove from pan and set aside. Cook the brussel sprouts in the remaining bacon grease on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until nice and browned. Sprinkle with salt. Cut the bacon into bite sized pieces. Sprinkle the bacon and brussel sprouts over the top of the mac and cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Source: Inspired by How Sweet It Is
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