My son and I both enjoy macaroni and cheese, and I've been making it from scratch (versus a box mix) for a few years now. I often add in various things from tuna to peas to chicken to tomatoes...whatever happens to strike my fancy and call it "______cheesy casserole."
While I've added in ground beef before and called it "cheeseburger casserole," tonight I decided to go the extra indulgence and added bacon....voila! Bacon cheeseburger casserole!!
It was amazingly simple to make. Start by making basic macaroni and cheese. While waiting for the water to boil and for the pasta to cook, brown the ground beef then cook a few slices of bacon. I cooked up a pound of pasta and a pound of ground beef, then a half pound of bacon.
After the cheese sauce is done, add in the pasta and ground beef, stir to mix well. Put in a two quart casserole dish, top with sliced cheese; break up the bacon and add it on top, then pop it all in the oven at 350 for about ten minutes. I topped mine with mesquite ketchup, which tasted more like barbecue sauce, so in essence I had a barbecue bacon cheeseburger casserole...or something like that anyway.
Simple, super basic comfort food (well, sort of). It may not be gourmet, but it sure was tasty.
Hey Todd, not surprisingly, great minds think alike. I've been making this dish for awhile and my family loves it with caramelized onions thrown in the mix. You also get a whole new flavor sensation when you use maple bacon instead of the regular. You should really try this sometime and let me know what you think. And leave off the ketchup ~ it'll just overpower the subtlety of the maple! Love reading about your cooking adventures! Love, Ellyn
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