All Recipe's Chuck's Favorite Mac and Cheese

Browsing the What's Cooking boards one day I stumbled over this beauty.

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package elbow macaroni
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 (12 ounce) container small curd cottage cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add pasta, and cook until done; drain.
2. In 9x13 inch baking dish, stir together macaroni, shredded Cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together bread crumbs and melted butter. Sprinkle topping over macaroni mixture.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until top is golden.

Spence loved this so much he insisted it become our weekly mac and cheese dish. I agree, it was great. With a smile on my face I obliged, but told him not to forget about the baked beer mac and cheese!

Baked Beer Mac & Cheese

• 3T Butter

• 3T Flour

• 1 1/2 C Milk

• 1 1/2 C Beer

• 5 C mixed cheese (cheddar, mozerella, parmesean)

• 1lb Ziti or other shaped pasta (cooked)

Melt Butter in saucepan and whisk in flour stirring for 2 minutes over medium heat.

Add Milk to mixture and cook until bubbling.

Add Beer into mixture and cook until bubbling- cover partially and cook 10 minutes stirring periodically.

Add in Cheese and stir until melted.

Add in Pasta, Salt, Pepper, Hot Sauce, or any other spices you like. (We just used s &p)

Bake in a buttered 13"x9" baking dish at 375 for 35 minutes- let cool 10-15 minutes before eating

Beer + pasta in a main meal?!!! It was awesome!!!!!

Fried Ravioli

• Olive oil, for frying (We used vegetable oil)
  
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs
• 1 box store-bought cheese ravioli (We used 2 boxes)
  
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 jar marinara sauce heated, for dipping

Pour enough olive oil into a large frying pan to reach a depth of 2 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 325 degrees F. (We did not use the thermometer)

While the oil is heating, put the buttermilk and the bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Working in batches, dip ravioli in buttermilk to coat completely. Allow the excess buttermilk to drip back into the bowl. Dredge ravioli in the bread crumbs. Place the ravioli on a baking sheet, and continue with the remaining ravioli.

When the oil is hot, fry the ravioli in batches, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried ravioli to paper towels to drain.

Sprinkle the fried ravioli with Parmesan and serve with a bowl of warmed marinara sauce for dipping.

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We ate this for a whole meal. It was amazing. This recipe is courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis.
I love her Italian meals, they are so yummy. ***Hint***Do not use EVOO (Extra-virgin olive oil) to fry with. It will turn out bitter. Use regular olive oil or vegetable oil to fry with.

Carmela's Chicken Rigatoni - Copycat from Macaroni Grill

I love Carmella's Chicken Rigatoni from Macaroni Grill, but I can't have it everyday. This is the next best thing. I found this to be very filling. Be prepared to do NOTHING afterwards. You just want to sit on the couch and let this digest...lol.

I didn't add the caramelized onions as I did not want to do another step so I left it out and it still tasted exactly like the real thing.

I found this recipe on recipezaar.com

As leftovers, the oil separated from the pasta and tasted quite different the next day. I suggest eating this the night you prepared it. You might even want to scale down the serving sizes if you cook for two.

SERVES 6

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Ingredients

• 6 ounces butter-flavored oil (I used EVOO & butter)
• 8 ounces mushrooms
• 12 ounces grilled chicken
• salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons basil
• 6 ounces caramelized onion
• 6 ounces cooking wine
• 20 ounces heavy cream
• 24 ounces rigatoni pasta
• 2 ounces parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a hot sauté pan add butter flavored oil, mushrooms, chicken, basil, caramelized onions, salt and pepper and sauté for approximately 60 to 90 seconds.
2. Add the wine and sauté for 60 seconds. Add the heavy cream and bring to a boil over high heat. Dip pre-cooked pasta in boiling water for 10 seconds, drain thoroughly.
3. Put pasta in sauté pan and sauté until well incorporated. Toss briefly over fire, add parmesan cheese and continue to toss until cheese is completely incorporated.
4. Transfer to plate, garnish with parsley.