Every so often I pull myself away from Facebook and start hunting around on Pinterest. Soon I am drawn in to the amazing recipes, crafts, ideas and hacks that I know I should mimic, but never do. A while ago though, I saved a pin that kept entering my mind as a recipe I should try. It has things I love: cheese, sausage, more cheese and cheese. In fact, it only lacked on real ingredient to make it my perfect comfort food was bacon. I mean… come on… bacon!
So the other day I looked up the pin and decided that during this cold snap the nation is having, I would attempt to whip up this amazing looking recipe that Vikalinka whipped up. Seriously guys, follow her on Pinterest too. She has some amazing ideas!
Anyway, back to my attempt at this recipe that was surprisingly easy to make. I bought everything including thick sliced bacon and got to work in my kitchen. I also substituted the Polish smoked kielbasa for smoked sausage. I just like the flavor better. Prep time was about 20 minutes and cooking time was 30 minutes. I LOVED it and even my kids tried it and decided it was pretty darned good. So, because I copied her recipe successfully, and added my own little flair with the bacon, I thought I would pass it on to you guys so you can sit in front of Netflix and binge watch with the ultimate comfort food!
- 2 tbsp-butter
- 1 heaped tbsp-flour
- 1½ cups-milk, 2% or whole
- 1 cup vintage cheddar, grated
- 1 cup Gruyere, grated
- 1 lbs-short pasta
- 1 cup Polish smoked kielbasa, sliced
- 6 slices thick slab bacon
- In a skillet, brown the sausage. Set aside. In a pot, add pasta to salted, boiling water. Reminder: You will be saving ¼ cup of this starchy water at the end. You will not cook the pasta competely. Pull it off at least 4 minutes before the package says to be done. While the pasta is cooking, add the butter to a medium heat pot. When melted, add the flour and stir with a whisk for 5 minutes to retain smoothness. Pull pot from heat and add all but ¼ cup of the combined cheeses. Whisk gently to blend. It should melt completely. Add pasta and water back to the original pot that you drained it from. Add the cheese and mix well. It will be a bit soupy. Add sausage and the cooked bacon and blend again. Pour entire mixture into a greased or sprayed casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Cheese should be brown and bubbly!
Now, Julia Frey of Vikalinka’s is one of my favorites to look at for recipes. This is truly a cheesy, delicious, smokey mac and cheese recipe that I can see myself making over and over again! You can change it up by adding your own meat or even changing out the cheese’s for different flavors!
I have to say, though, that the bacon really brought out the smoky flavor of the Gruyere cheese and tied the whole dish together in delicious flavor!
Would your family love this dish? How would you change it up for your family?
For more Pinterest remakes, visit a few of my favorite bloggers:
- Berry Sipper Mocktail by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
- Starbucks Cup Gift Card Holder by Homemaking Hacks
- Ice Lanterns by Upstate Ramblings
- Lip Scrub by Mom Always Finds Out
- The Best Homemade Vanilla Extract by How Was Your Day?
- The Best Crockpot Chili Recipe by Food Fun Family
- Flourless Brownies with Craisins and Pistachios by Day by Day in Our World
- DIY Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe by Just 2 Sisters
- Tiger Nut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies by Home and Garden Cafe
- Bang Bang Chicken by Jennifer Sikora
- Frozen Banana Yogurt Peanut Dog Treats by 2Boys+1Girl=OneCrazyMom
- Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Oatmeal by Sincerely Mindy
- Garlic Monkey Bread Recipe by Gator Mommy
- Homemade Vanilla Orange Mint Sugar Scrub by Baby Loving Mama
- Valentine’s Day Strawberries by Sizzling Eats
- All Natural 2 Ingredient Lip Gloss by The Socialite’s Closet
- Pantry Tomato Pasta by The Guavalicious Life
- How to Make Strawberry Pecan Bread by Mommy Snippets
Yum! I love the addition of the Gruyere cheese, it’s one of my favorites.
Thanks!!
Oh my word. This looks unbelievably amazing. Mac and cheese is one of my major weaknesses!
It was awesome!!! :)
I bet my kids would love this, although I’ll admit I don’t think they’ve ever had gruyere cheese. I might have to replace it with another kind. This looks amazing, thanks!
The Gruyere is so awesome – I let my kids try it first and they loved it!
Oh my goodness, this is serious comfort food! I’m betting my family would totally devour a pan of this! I love that you added bacon to the mac & cheese. Anything is better with some bacon. ;)
LOL- agreed and my girls and I ate it all up!
I would have been good with just gruyere mac and cheese, but add bacon and sausage, oh my word! I am in LOVE! Cannot wait to try this recipe.
It is pretty awesome!!! LOL :)
When do you add the milk?
THANK YOU!! I left that line out, didn’t I? Right after you make the roux – add the milk slowly before the cheese :)