With my birthday just around the corner, I thought I would share one of my favorite dishes. Mac and Cheese with chicken sausage!!! Yes, I am one of those that can definitely live off of Mac and Cheese or Pizza, IF I had one of those metabolisms that allowed me to, which I don’t. So, I settle for a couple times a year. I also love how easy it is too make when I have company over. It is a quick meal that everyone loves and you can beef it up any which way that you want. When I serve it as a main dish, I always try to include some type of meat and veggies in it.
I love the brand Al Fresco, when I choose to go the chicken route. They have many flavors including Spicy Jalapeno and Buffalo Style & Blue Cheese, just to name a few of my favorites. This time I decided to go with roasted garlic, yum.
I prefer shells and cheese but any pasta will work really. I use the whole box when serving a crowd. To me it takes just as long as if I made it in smaller amounts, which is why I love this dish so much.
Follow the directions on the box for al dente or just under al dente. By the time you add the cheese and extra ingredients you will be cooking still on low heat and you don’t want to accidentally over cook the pasta.
While you are heating the water for the pasta, you can get started on all the ingredients you will mix in with the mac and cheese. I start with the meat first and give them a quick pan fry to get them a little browned and form a small crust. Once the meat is browned, throw in all the veggies. I like cutting all the ingredients in small pieces to ensure I get a little of everything in one bite.
For this recipe, I used baby bella mushrooms, green pepper, jalapenos, and onion.
Once the pasta is ready, you can throw in the cream, butter and the Velveeta cheese. After the cheese gets to the right consistency, throw in your cooked meat and veggies and your ready to eat!
Now wasn’t that easy peasy. (Tip: if you don’t like how liquid the mac and cheese is add a thickening agent such as cornstarch. Grab some of the cheese in a separate bowl and mix in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, once fully mixed, add back into the mac and cheese and stir until sauce has thickened.)
You can add any toppings you want. Most people do green onion or breadcrumbs. I really like the color of the red onion and chopped spinach, so that is what I used.
Place on a big platter and some sides and you can feed a small army, bonus, it has carbs, meat and veggies! Yum Yum!!
Enjoy!
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Mac and Cheese with Chicken Sausage
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Want a quick and easy way to feed a lot of people. Opt for Mac and Cheese! Or should I say cheesy, meaty warm gooey goodness. Yummm.
Ingredients
- 2 pkgs of Chicken Sausage (I uses Al Fresco’s roasted garlic)
- 1 box (1Ib.) of medium shells
- 20 oz‘s of one block of Velveeta Cheese
- 1 stick of unsalted butter
- 1/2 pint of heavy cream
- 2 Chopped green peppers de-seeded and membranes removed
- 2 Jalapenos de-seeded and membranes removed
- 2 packages of baby bella mushrooms (12 oz)
- 2 medium yellow onions
Instructions
- Follow directions from pasta box for Al dente pasta
- While water is boiling, chop up meat and veggies into cubes
- Pan fry meat about 5 minutes on medium high heat or until browned
- add chopped veggies and cook unitl onions are soft, roughly 8 minutes
- Using a slotted spoon, spoon out meat and veggies, set aside
- Drain pasta, add heavy cream, butter and Velveeta cheese mix well
- Once cheese is mixed well add meat and veggies, serve immediately
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Sounds delicious.
Thank you so much. I cannot wait for you to try it.♥️