Mac ‘n Dog
I Love Mac and Cheese
If I see macaroni and cheese on a menu I’ll usually order it. God forbid my mom makes a Thanksgiving dinner and the mac and cheese isn’t included. Well, that has not actually happened, but she knows better than to make only one pan. It’s the first dish we run out of during the holidays. I probably love it more than anyone in the family. For some reason she only makes it on occasion, so I learned her recipe. I want mac and cheese all the time. I like all types of mac and cheese, but my favorite way to cook it is with hot dogs. Add a salad and you have a full meal. (Don’t forget to eat your veggies).
FYI
A couple of items I’d like to point out about this recipe:
This recipe works well as a stove top mac and cheese. I figured that out because I couldn’t wait to eat it one day, so I skipped putting it in the oven.
You can also pour the cheesy dog combination into a casserole dish and bake it for 20 min at 350 degrees. If you don’t add the hot dogs to the dish, it’s basically my mom’s macaroni and cheese casserole.
In the video demo I actually make mac ‘n dog with beef sausages. You can add any type of protein you like or leave the meat out.
The key to the perfect cheese sauce isn’t the cheese. It’s the bechamel sauce. Bechamel is the base, so if it tastes good, your mac and cheese will taste good.
Use real butter. Never use margarine. It isn’t better for you. Real is always better.
You can use more or less milk to make it the consistency you prefer.
Make this with real cheese! Not out of powdered cheese or cheese sauce.
You can use any cheese you like. I always start with sharp cheddar and I like to add in 1 or 2 special cheeses. In the video I use gruyere, but I’ve used asiago, parmesan, monterey jack, colby, you name it.
Some people like breadcrumbs on top of their mac and cheese, but I don’t like it that way. Not even in the oven. Feel free to add breadcrumbs if you want to.
Give It Your Own Twist
I want to encourage you to get creative with this dish. Add in whatever meat, cheese or topping you like. Once you get a hang of making the bechamel sauce the sky is the limit.
Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lbs Large Sweet Potatoes
- 6 Cups Water To boil Sweet Potatoes
- 1/4 Cups Brown Sugar
- 1 Stick Butter
- 1/4 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tbsp Ground Allspice
- 1 tbsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tbsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1/4 Cups Heavy Cream
- 1 Egg To make casserole fluffy
- 1 oz Oats For Topping
Instructions
- In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Once boiling, add the sweet potatoes and cook for about <strong>15–20 minutes</strong> or until fork tender. Drain and set aside.
- Add the cooked sweet potatoes to a large bowl and add in your Bourbon, Vanilla Extract, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Ground Cinnamon, Ground Allspice, Ground Ginger, Ground Nutmeg, Brown Sugar, and Melted Butter and stir.
- Once mixed, mash the sweet potatoes, then add the cream and mix again.
- Pour the sweet potato mixture into a greased 9×13 casserole dish and spread evenly.
- Sprinkle the oats berries and cherries evenly over the sweet potato layer.
- Bake at 400°F (205°C) for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the casserole is set.
- Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving.
Mac and cheese was always one of my favorite dishes at thanksgiving. I am vegetarian so while this specific recipe may not be my thing I may take a look at how the cheese is made for a different kind of flavored cheese. Do you like white or regular cheddar cheese more and do you have recipes for both?
Hi Jon,
Thanks for checking out this recipe. As a vegetarian you can leave out the meat or even add in anything else you love to give the macaroni and cheese some flare. “Plain” mac and cheese is always a great side dish!
I love Mac and Cheese so much that I use all different types of cheeses. I happened to have Swiss Gruyere so that’s what I used. However, I’ve used Asiago, Colby, Monterey Jack, a mixture of Italian hard cheeses like parmesan and romano, etc. The sky is the limit when it comes to cheese! I tend to use sharp cheddar as my base most of the time, but I use what I have on hand.
What I’m not crazy about is processed cheese. As you can see from the YouTube video, making the bechamel sauce is so easy that there really isn’t a need for processed cheese that people say melts better. If you aren’t using a bechamel sauce then I guess that’s where something like velveeta would come in handy. My mom said that as a kid she used milk, butter and velveeta, but she grew up and started using more real ingredients and removing a lot of processed foods out of her diet as much as possible. So, I’m really not used to the taste of processed cheese to be honest.
I’ve never tried using vegan cheese or nutritional yeast, but that would be a nice challenge! If I test out a vegan recipe I’ll be sure to reply here to update you on how it turned out! I have done a gluten free mac and cheese in the past because one of my good friends is allergic to wheat, so I used rice macaroni and cornstarch in place of flour. I should post that recipe at some point as well.
I really like the fact that you started when you were so young to be a chef! This makes it your No. 1 Passion in life and so you can concentrate all your efforts into it and make a successful website from it.
The way you have presented your recipe is easy to follow and I like the feature of being able to print it. Thank you for thinking of us who cook when you created it, and how we would like to have a copy of the recipe.
My favourite is also Macaroni And Cheese, but we do it differently with tomatoes and an egg mixture, which can be done on the stove, just requires a good dose of stirring until it thickens.
Wow I’ve never made mac and cheese with an egg mixture, but I have topped it with tomatoes (I made a Mexican inspired Macaroni and Cheese and lettuce and tomatoes went well). I’d guess if you were gluten free egg is a good alternative to flour for a thickener for the cheese sauce. Thank you for sharing. Where are you from? It’s so interesting to know how other regions of the world make similar dishes!