Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower

After my last, painfully terrible attempt at mac & cheese, I felt that I needed to make amends. Thus, I turned back to Ina, who is generally reliable and delicious. Her baked mac & cheese is particularly awesome. I made it for Tim's 30th birthday and it was a hit.

This time, I shook things up a wee bit. I got some cauliflower in my CSA share, and decided to incorporate it into the mac and cheese, inspired by all those "fool-your-kids-and-force-them-to-unknowingly-eat-vegetables-under-the-guise-of-deliciously-decadent/low-brow-foods" books out there, as well as the last Ina recipe I cooked.

This was awesome: crispy, cheesy, creamy!

I followed Ina's recipe except for the topping (skipped the tomatoes, used panko instead of fresh breadcrumbs), but added a head of cauliflower, cut into mini-florets and boiled in the leftover pasta water for about 4-5 minutes.

Stovetop Mac & Cheese: Partial FAIL

So... Chuck was craving mac & cheese this week, so I thought I would try out this stovetop method I found online. It was super easy- akin to boxed mac & cheese.

Out of laziness I used some American cheese that was in the fridge because I didn't have any cheddar. Bad idea. I thought using American would be fine... not gourmet, for sure, but fine. It was icky, though. Gummy and tasteless.

I think the method would work if I had used nicer cheese, though. I'll try it again some time when I want mac & cheese quickly. If I have more time, though, Ina Garten's baked mac & cheese is fabulous- I made it for Tim's birthday party and it was a hit. I used panko bread crumbs as the topping, and omitted the tomatoes- awesome.