Monday, March 14, 2016

Macaroni and Cheese with Sliced Hot Dogs


This should say Penne and Cheese as when I went to look for a box of elbow macaroni in the pantry, all I came out with was a 12 oz. box of gluten free Penne pasta.  The 'gluten free' was a surprise as we normally have regular.  I must have picked up the box by mistake.  

I felt like I was making this for a child again as I also added sliced hotdogs.  Well, big kids enjoy their hotdogs too.  I asked Gregg, would you like hotdogs for a change a couple of nights ago and there were a few left over, so we tossed them into the pasta.  Talk about getting back in touch with your inner child.  It was so good!

Macaroni and Cheese - 4 to 6 servings

12 oz. box of Penne pasta, or you can use elbow macaroni
2 cups grated Cheddar Cheese
4 hotdogs, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup buttered fresh breadcrumbs


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Boil the Penne in salted water according to package directions.

In the meantime grease a medium sized casserole dish with cooking spray or a little butter.

Saute the sliced hotdogs until they are nice and brown. 

When the pasta is ready, drain thoroughly and then put the drained pasta back into the pan you used to cook pasta.  It is usually advised to pour cold water over the top of the drained pasta and then drain again, but I am never patient enough to do this step.  

So, now that you have it all back in the pan, mix in the seasoned salt, cayenne pepper and then the grated cheese.  When it is nice and gooey, fold in the sliced hotdogs.  

Now you can put the pasta in your casserole dish.  

Mix the half cup of milk with the egg and pour that over the top of the pasta.

By this time I have already taken any day old bread, how many slices depends on how big the loaf is (I used three small slices of sourdough this time).  Toss the slices in the blender and press the pulse button until you have relatively fine breadcrumbs.  They don't have to be too fine.  Mix in the melted butter.  Spread the breadcrumbs evenly over the pasta.

Pop in the 350 degree oven and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until nicely browned on the top.


~~~~~~

What did we think of our meal?  Comfort food at its best.  

We had been out for several hours and wanted something fast to put on the table.  Gregg likes to get in the kitchen, which makes it a lot of fun to put a meal together when there is two of us cutting the work in half.  He cooked the hotdogs while I was putting the casserole ingredients together, and he also made the salad.

Salad was whatever we had on hand: lettuce, leftover peas from yesterday's dinner, diced tomatoes and diced sweet red pepper.  He also grilled some onions in a little olive oil, mixes in the veggies and puts this mixture on top of the lettuce.  It is nice and warm and wilts the lettuce a little.  Very tasty and you don't need to add any extra dressing.


I wouldn't alter anything about this meal because it is yummy.  

You can alter the veggies for the salad to whatever your favorites may be.  

You can leave the hotdogs out or add another preferred meat.  

The possibilities are endless.  

I didn't use a recipe as this is something I have been putting together for many years, whenever we have wanted some good old fashioned comfort food.  We never seem to cook it the same way twice.









18 comments:

  1. Looks quick easy and delicious.

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  2. Glad the gluten-free turned out to be good. Sometimes it isn't.

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  3. Oh yum! My granddaughter would love, love, love this dish!

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  4. Macaroni cheese is indeed comfort food at its best.

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  5. We had spaghetti last weekend. And this is one comfort food I love to eat over and over again. And your photo is a balance of a healthy dish! Must be yummy! :)

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  6. Hello, I love Mac & Cheese. YUM! I never tried it with hot dogs, maybe next time. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!

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  7. ... I love the veggies in your salad.

    All the best Jan

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  8. This would be my comfort food too! Looks so delicious!

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  9. i would love this to eat and to look at and to photograph. it looks and sounds fantastic to me..

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  10. Must be my day for Pasta I was on a Yellow Monday blog earlier and they had pictures of a twisted Mac n Cheese stand at a fair and now you have Penne and cheese. I dont mind the occasional dog but prefer sausages when I had a butchers shop I used to make loads of them in natural casing all hand linked. I may mention this to Heather but omit the gluten free. Heather just did me lunch of Crumpets grilled both sides slathered with cream cheese and topped with Choritzo sausage they were delicous. I know wish we had taken photos of them for my blog.
    XXX Don

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  11. Mac and Cheese is always a hit, but my all time favorite was mixed with lobster in Maine!

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  12. A lovely dish. I wonder if it is terribly caloric? Could you use low fat cheese and lean hotdogs and have it taste as good?

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  13. That sounds very good. Interesting to see how you make buttered breadcrumbs.

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  14. This sounds so good...something else that is good in pasta like this is smoked sausages. but I will take any of it.

    Also if you like fried potatoes, add hot dogs or smoked sausage like this. YUMMY!

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  15. sounds yummy and looks pretty darn good, i'm glad i just ate and am not hungry. i am curious about the gluten free pasta. most people say the flavor difference is so distinctive, what did you think???

    my favorite additive to mac and cheese is tomatoes but hotdogs sound really good!!!

    when ever we are out and about, we eat out because i never feel like cooking when i come home....it's just kinda our way of doing things. if we are out, we eat out. i really enjoy cooking but everything takes me longer so we have just adapted to that and i do most of my prep work in the morning!!! you are getting really good with these food pictures!!!!

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