Sometimes food can’t be photographed well.
Sometimes it looks like major vomit.
Even with nice diffused lighting.
So I’m taking my super artistic route, by showing you I can’t draw too well.
Case in point:
Why is his body bending that way? How is it possible that he is both lying down and jumping at the same time? Is he trying to eat his own leg?
I really can’t draw animals.
or people.
I’ve never been able to pull off a horse.
It usually looks like a bulimic elephant.
I can sort of draw objects, if you like the way a child draws objects.
I’ve even taken a drawing class. Total crash and burn.
But this Cheeseburger Macaroni Explosion? No Crash. No Burn. The explosion is one of flavor.
I actually managed to pull this one off.
Steve said he wanted Hamburger Helper. I said no thank you. But I was up to the challenge of making something that tasted like the box mix only better that didn’t have all those mystery ingredients. And powdered cheese.
wtf is powdered cheese?
I’ve had hamburger helper plenty of times, so what? I had a single working mom that cooked us dinner in the 90s. That sometimes whipped up delicious meals that were or weren’t from a box. I love my mom’s cooking. A lot.
I have never had though the cheeseburger macaroni flavor though.
Essentially we’re talkin’ mac and cheese with ground turkey.
It’s a simple, straight forward, ridiculous, amazing, weird concoction of a dinner.
Make it. Tonight. or Tomorrow if you’ve already had dinner tonight.
Maybe swap out the ground turkey for some rotisserie chicken? with some veggies?
It’s kind of a quick dinner. I like that. and Steve said it tastes just like the box. Except the box is a little cheesier.
Friggin’ powdered cheese.
Cheeseburger Macaroni Explosion
Serves 4 or an embarrassing 2
Lightly adapted from this recipe
via Kevin & Amanda
1 lb ground turkey,
s&p
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
2 c chicken stock
1 1/2 c elbow macaroni, or some egg noodles (Steve’s request)
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 c milk
1 1/2 c shredded sharp cheddar*
1/2 salt
1/2 pepper
shake of hot sauce
Brown turkey in a large pan, add seasonings, chicken stock, and noodles. Bring to a boil, cover, and set a timer for 12 min.
In a small saucepan, melt butter and add flour. Stir for a min to cook off some of the floury flavor.
Add milk and whisk until thickened. Throw in everything else. Be sure to occasionally stir the pan of noodle mixture.
Once the timer goes off, check the noodles for doneness. If not done, cook for few more minutes. Mine took 15.
Once cooked, stir in that cheese sauce and any other fixings you might want. Broccoli and chicken instead of the turkey might be kind of nice.
*If I ever start up another blog, I will call it shredded cheddar. I’m just throwing that out there. Also the sharper the cheddar the better. Or kill the cheddar and use parmesan or pepper jack? Think about it.
