Jamaican Jerk Bacon Mac & Cheese is an easy, deliciously creamy, and slightly spicy version of the classic comfort food.  Perfect as a side dish or as a main meal!  

Happy New Year Everyone!!  Hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends celebrating Christmas and the New Year.  I had an overly wonderful time celebrating and can shamelessly admit that I have eaten enough food in the last 7 days to sustain me for the rest of the year.  No kidding.  Since my love for food runs so deep, many of my gifts are food or cooking related.

For example, this beauty below:

You are looking at a huge bag of Storm Chips that J picked up for me while in was in Canada a few days before the Christmas holiday (he also bought me enough dark chocolate for about 20 people, which he then proceeded to try to stuff all of it in my stocking).  He wrapped the chip bag in pretty Christmas paper and when he placed it on my lap Christmas morning, he told me it was very fragile and I needed to be very careful opening it.  Immediately my rational mind thought “Hell yeah!  He got me a tiara!”  Now, I don’t quite understand why I initially thought this, other than:

1.  Cinderella is my favorite fairy tale character and I’ve always envisioned myself to be a little like her so I was probably thinking here’s my chance to finally live out my dream of being a princess.
2.  Thinking the gift was a tiara is helluva less crazy than thinking it could be a bag of potato chips.

Surely, people will read this and think gifting someone a bag of chips is a little weird, but not for me, because I am insanely obsessed with potato chips.  Insane in the membrane…insane in the brain… Seriously, I do love chips so I adored this gift.  Plus, it was a total mind blowing experience because this bag turned out to be super special…it has four chip flavors in the bag.  Yes, please take some time to process that.  Four different potato chip flavors in ONE bag!!!!  What?!?  Who does this??  Canadians do it, that’s who.  Friggin’ brilliant! #thankyouCanada

Besides eating my whole bag of special Canadian chips over the course of two days and gorging myself with the 12 pounds of dark chocolate, I’ve also managed to make a few pasta dishes, like this Jamaican Jerk Bacon Mac & Cheese.  As I mentioned in my last post, I’m starting a no sugar/no flour/no fun diet on January 2nd.  Until that day arrives (tomorrow), I am going through my humongous kitchen pantry and cleaning it out of all the bad stuff (aka eating it all!).  This includes pasta, pasta, and more pasta.  I literally have about 23 different kinds of half used boxes/bags of dried pasta in my pantry.  I like to stock up on it, just in case a food ration is enforced or there’s a Zombie onslaught, and I can’t get to the store.  Of course, I can’t donate any of it since they are all open and half used, so I stated brainstorming ways to use it up.

The idea for this Jamaican Jerk Bacon Mac & Cheese recipe came about after I had just made a batch of my Jamaican Jerk bacon.   I knew I was using up some of the pasta to make one of J’s favorite foods in the whole entire world, macaroni and cheese.  That guy would eat it every day, at every meal, if he could.  So I started wondering, what would make cheesy, creamy mac & cheese better?  Adding bacon of course, ’cause bacon makes everything better.  Cheese, pasta, and bacon?  Is there any better way to jump start a clean eating diet?  No, I think not.  Another thing I love about this recipe is that it is made on the stovetop, instead of baked, and the whole one-pot thing just makes life a little easier.

Here’s a tip:  If you are lucky enough to have some leftovers, you can make mac and cheese bites.  Just take a couple of tablespoons of the chilled mac and cheese, shape it into a ball, dip it in an egg wash and roll in some flour or bread crumbs, then fry in hot oil for a few minutes.  Perfect for adult appetizers or as a kid meal.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year today and I would like to thank each one of you for supporting me this past year.  2015 was a fantastic year, full of exciting changes and new adventures, and I hope the same for all of us in 2016!  Also, don’t forget to try this Jamaican Jerk Bacon Mac & Cheese before going on your new year diet

5.0 from 10 reviews

Jamaican Jerk Bacon Mac & Cheese

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Author: Tasty Ever After

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 12 ounces of dry cavatappi pasta
• ½ cup Jamaican jerk bacon, ¼" dice (can substitute pepper bacon)
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• ¼ all-purpose flour
• 2½ cups whole milk
• 2 cup sharp cheddar, freshly shredded
• 1 cup Pepper Jack cheese, freshly shredded
• 2 ounces cream cheese
• ½ tsp kosher salt

Instructions

1. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, fry the diced jerk bacon in a medium sized pan over medium heat until brown and cooked through. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture thickens. Whisk in the three cheeses and the salt, whisking until the cheese is fully incorporated and the sauce is smooth.
4. Stir the cooked pasta and jerk bacon into the sauce and heat through, about a minute or two.
5. Serve as a side dish or as a main dish with a salad or green vegetable. Enjoy!

3.5.3208

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