Mr. IT and I decided not to do anything big for Valentines day this year, since we're saving up for a wedding and all. And while wedding progress is coming along splendidly (I'm almost done with my veil! Pictures and possibly a tutorial soon.), my other projects have slowed quite a bit. I did decide to make some more perler bead magnets, since we're always seeming to need more fridge magnets, and he loves old-school nerdy things. Queue the 8-bit projects!
Link, the Tri-Force, two gameboys, and a bow tie. (Bow ties are cool.) Along with some cinnamon bears and sour patch kids, and a brand spanking new gigantic box of crayons, it was a fantastic small present. (We have a gigantic stack of coloring books... it's fun to go back to childhood and color sometimes!)
I also made one of Mr. IT's favorite dinners. He's a buffalo chicken ADDICT, and I found a recipe on Pinterest for buffalo chicken mac and cheese. I thought this was a FANTASTIC idea, but I wasn't in love with the recipe I found, so I created my own! It's not in the regular dinner rotation, because if it was... I think we'd both weigh 400 pounds. It's definitely not a low-cal meal... but for special occasions... it's OH-SO-GOOD, and it makes enough for an army. It'd be easy enough to cut this recipe in half if you're not a fan of leftovers.
Buffalo Chicken Mac 'n' Cheese
Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 30 minutes
Serves: 9
1 box (16 oz) rotini noodles
3 cups shredded chicken (shredding a rotisserie chicken shaves off some prep time, but I don't think it tastes as good. That's just my opinion though)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. butter
3/4 cup buffalo sauce (divided) (we like Frank's)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sour cream
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup swiss cheese
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Boil pasta according to box directions, and drain
While pasta is boiling, cook the chicken in a skillet, and then shred the chicken into a bowl. Mix in 1/2 cup of the buffalo sauce and toss to coat the chicken.
Also while the pasta is boiling and the chicken is cooking , in a separate (fairly large) pot, melt the butter, flour, and mustard together and stir until smooth. Whisk in milk and heavy cream, and stir constantly until sauce begins to thicken slightly (about 2 minutes). Add 1/4 cup of the buffalo sauce, and mix all together. Add the cheddar cheese, and stir until the cheddar begins to melt. Add the mozzarella, and again stir until the cheeses become a little easier to stir, and finally repeat with the swiss cheese. After the swiss cheese has begun to melt, stir in the sour cream. Then, keep stirring. (This part takes the longest, but it's worth it!) Soon, the cheese will begin to become uniformly melted and the sauce will be a creamy consistency when you pull the spoon out of the pot (NOT stringy! This is important.) Once that creamy consistency is reached, turn off the heat for the pot and let it sit.
In a 9x13 pan, pour in half of the noodles, then spread the chicken in an even layer over the noodles. Top with the remaining noodles. Take the cheese sauce, and slowly pour the cheese evenly over the top of the noodles. It will look like the sauce doesn't go all the way down to the bottom of the pan, but I promise once it starts baking, it'll seep it's way down!
Spread the bread crumbs on top of the cheese sauce, sprinkle with the blue cheese and the parsley. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, take out of the oven, and let it sit for 10 minutes. Serve up, and enjoy!
