Manly Mac and Cheese

For some reason, I always think of Kielbasa as a manly food. Maybe because it's meat but it seems even manlier than say, brats. I don't know why. So I came across a recipe that is essentially homemade mac and cheese, peas, and Kielbasa. The recipe turned out great! I followed many commenters suggestions and doubled the sauce. I also made the entire (16oz) box of noodles and just dumped what fit into my dish, leaving some for leftovers for a different meal. I think I used about 2/3 of the box (more than what the recipe calls for) and the sauce to pasta ratio was perfect.

Also, I used garlic powder instead of minced and whole milk instead of low fat (our daughter has a hard time going through a whole gallon before it goes bad so we usually use it in our cooking). I'm also not sure how much of my cornstarch actually made it into the milk mixture. Most of it seemed to be stuck to the bottom of the bowl but the cheese really thickens things up.

It came together rather quickly and I give it a 4/5. Of course, it's not the healthiest of meals but that's what the peas are for! It also tastes fine leftover the next day.

As with all of my homemade mac and cheese recipes, this had a slightly grainy texture to the cheese sauce and I even used expensive cheese this time instead of generic. I think melted shredded cheese is just always going to do that to me. Or maybe what I call expensive and high quality still isn't high enough quality. It's not from the deli. On the other hand, I can put up with this texture and David doesn't care so I would rather get more cheese for my money than buy the most expensive kind I can find.

I would definitely make this recipe again but more as a treat because of the high fat content. Plus, we don't usually Kielbasa on hand. It just happened to be on sale last week.