' My kids love mac and cheese, either from the box, a freezer bag or made from scratch. I found this recipe at the Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine website. (On the extremely wild outside chance the editors of the magazine find out about this post, if I don’t hide the magazine until I’ve had a chance to read it, my nine year old daughter will walk off with it and I won’t see it for months.) In an effort to cut down on the grocery bill, and to use up stuff in my freezers, I used what I had to create this variation of the recipe. The kids liked it a lot, and when I asked if I should leave the potatoes out next time, I was told it made a really nice texture combination. That surprised me, but hey, if they like it, I’ll keep ‘em in.
For those who are looking to compare my version with the original, here are the differences: I used a red skinned yellow fleshed potato, about 6 oz. of whole wheat penne, and Bone Dust seasoning instead of Old Bay (I’m not going to spend $9 on a large container if I’m not sure I’ll ever use it again). I’ve got the cookbook Hot, Sticky and on Fire book by Ted Reader, where the Bone Dust recipe comes from. Unfortunately, it’s only available in Canada or through Amazon.ca. I got my copy as a gift several years ago, and we love many of the recipes in it.
Anyway, my version of the recipe can be found after the jump.
This soup was inspired by the need for something hearty, with a good amount of protein for me and just enough carbs to make the soup filling for Matt and the kids. I checked out several versions of this soup online, picked out the bits I liked best, then threw it all together to make my own version.