Buffalo Chicken & Jalapeno Jack Macaroni & Cheese

Happy Wednesday all! Since Monday was secret recipe club day, I had to delay my football food post until today. On Sunday, Josh had the guys over for football. I decided to make them something super comforting- macaroni and cheese! I knew I wanted kick it up a notch, so I added buffalo and jalapeno flavors to the mix.

Ingredients:

4 cups shaped pasta

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

3 cups milk

9 ounces jalapeno jack cheese (I got mine at TJs- you could use regular Monterrey jack and add chopped jalapenos)

6 ounces other cheese of your choice (I used an Italian blend)

1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons buffalo sauce divided

1/2 lb. chicken

Panko bread crumbs

Directions:

Marinate chicken in the fridge in 1/2 cup of the buffalo sauce for 1/2 – 1 full hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook chicken through and dice into bite sized pieces.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Keep the cook time a little on the low end, so the pasta is al dente.

Meanwhile, in another pot, melt the butter over medium heat and then whisk in the flour. Cook for about a minute and then add the milk (continue to whisk). Cook for a few more minutes, until mixture has thickened up. Turn off the heat and add the cheeses and buffalo sauce, stirring until the cheeses have melted completely.

Add chicken and pasta to the milk/cheese mixture and stir to combine. Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with panko.

Bake for 30 minutes until bake is bubbling and panko is browning.

I served fruit:

and sun butter cookies with chocolate chunks on the side:

Between three guys, they ate the entire bake! I’d say it was a success

Are you a macaroni and cheese fan? I was …until the lactose issue!

Two more important items! One, the winners of the NuNaturals giveaway:

Jo Anna

Beth

Heather

Heather

Congrats Ladies!

And second, I’m sure you all have heard about the shape magazine best blogger awards?! I wanted to endorse (? if that’s the right word ) MizFit for the Fitness Junkies category! I have been reading MizFit for….forever (since I started blogging) and love her positive and informative views on fitness and life. Go MizFit! There are tons of awesome nominees- check it out!

Nutty Beef Burgers

I’m not a red meat girl! Its true….I haven’t enjoyed eating it since I was a kid. On rare occasion, I will crave a good burger- this was one of those times! Luckily, it was also Secret Recipe Club time. As a part of the club, each month you’re assigned another Secret Recipe Club blogger to make a recipe from. If you want to join, click here to sign up.

(Chopped nuts)

This month, I was assigned Bizzy Bakes. As indicated by the name of her blog, Bizzy has all sorts of delicious baked good recipes on her blog. Normally, I am instantly drawn to the sweet goodies, but this time, I went savory! These burgers contain walnuts (craziness!) and other great flavors. I made a few adjustments and came up with the following:

Nutty Burgers

Ingredients:

• 2/3 lb Ground Beef
• 1/2 cup mixed chopped nuts (I used walnuts and almonds)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Montreal Steak seasoning

Directions:

Mix together all ingredients except for the ground beef. Use your hands to gently fold the beef in. Form into 4 patties. Grill ~8 minutes per side or until cooked to desired doneness.

Josh had his on a bun with cheese, barbeque sauce & jalapenos. I had mine on top of a salad (note: I like my burgers cooooooked ):

These have such an awesome, unique flavor! Both Josh and I were huge fans! Thanks Bizzy