Beer Cheese Fondue Mac N' Cheese

For Evan's birthday party - I wanted to make some mac n' cheese, but also wanted to use the ingredients I already had in the kitchen, so I improvised. Trader Joe's has an awesome product - Beer Cheese Fondue in a pouch. You just squeeze it into your fondue pot and heat it and it is good to go - very easy. Well, I had 2 pouches leftover from Christmas, so I decided to try it for the Mac N' Cheese. Here is what I used to make the BIG batch for his party:



Ingredients:



3 bags of cavatappi noodles (I used Krogers private selection brand)

1 pint of half and half

1 stick of butter, divided

2 bags of sharp cheddar cheese (4 cups)

2 pouches of Trader Joe's Beer Cheese Fondue

salt and pepper to taste



Preparation:



Make pasta according to directions, drain and put in the baking pan - add entire stick of butter - reserving 2 TBSP for the sauce. Stir noodles so that they do not stick. To make the cheese sauce, mix 2 TBSP of butter, 1 bag of sharp cheddar cheese, 2 pouches of Trader Joe's Beer Cheese Fondue and the pint of half and half. Add the half and half slowly as the cheese melts. Once the cheese sauce has completely melted, pour it over the noodles and mix well. Bake covered at 375 for 2 hours. During the last 15 minutes of baking, sprinkle remaining bag of shredded sharp cheddar cheese on top. If you make this recipe for a smaller crowd, I would adjust baking time accordingly.

Tara's Sausage Egg Caserole

I am late putting this on here, but I just saw Tara's recipe from the December meal exchange, when I pulled our her casserole to serve it to my family this morning!

Ingredients:

6 slices of bread
1 pound of sausage, browned, drained
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
8 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon, salt
pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cube bread and place evenly in greased 9x13 pan or baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with sausage and cheese. Mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over ingredients in pan. May cover and chill overnight. (If left overnight, remove from refrigerator 15 minutes before baking). Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until set. Cut into squares to serve.

Serves 8 to 10.