Cooking Fried Mac and Cheese

Good Afternoon! Thank you in advance for taking a few moments to listen to me indulge in cooking and rambling. I love to cook, I like to talk, and writing falls somewhere below those two. Caught in between loving to read, and needing to create. Anywho.....my day starting very nice. Quietly awoke somewhere around 8:15am, or so it would have been if it wasn't for springing forward last night. So it is 9:15am and I am happily waking up to enjoy my second day off in a row! I decide coffee is the proper way to celebrate....fast forward two hours and I have spent $150 and now have plently of groceries to last the next two weeks! I make coffee. Not just any coffee though, fresh ground kona beans from hawaii! Love coffee.....now I'm awake! Time to cook. Steve request kraft Mac&Cheese. To which I respond " all of this yummy food I just bought and you want Mac&Cheese?" "Yep" Steve responds. "and anything else you wanna make," that's all I need to hear.

I quickly start to assemble an idea. My imagination takes my mind into a mock up of Chopped Champions and Chef Scott Conant is complaining about my poorly cooked pasta. Focus, I think I can make this Mac&Cheese a little better then the box will plainly allow.  I cook the mac&cheese according to the box directions and then add some slices of american cheese. I spread it on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and put it into the fridge. After two hours I cut out my desired shapes and put those in the freezer. Two hours later I am ready to fry. I coat my mac&cheese shape in an egg wash, then bread crumbs. The "bread" crumbs are really some leftover olive garden croutons. Perfect way to use something up. I deep fry. Its golden soft and delicious. Two slices of fried mac&cheese and three white asparagus spears, finished with a spicy tomato sauce and basil chiffonade. Except after assembling my plate I realize my vision of what this dish should be, it so sadly is not. Oh well, good try! 

Luckily, this is not my first try and fail situation. In fact, I think the most I have learned about cooking has usually been from a "oops" situation! So, I guess back to the drawing board for the fried Mac&Cheese dish. In the meantime, I made a very tasty Monkey Pie. Below is the recipe:

MONKEY PIE

1 graham cracker crumb crust

1 pkg instant chocolate pudding

1 pkg instant banana pudding

3.5 cups milk

3-4 medium bananas

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. In a bowl, stir 1 3/4 cup cold milk with the instant chocolate pudding mix. Stir for 2 minutes and then put into fridge to set. In separate bowl repeat steps with the instant banana pudding mix.

2. Slice bananas across the width of the banana. Line crust with banana slices reserving 10-12 slices. Spoon the chocolate pudding over top the sliced bananas and spread evenly. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs evenly over the chocolate pudding. 

3. Spoon the banana pudding over the graham cracker crumbs and chocolate pudding. Place remaining slices of banana on the top of the banana pudding. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips over top of pie. 

4. Cover and set in fridge for at least 3 hours. 

Thanks again for reading. Stay with me while I work on my recipes and share some classic comfort food recipes! 

~ MirMai