I Make Shit Up

Beans, Basil, Beef, Butter. Also, some Mushrooms and Elbow Pasta

So. I know it's been a while since I last blogged. A few lazy nights of soup, and then some captivating episodes of Breaking Bad left me looking at my camera and promising to myself, "I'll definitely write up the blog for that tomorrow". Yeah right. I am very decent at lying to myself. But I didn't lie to myself when making this dish - I just put in whatever I thought would be delicious.

It had been a couple of nights of non-cooking, and I was in the grocery food store staring at the boxes of instant Mac & Cheese and my hand was starting to gravitate towards them. Then, like a good guilty conscience, the image of that box of raw elbow macaroni in my pantry popped into my head. I had to make Macaroni and Cheese myself. But no- it wouldn't be any ordinary Mac & Cheese, it would be Chris's awesome version of Mac & Cheese.

So, I embarked upon a small journey of cooking an eclectic Mac & Cheese variant, using mostly ingredients I already had. I started off by defrosting a half pound of ground beef, browning it in the pan as it warmed up from a frozen block. When I could break it apart, I added a bit of butter and sliced mushrooms, letting them all cook together, blending flavors. After a few stirs, I added a can of drained black beans. I let it simmer until most of the water had evaporated Finally, I sliced up the entire block of cheddar and placed the slices on top of the concoction, letting it melt through as the steam and food heated it from below. After the pasta was finished cooking, I mixed it in with the sauce. With some salt and pepper, and enough basil leaves to de-leaf half my little basil plant, the dish was finished. What a meal.