Chili Mac

Chili Mac -(Recipe with video tutorial follow)- This is one of those dinners that everyone in the family loves, from our 18 year old (our oldest) to our 3 year old. It’s comfort food, food that fills your tummy and makes it all warm and yummy feeling. You know, comfort food. It’s also a great recipe for busy mom’s (or busy anyone for that matter). It’s fairly quick and easy to make, pretty nutritious (I can’t call it totally nutritious, after all, it has mac and cheese in it :), but still) and really delicious. What more can you ask for? So, enjoy!

Ingredients
1 family size package of the creamy style mac and cheese
iodized salt (regular table salt will work)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
or
2 cups sofrito
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 (16 ounce) can dark red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes with the juice
10 – 12 ounce frozen corn

Optional Garnishes
sour cream
green onions

Instructions

1. Prepare the mac and cheese according to the package instructions except, add 1 Tablespoon of salt (preferable iodized) to the water.
2. While the mac and cheese is cooking, in a separate pan, heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.
3. Add your minced veggies/sofrito to the hot oil. Sauté for about 1 minute.
4. Add one pound of ground beef. I use a lean ground beef for this so that the fat does not have to be drained. If you look at the package of beef, you will see a number like 85/15 or 90/10. These numbers represent the fat to meat ratio. So if you are buying 85/15, you have 85% meat and 15% fat and you will end up with a lot of grease in the pan. If you use a lower fat meat like the 90/10 or the 93/7, you will have a lot less fat and it will not be necessary to drain the fat out of the pan.
5. When your meat is brown, sprinkle it with the thyme and the chili powder. Stir it to evenly coat the meat.
6. Once the meat is evenly coated, add the kidney beans and the tomatoes. Stir until everything is well combined and allow the beans and tomatoes to get heated through.
7. Add the frozen corn, stir, and allow the corn to get heated all the way through.
8. Gently fold in the prepared mac and cheese, being gentle is important so that you don’t tear your noodles (it will be prettier if you don’t tear them).
9. Serve your delicious chili mac with your favorite garnish. I prefer to use sour cream and green onions. My husband and son like to spice it up with some hot sauce. Enjoy!

Please enjoy this how to video!