I don’t know how many of you purchase items on infomercials, but back in the day – if I saw it on TV, I always believed the hype – I could sit and watch a half hour commercial of the next great gadget to come along! Most of them didn’t live up to my expectations or things which I thought I “had” to have but ended up in a cupboard only to be used once in a while.
Have you seen the infomercial for the Pasta Boat?
Our whole family got the Pasta Boat as a gift from my Uncle Dave and Aunt Martha a few years ago for Christmas. If Dave saw something he loved, he bought 12 of them to give a way to family and friends. I’m not sure if anyone else uses theirs, but I use mine every week! Why? It’s easy! Sadly my uncle passed away last year from cancer, but I think of him every time I use it – I know he would love that I love this gadget!
I toss in a box of pasta, fill the pasta boat with water, set the microwave for 15 minutes and it comes out perfect every time! No matter what type of pasta you use either!
For example, I made stove top mac n cheese from start to finish using the pasta boat in FIFTEEN MINUTES! That is awesome on a busy weeknight when you don’t want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen.
Since I make mac and cheese a lot, I do vary it depending on what cheeses I have on hand. Tonight’s version turned out great – so I had to share!
Ingredients
- 1 8 oz. box of uncooked pasta (elbow, rotini, shells - whatever you like)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 4 cups skim milk
- dash of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 oz. cheddar cheese
- 1 oz. feta cheese
- 1 oz. mozzarella cheese
- Fresh grated Parmesan cheese (as a garnish on top)
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 4 slices turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
- left over ham, or ham cubes (sold near the lunch meats) about 1 cup
Instructions
- Add the pasta to the pasta boat and fill with water. Cook for 15 minutes, drain and set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking, in a large pot add the 1/4 cup of butter and let that melt.
- Add the 1/3 cup flour and using a whisk, stir together (it will start to clump together)
- Add the spices
- Add the 4 cups of skim milk and cook on medium heat, stirring often (about 8 minutes) until the sauce is thickened.
- Turn off the heat. Add the cheeses and stir to melt.
- Add the cooked ham if using and stir. The sauce will be hot so it will warm the ham up.
- Once the pasta is done, drain and add to the sauce.
- Cook the turkey bacon in the microwave on paper towels for 2 minutes. Chop up and you can top the mac n cheese with the chopped green onions, turkey bacon and Parmesan cheese.
And since my twin sister mentioned that she made a huge ham yesterday and that I would probably make ham mac n cheese if I had it, I had to laugh since it was on my menu tonight. Here is what we do frequently when we are making dinner, send pics via text message!
Her dinner looks amazing too! She made chicken and dumplings!
And I have a few great things in the works – I was contacted by a cookbook publisher and I will be doing some cookbook reviews soon with recipes!
I also am helping out a few start ups – more information about that later, but they are recipe based – so super fun!
And in case you were wondering, I am going to win the HGTV house give a way. Voting ends next week, so I hope to know in the next few weeks when we can move into our dream home! LOL I’ll be cooking outside in my outdoor kitchen.
Are you a sucker for infomercial products??
