Guest Blogger: Crabby Macaroni & Cheese

Please welcome today's guest blogger's - Ken and Patti of Date Night Doins BBQ for Two.  I actually "met" Ken and Patti thanks to the Women of the Grill Contest.  They have been very wonderful to me and I really wanted to showcase one of their recipes.  This is a recipe that I have been wanting to try, but you know how it goes sometimes, so many recipes.. blah blah blah.  Ken gave me permission to pull this from their site and I'm excited about sharing this recipe with you.  Thank you Ken and Patti... hope you all enjoy!

Of, course, before you continue on, don't forget to stop by Our Krazy Kitchen and check out my Fire Day Friday post for Grilled Chicken with Oregano, Lemon, and Feta Cheese.

 
For our Valentine’s Day dinner this year we wanted to combine comfort food done a little fancy. Patti loves how versatile Mac & cheese can be and so easy to make homemade. When our daughter Katie visits she insists on Mac & cheese made with a jar of chunky hot salsa. Sometimes, we add a package of frozen spinach or broccoli, thawed. A great way to have kids eat veggies is to cover them with cheese. By kids I mean Ken, too. But, for this holiday recipe I added blue cheese, crab legs and shrimp. And a glass of Champagne, because as Patti’s grandmother would say:”It couldn’t hurt”.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
 Ingredients: Crabby Macaroni & Cheese

1lb. short cut pasta, we used rigatoni
½ lb. cooked medium shrimp, halved
¾ lb. snow crab leg meat or surimi
4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
1 lb. Velveeta, cubed (we like cooking with it because it melts so nicely)
8 oz. carton onion dip
½ cup fresh garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt
1 flute Champagne, if it’s good enough to drink, it’s good enough to use in cooking

Directions: Crabby Macaroni & Cheese

Cook macaroni according to package directions, less two minutes. Drain macaroni; add dip, cheeses, garlic, CB’s Season salt and wine. Stir on medium heat until cheese is melted. Add seafood, stirring in gently. This can be served just like this when heated through or put aside if you’re waiting for a main dish to be done. Reheat in the oven on 350 for about twenty minutes.

Patti made this on the stove, I reheated it on the Royall 3000 Wood Pellet Grill so it could pick up the flavors of the smoke.

About our Recipes
We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Royall Wood Pellet Grill/Smoker, Traeger, Charmglow, Char-Broil, The Big Easy, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles are healthy and low fat and will fit pellet heads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….
Live Your Passion,
Ken & Patti
http://datenightdoins.com

Al Malekovic makes some fine sauces. Patti uses them for seasoning all kinds of things, but I like them on burgers and steaks. “Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce”
Check it out, for a free bottle go to his web site or email him. If you email him, tell him that you saw it here and we used it all up and to send us more...

One Year Ago: Grilled Garlic Pepper Chicken