Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon and Vegetables

I am sorry, I have been neglected my blog.  Between earthquakes, hurricanes and over all life at the end of the summer, life has been busy the last couple of weeks.  I have been cooking and baking just haven't found the time to write about it so stay tuned for some new recipes in the near future, starting today.

Thankfully, we are all safe and sound with no major damage from mother nature's wrath and fall is coming which is one of my favorite times of the year.  The NFL football season kicked off last night and as many of you know, I LOVE football and all of the cooking that comes with it.  I am also dreaming of all of the soups and stews that I want to make.  I love fall comfort food baking.

I started in on the comfort food a few weeks early this year with this macaroni and cheese that I made a couple of weeks ago.  It was just one of those days and I needed some comfort food.  I had a lot of ingredients to make macaroni and cheese at home so I stopped off and got a couple of other things and put this recipe together.  I tried to make it healthier by adding mushrooms and broccoli but then I went and added bacon to it so that threw healthy out the window.  It was really good though and very filling.  We ate it for dinner and then for lunch for quite a few days afterward.  If you don't like mushrooms and/or broccoli you could substitute whatever veggies you like in this.

Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon and Vegetables
From Colleen's Kitchen Therapy

Ingredients
16 oz. elbow macaroni
4 oz. bacon, cut into small pieces
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups broccoli florets
5 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
6 tbsp butter, divided
5 tbsp flour
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
8 oz cheddar jack cheese, shredded
4 oz fontina cheese, shredded
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 13x9 inch baking dish with non stick cooking spray.  Set aside.

In a large pot, cook elbow macaroni according to package directions being careful not to over cook.  In the last 3 minutes of cooking, add broccoli to the pot with the macaroni to blanch.  Strain and set aside.

While the macaroni is cooking, cook bacon until crisp over a medium-high heat in a 3 quart saucepan.  Remove crisped bacon and set aside on a paper towel lined plate to drain.  Add onions to the bacon drippings and cook 1-2 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft, about 3-4 minutes.  Add 4 tbsp butter, garlic powder, salt, pepper and cayenne to the pot.  Once butter is melted, add flour and stir to incorporate.  Cook fat and flour mixture for 2-3 minutes till all of the raw flour is incorporated.  Whisk in the milk and stir mixture until all of the flour is incorporated into the milk.  Cook, stirring frequently until it just starts to come to a boil and the mixture has thickened.  Turn heat to low and add in the shredded cheese, stirring until all of the cheese is melted into the milk mixture.  Pour cheese sauce over macaroni and broccoli and mix until coated.  Pour into baking dish.

In a small bowl mix the panko bread crumbs and 2 tbsp of melted butter together.  Sprinkle over the macaroni and cheese.  Bake 25-30 minutes until panko is browned and cheese sauce is bubbly.  Serve hot.