pasta shells and cheese sauce

The bacon happened to be on sale but I would have bought it anyway. There is a considerable difference between this deli bacon and mass produced kind. Plus, you can spend a good deal of time trying to discern the differences between types of regular grocery store bacon. One time I noticed a young couple standing there studying the packages for a very long time. They were in my way. Since I discovered this type there is no point in going back to the type processed quickly. 

There is a huge difference. This particular batch is a bit smoky. The flavor permeates everything. 

Conversely, these are the cheapest packages of noodles I've ever seen. The store offers two types. They're .033 each. 

So, rather expensive bacon paired with inexpensive pasta.

This jar of cheese salsa eliminates the need to prepare a cheese sauce.

I got my act down. 

You will not have macaroni and cheese better than this.

* Great quality thick bacon. Mine is frozen and torn into chunks.

* Fresh jalapeño sliced thinly then chopped. The jalapeño  is tossed into the pan with the bacon about half way through the bacon being done. Cooking jalapeño is somewhat important as the jalapeño peppers are unripe. Authentic Mexican restaurants will blister them the way poblanos and Hatch chiles are done.

* Butter melted in the same pot that boiled the pasta.

* Milk poured into the pot when the butter melts and begins to brown.

* Nutmeg scraped into the butter and milk.

* Cheese salsa added to heated milk

* Drained pasta returned to the pot with the butter and milk and cheese

* Bacon and jalapeño added to the pot. 

* One egg added to the pot, now, off the heat. The egg will cook at 140℉ to 160℉. 

Reheating leftovers. The pasta will absorb most of the liquid.  Heat milk first. This will protect the egg from overcooking. Mix in the pasta and continue heating gently. 

All this goes very fast.

Bacon and jalapeño elevate macaroni and cheese to a whole new level. However great bacon and fresh jalapeño is a whole magnitude higher. While prepared cheese sauce makes the effort simple as can be. The inexpensive pasta from the Mexican aisle partially compensates for the higher cost bacon. But whatever the cost and the effort, it's all a great value.

Recommended. Although I'm not so certain that children will appreciate all this. They tend to like bland and unchallenging simple things. It might be a wasted on them. Depends on the child, I suppose.