Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

100% without a doubt the best homemade macaroni and cheese recipe you will ever eat. The mix of cheeses give it a gourmet taste w/out taking away from the OG goodness of good ol' Mac and Cheese. This recipe has been tried and tested by some of the biggest food lover's I know. Another recipe from the kitchen of my bestie Elishia. I made it a couple times last winter and the entire family was happy. I normally only crave something like this when it's cold outside but I resurrected it for my step-dad's birthday since I'm pretty sure Mac and Cheese is one of his favorite foods ever. My sister-in-law made this recently for a friend's birthday also and served it with ribs. Great idea and great pairing! I think I'll make that combo next.

Ingredients:
2 cups elbow macaroni
1/4 cup oil
1 stick of butter or margarine cut into pieces
1 lb. Velveeta cheese, cut into cubes (or substitute 1/2 the Velveeta with a blend of grated sharp cheddar cheese, Jarlsberg and jalapeno cheese)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/16 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce (optional)
1 egg
1 cup milk + a little more milk
1 (8oz.) bag shredded sharp Cheddar (2 cups)
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions:
1. In a large pot, add 6 cups of water and 1/4 cup of oil. Bring to a boil. Cook macaroni in boiling water, approximately 9 minutes, until tender.
2. Slice butter and drop into crock pot. Turn crock pot on to melt butter while cooking pasta.
3. Drain macaroni, but do not rinse it. Place in slow cooker.
4. Add cubed Velveeta or grated cheese. Mix gently.
5. Mix egg, milk, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. If you like it spicy you can add 1/4 tsp. of Tabasco sauce to egg mixture. Pour over macaroni. Add additional milk if necessary, to come up to 1" from the top of the macaroni. Don't cover the macaroni with milk!
6. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over top of macaroni.
7. Sprinkle top of cheese with 1/4 cup of bread crumbs.
8. Cook 4 hours on Low or 2 hours on High.
9. 6-10 servings.

Authentic Pasta Carbonara

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! This is most definitely my favorite pasta dish of all time. It's so simple with only a few ingredients but it can be tricky. When it is done right, you end up with a delicious and flavorful pasta that is light yet salty and dense at the same time. This recipe comes from Cathe Laurie on the Virtue web-site. Photos are also courtesy of Virtue. I tried taking my own but with our horrible apartment lighting and my point and shoot camera, the pasta was just looking funky.

Ingredients:

1/2 box of spaghetti

Hunk of pancetta or thick cut bacon (I use the Trader Joe's Pancetta that is already cut into little matchstick size square pieces)

Extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (love the nutty flavor of this cheese-one of our staples for pasta)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chopped Italian parsley to top, optional

Directions:

Put the pasta into a pot of lightly salted, boiling water.

Cut the pancetta into quarter-inch matchsticks and place into a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil.

While the pancetta and spaghetti is cooking, break the eggs into a mixing bowl. Add half a handful of freshly grated Parm.-Reggiano and a pinch or two of black pepper. Beat the mixture together, just enough to combine everything evenly.

Since the pancetta will only take about 5-10 minutes to brown nicely, turn down the heat to low until you're ready to assemble the dish. Once the spaghetti is cooked, strain it and add to the egg mixture. Add a small handful of cheese and toss the mixture well with a couple of forks until the spaghetti is coated.

Immediately turn the heat back up on the pancetta for 30 seconds, until it's sizzling, then pour off half the fat. Add the pancetta and remaining fat onto the pasta and sprinkle with more cheese, and some pepper. Let it sit for about 30 seconds before mixing; if the pancetta is too hot, the sauce won't blend well.

Serve in a clean bowl. Traditionally, the bowl that the pasta was mixed in is served to your guest. This is the "originale", which has the good stuff at the bottom and is considered a special blessing!