What's In A Name... Or How I Almost Got Food Poisoning

I've been noticing that there have been a good number of alternates to the classic mac n' cheese.  Homemade recipes and preparers of fine pre-packaged foods have snuck meats and other things into my mac meals.  I've already had a few and each one, be it Hamburger Helper, or Shells & Broccoli has added a little something to the dish (whether good or bad is part of what I'm trying to figure out on this here blg).  But I've begun questioning what should make sure that I'm reviewing for the blog.

What happens when it's a mac n' cheese, but doesn't say that it is by name?  I mean a mac n' cheese is a pretty simply defined meal... or so I thought.  Pasta and cheese/cheese sauce is the blueprint and when that extra veggie, chicken or other item makes it in you just roll with it.  In one of my recent Target trips (I seem to go there quite a bit, especially because one is across the street from work) I saw that they had a new just add water bowl and picking it up I discovered that the description on the front of the box was mac n' cheese (with bacon!), but the name was all 'fancy'.

I figured that this meal would be a good test.  If it stuck true to the mac, I'd have to scour my grocer's aisles even more than I already do and if it was anything but it, then I'd wait for the comment from a reader or friend to say you totally need to try this for the blog before I worried about another one. 

The Review

Brand:
Archer Farms Bacon Carbonara

Your fancy name doesn't dissuade me! I know what you really are underneath that fancy name... well at least I hope I know what you are.

What Happens To Vegas Mac, Stays in Vegas.

Las Vegas is a unique town.  With it's history steeped in organized crime and gambling, they've over the last few decades made themselves a vacation destination for people across the world (because why else would you want to come to the middle of the desert, where it's still 95 at 10PM in the summer).  Most people now focus on the strip hotels with their musical acts and amazing shows, but there are a huge number of other hotels that are "off strip", including a whole run of hotels that are centered around downtown Vegas and Fremont Street. 

Vegas is also known for it's cuisine. While some restaurants are serving up Michelin rated gourmet meals and others are giving it's customers everything a $7.99 steak buffet will afford them.  That also means that it should be a haven for mac n' cheese (both good and bad).  While I'm sure that if I looked, every hotel would have at least one mac n' cheese at one of their many restaurants, but having come out for a convention (yes a gaming convention) I only had the time to check the hotels near the one I stayed at.  Since our convention was at The Plaza on Fremont St. most of my time was spent near those hotels. 

The Plaza has a chophouse (a fancy steak house) on site called Oscar's and after spending two days with friends talking about wanting steak, having a sick spouse stuck in the hotel room upstairs, I did what any good husband would do.  Go and get take out to bring back to the room.  When looking over the menu for something for me to eat as I'm not a big steak fan, I noticed they had sides one of which was mac n' cheese.  I knew what was going to find it's way back to my hotel room.


The Review


Brand:
Shmuley’s Extraordinary Mac & Cheese at Oscar's Steakhouse located in The Plaza

Booze and ladies and steak!  It's what's for dinner!

The First Rule Of Cheese Club....

I just got in a shipment of regional store brands from a Mid-West friend the other day (Thanks Adam!).  One of them came from the chain Aldi (big in some areas of the country, but none out here on the West Coast).  Their store brand is lovingly named Cheese Club. 

That got me going on Facebook asking who would want to be a member of Cheese Club.  It's an awesome club, where we drink punch, eat cheese and well, be awesome.  Never a slouch, my good friend Nic did what any great artist does.  He created a bad ass logo for our bad ass club.  Now all we need is a clubhouse.  Who's got a tree they're willing to let us build a fort in?



BEST CLUB LOGO EVER?

 If you're interested in Nic's art, check out his stuff for sale HERE or drop him a line, I know he does commissions as well!

Mac N' Helper

While I enjoy the strait ol' mac n' cheese as much as the next person, I'm also eating more of it ( and more often) than the average person.  While different cheeses do change things up, most don't come with anything else in them. So when a meal includes some kind of extra veggie or protein, I'm pretty excited to give it a shot because I know it will be different (good or bad).  I've found and reviewed so many just add water or heat and serve options that I also decided I should break it up some more and start slowly dipping my foot into the stovetop pool.  First up is the first meal that I've reviewed with it's own (not licensed) mascot, Hamburger Helper and it's mascot the "Helping Hand"!

Hamburger Helper is a product of General Mills and has been in production since the early 70's.  Another meal of the baby boomer break out era, where simple fast meals (with minimal additional work by the chef) really began to take hold.  Hamburger Helper is known for the simple additional ingredients you provide of water and hamburger and the need for only one pan to prepare it all in.  They've since created additional brands of helper for Tuna, Chicken and Asian and discontinued other helper brands including Pork and Fruit. 

I've got my chef's hat on, lets see how my first step into stovetops comes out.

Brand:
Hamburger Helper Classic Cheeseburger Macaroni