Chili Mac and Cheese

My parents went to Disney land last Fall.  For Christmas, they gave me socks that look like a mermaid tale and Mickey Mouse shaped pasta.  You cannot tell in these pictures, but each piece of pasta looks like Mickey's head.

I haven't made a pasta dish for a while.  For some reason, I usually make dishes that are served with rice instead of pasta.  I need to give pasta more of a chance.

I have seen multiple one-pot pasta dishes and this is my first attempt.  I have made various pasta recipes for my blog in the past.  I have made a couple versions of mac and cheese, bacon, chicken, ands dried tomatoes mac and cheese and Nigella Lawson's mac and cheese.

I have made cajun chicken pasta, creamy gnocchi with sausage and asparagus, baked spaghetti pie,  and roasted vegetable and ravioli salad.

I have made international pastas too, including shrimp pad see ew, pancit, chicken pad thai, udon noodles with peanut sauce, and vegetable drunken noddles.  It is fun to review the recipes I have made, because I often forget paste recipes.

I found this one-pot chili mac and cheese on allrecipes.com, my go to recipe source.  I added more pasta, chili powder, and cheese.  I didn't add any fresh parsley.  The parsley would have been tasty.

The ingredients are 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 onion, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1 pound ground beef, 2 cups chicken broth, 2 cups pasta sauce, 1 10-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chili peppers, 1 16-ounce can chili, 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, salt, pepper, 2 cups uncooked pasta, and 8 ounces cheese.

I heated the oil in a pot over medium-high heat.  I added the diced onion and minced garlic cloves.  I sautéed these ingredients for a couple of minutes.

I added the ground beef and cooked it until the beef was brown and crumbly.  I removed the excess grease.

I added the chicken broth, tomato pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, and chili.

I added cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper.  I brought this up to a simmer.

I added the pasta once the sauce was simmering.  I covered the pot and let it simmer for 14 minutes.  I stirred the macaroni every few minutes.

I removed the pot from the heat and added grated cheddar cheese.  I stirred until the cheese had melted and incorporated into the dish.

This was scrumptious.  It was hearty and filling too.

It had warm, savory spices.  It was packed full of tender and substantial meat.

 It had a little tang from the tomatoes and a hint of heat from the green chili pepper.

The sauce was creamy and cheesy.  

This was toothsome and satisfying.  It was nourishing and comforting, great for a cold day.  A give it two thumbs up. Yum!