I started off the day, much like most Mother’s days by making my wife breakfast. As my taco cups recipe was a major hit with my wife, I decided to play off that recipe and make some breakfast cups. I wanted to surprise my wife with something new and wonderful, and boy did these ever hit the spot.

Ingredients:

• Flour tortillas, cut into smaller circles
• Shredded Monterray Jack Cheese
• 1 egg, scrambled and cooked
• 6 slices of Nueske’s Canadian Bacon
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• Mashed Potatoes (optional), cooled
• Muffin pan

Now you see I have two things going on here right? I have flour tortillas, and I have mashed potatoes. Why? Well, I like to try and create new things. I’m glad I used both because they were both really, really good.

For my mashed potatoes, I used a rutabaga that my son brought home last week. He said his classmate’s dad gave it to him because he knows I like to cook and thought I could do something with it. Well, I did. I cooked the rutabaga, along with some russet potatoes, added a bit of milk, butter, and salt to them and mashed them. Let’s just say they were good, and good enough to form a mold into one of my muffin pans.  If you don’t want to try using mashed potatoes in your mold, then just go ahead and use the flour tortillas.

Begin by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Next, melt one tablespoon of the butter into a skillet, and add in 6 slices of Nueske’s Canadian bacon. Cook on each side for about 2 minutes, then remove it from the heat. Cut them into small rounds using round cutters, or something that is small in diameter. Your goal here is presentation. After all, it’s Mom you are cooking for, remember? Take the remaining Canadian bacon and go ahead and eat it. Nueske’s bacon, and well, all of their product is amazing. This will get you excited as to what is going to come.

Take your scramble egg, and cut those into the same size as your Canadian bacon. Each item should not overlap your muffin tin.

Rub the insides of six of the muffin tins with the remaining butter. Take about 4 tablespoons of the mashed potatoes and place inside one of the muffin tins. Repeat with however many more potato muffins you want to eat. Working with the back of your spoon, form them in the tin, making sure there is a nice pocket. Your goal here is to cook the potato in the shape of the muffin tin so that you can stuff it with the remaining ingredients when it is nice and crisp. Potatoes will take about 15 minutes to stiffen and crisp up.

If you are using just the tortillas, go ahead and take your cut tortillas and place them into the muffin tin that you have rubbed with butter. Tortillas will take about 5 minutes to cook and form into a workable shape.

After they are cooked, fill each cup with the shredded cheese, top with the egg round, and then top with the Canadian bacon.  Place back in the oven and cook another 5 minutes.

Remove, and plate.

The great thing about these breakfast cups is that you can stuff them with your favorite breakfast toppings. A two bite breakfast, these little morsels will have you making them time and time again. Let’s just say that after we had them, we both wanted more. Next time, and that time will be coming by shortly, I am going to fill the entire muffin tray with creations. Simple, fun, and definitely comforting. These breakfast cups are sure to please!

I first encountered the torta in Wisconsin, believe it or not. I lived in Dallas for many years and you would have thought I would have eaten a torta in Tex Mex country, but that was not the case. I first experienced the torta at a Mexican supermarket known as El Rey. They have a small restaurant inside that makes some awesome food. As I initially steer towards authentic tacos, I decided to take on the torta. Wow, was I ever surprised. It was a sandwich, sure, but it was a sandwich, when taken a bite of, that just had everything you would expect in a delicious bite. There was texture, and flavor written all over it. As I typically go for the torta milanesa con pollo, or something else traditional, I decided to make something different this past week, the torta with hot dogs.

A couple of my kids are huge fans of the hot dogs. I always buy the all beef wieners as I think they are much better flavored, and have less parts if you know what I mean. The hot dog doesn’t scare me as it might some people who think that every wiener is packed full of parts and stuff. I tune that all of that out, because when biting into a hot dog, well, you end up with a great snap of casing, and some saltiness which gets balanced with other ingredients. Enough said, let’s get you making this torta.

Ingredients:

• 1 Bolillo roll, sliced
• 4 tbsp refried beans, cooked
• 2 whole hot dogs, all beef, cooked
• 1/2 cup of queso quesadilla, melted (Queso oaxaca or soft melting cheese)
• 1/2 cup of shredded lettuce
• 1 small avocado, halved

To start, prepare all of your ingredients. I first boil my hot dogs in a bit of water to fully cook them, then I slice them in half, but not all of the way through. Once halved, drain the water and return them back to the skillet and sear them; caramelizing them for the most part. Once they caramelize, you need to remove them from the heat. Remove the hot dogs and add in the queso quesadilla, or the soft Mexican cheese. Let this sit there and melt. Don’t worry if it burns, it will be fine.

Now we build the torta.

Take your sliced bolillo roll and to the bottom of the base slice, spread the warm and cooked refried beans. Cover the bottom roll. Next, top with the sliced hot dogs. Add the melted cheese to the top of the hot dogs, top with the shredded lettuce, and cover that with the avocado. Feel free to mash the avocado if you want. My avocado was soft and perfect and did not need to be mashed. I was content with it.

Feel free to slice it on the diagonal, or feel free to to add the top piece, give it a gentle press, and dig right in. As I was asking a former colleague the proper way to define the to torta in terms of Torta de perrito caliente, or Hot Dog Torta, or something other, his response was “Hot Dog Torta”,  and used the word “gross”. I will have to say, I’m going out and calling this the Hot Dog Torta, or maybe Awesome Hot Dog Torta.

This sandwich is great. It’s got the creaminess around the exterior, saltiness in the interior, and the crunch from the lettuce. If you are looking to try a new sandwich, give this one a shot.

So as I typically make a standard fried rice for the kids, I thought I would try sneaking in something new for the kids. I love making attempts at this. I know that if they love something, and if I can incorporate something new into the recipe, well, I make every effort to get them to try something new whether that is a vegetable or meat. In my case, I thought I would incorporate Mexican chorizo into the recipe, as after all I made this on Cinco de Mayo.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe], Serves 6

• 4 cups of day old cooked rice
• 1/2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 cup of Mexican Chorizo, squeezed out of casing
• 3 ribs of celery, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp salt
• Generous pinch of cracked black pepper
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter

Begin by heating a large, non-stick skillet on medium heat. Add the oil, and toss in the garlic, cooking and stirring until fragrant. Next, add in the celery and carrots. Give a good stir, and cook for a few minutes. You want them to soften slightly but want some of the crunch. Add in the uncooked chorizo, and begin breaking it up, cooking along the way. The chorizo will begin releasing its fat as it cooks, and this is perfect as we will use this to assist us in cooking and crisping up that rice. The chorizo should take about 5 minutes or so to cook. Continue breaking up any pieces of chorizo.

Add in the butter, and let that begin to melt. This will not only add great flavor to the rice, and I think is a secret weapon when it comes to making fried rice, but it also crisps up the rice. Add in the eggs, and let them cook, breaking it up as it cooks. As the butter melts and the egg cooks, add in the rice, breaking it up with your wooden spoon. Flip, toss, stir. Do you kitchen magic. Impress those around you with those flips of the wrists. Mix everything, that is your goal. As you incorporate all of the veggies, chorizo, and butter into the rice, it will begin to crisp up and make an amazing rice. You are ready to serve.

Feel free to plate in a large serving bowl for the table, or individual bowls. My son loved it, and loved it so much he requested another large bowl of it. Looks like we are winning after all, at least on sneaking in vegetables and eggs, and heck, a new meat he has never tried.

I can’t blame the kid for loving this fried rice. It’s got everything you would love with a fried rice, and replaces that soy sauce, the chili and paprika notes from the Mexican chorizo. If you are looking for something to use in your fried rice recipe, give this one a shot.

In anticipation of Cinco de Mayo, I figured that I would use the muffin tin as a vessel to hold corn tortillas, and fill them with whatever I had in stock. In my case, I was going to make chicken taco cups, some filled with beans, and other just straight up chicken and cheese. After all, I have to please everyone when it comes to dinner, right?

Let’s get started:

Dry Rub Ingredients for the chicken:

• 4 large chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1/4 cup of light brown sugar

For the Taco Cups:

• Corn tortillas, warmed, cut into smaller rounds
• Cooking spray
• Refried beans, cooked
• Head lettuce, shredded
• Avocado, cut into small cubes
• Shredded Colby Jack cheese

Start by marinating your chicken. Mix the dry spices together and rub it all over the chicken breasts. Let these marinate for about 30 minutes.

Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray, and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

While the chicken marinates, warm your tortillas in microwave, or  in a skillet on medium heat until they are nice an pliable. Keep them warm in a tortilla warmer, or in a towel until you are ready to cut and place inside of your muffin tin.

Now you need to figure out how to best cut your tortillas. You can use a large cup, place over the tortilla, and use a sharp knife to cut the rounds, or you can use one of the best things I probably ever purchased, and use the round cutters, and cut into perfect rounds. Place each round inside a muffin tin. Repeat until your muffin tin is full.

Heat a large non-stick skillet on medium high heat. Add the chicken breasts, and cook for about 6 minutes per side. Once the second side is cooked, add about 1/2 cup of water into the skillet, cover, and remove from the heat.

Place your muffin tin inside the preheated oven and cook the tortilla cups for about 6 minutes. After 6 minutes, remove from the oven and set aside.

Remove the chicken from the skillet, and cut it into small, bite-sized cubes. Your goal will be to have small enough chicken bites to fit inside a tortilla cup.

Ok, now we are ready to assemble.

Add about a tablespoon of cooked, refried beans to the bottom of each taco cup. Add chicken to to top of the beans, and top with the shredded cheese. Pack it in there, and press gently into each cup. Add more cheese if necessary.

Place the muffin tin back into the preheated oven and cook another 6 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted.

Remove the taco cups by running a knife around the tortilla cup, and place on your serving dish. Top with shredded lettuce, and avocado cubes.

Let me just say this. My wife made me make this twice last week they were that good, and I even served them for dinner for the kids (making some without the beans), and they loved them as well.

What was great about these taco cups, were that they were bite sized, did not fall apart, and were just the perfect bite. I think taco night now will get replaced with taco cup night, they were that amazing. Oh yeah, that extra cheese crisps up around the cup while cooking, and is just an added bonus. Hope you enjoy, and happy Cinco de Mayo!

It was only about a week ago when I decided to break down an entire bag of onions, only to make caramelized onions. I know, it might sound crazy, but I do this quiet a bit. One thing I really enjoy on any given meal is caramelized onions. After all, they go well with most anything. So after they caramelized, I sat there thinking what I was going to make in the days ahead. That’s when I thought, patty melt.

I’ve said this many times before that when I poll the kids for what they would like to eat during the week, the first response I get from my oldest is “Bacon Burger”. Then there is always some quiet in the room. I think because the other two are pretty much up for anything I make for dinner. So I knew the boys would take on burgers this week, and I figured my wife might want to take on the patty melt. Her response was “I will try a bite”. A bite? I don’t think she even knew what a patty melt was, and maybe many people do not know what one is. I think I first encountered patty melts when living in Dallas and hanging out at the old diners late at night. The patty melt, to me, is one of those diner staples, and any good diner should have one on their menu. Heck, any good burger joint should have one on their menu!

Let’s get started.

Ingredients: [Print this Recipe]

• 2 slices of marble rye bread, about 1/2 thick
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 ground chuck, room temperature
• Bacon drippings (optional)
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1/2 cup of caramelized onions
• 4 slices of cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup of mayonnaise (optional)
• 2 tbsp Sriracha (optional)
• Pickle (optional)
• Waffle Fries, cooked (optional)

So you remember my kid wanted a bacon burger, right? Well, the good dad that I am, I decided he could have his way, and therefore I cooked several slices of Nueske’s bacon low and slow until it was cooked. I then reserved the bacon drippings, and then cooked their burgers. When it was time to make the patty melt, I cleaned the cast iron skillet, and returned it back to the burner on medium heat.

Once the skillet was heated, I added in a few tablespoons of the bacon drippings and brought that to temperature. In the meantime, I gently formed the ground chuck into the shape of a football, and generously seasoned with salt and cracked black pepper.   Mix  the mayonnaise and Sriracha and set aside. You do not have to go that route, but it is nice to have around for a little dip of the burger, or if you are serving it with french fries.

Once the pan was completely heated through, I added the ground chuck, searing and caramelizing it on one side. I then took my burger spatula and smashed it down, flattening it to the size of the rye bread. I let this cook for about 4 minutes total on one side, then flipped it over. Once flipped, add the caramelize onions to the top of the patty, covering the entire thing.  Cook the patty another minute or so, before removing it from the heat.

Next step is to get a nonstick skillet onto the burner, on medium to low heat. Butter one side of each rye bread. Place one slice, butter side down onto the skillet. Add 2 slices of the cheddar cheese, then place the patty on top of the cheese, onion side up. Add 2 more slices of cheddar cheese to the top of the onions, then place the other slice of bread, butter side up, on top.

Cook this, lifting gently to make sure you do not burn the bread, every 30 seconds or so. Your goal is to not only toast the rye bread, but also get the cheddar cheese nice and melted. Once you have a nice golden toast on the first side of the rye bread, carefully flip it over and repeat on the second side.

That’s it. This patty melt is done. Overall, this burger takes about 8 minutes to completely cook, which is no time at all. When you are ready to plate, slice the patty melt on the diagonal, and serve with a pickle and waffle fries.

Let me tell you, this patty melt is something else. Thankfully my wife was out running errands, and my kids were outside playing. I only say this because I devoured it, well, not all of it. Remember, my wife wanted a bite? I gave her a nice portion of the patty melt, and she was thankful that I did. It was confirmed, not only by me, but more importantly, my wife, that this could be the best cheeseburger ever made. I stand by that.

The burger that was seared in the cast iron skillet had that great caramelized texture on the patty, and then the caramelized onions hit you with the buttery and crisp rye bread and cheese! Gosh, I think I am seriously getting excited just talking about it.

It’s a must make people. No lie. Hands down probably the best burger I’ve made to date. Hope you enjoy.

Let me start by saying, I love cooking with my kids. However, with that said, there are not a whole lot of times during the weekday that I can present that opportunity due to busy schedules. Furthermore, I ‘think’ the last thing that is on their mind when they get home from school is a cooking session with Dad. Weekends present a different story though. Not too different, but the pace slows down a bit. There are opportunities, such as the one my wife presented to our oldest son, whereas he loved french toast so much that she showed him everything there was to know about french toast. Now, he is making french toast every morning, by himself, for breakfast. Keep in mind this is the kid who refuses anything that has eggs in it.

Weekend cooking sessions tend to be more geared towards baking though, and we all know that I do not bake that often. I have made enough creations that I can be pretty dangerous in the kitchen when it comes to baking though, so I am no stranger. Things like homemade focaccia bread, some beer and cheddar bread, and even some rosemary bread that used a great starter to name a few. But when it comes to baking, I know exactly what my kids are looking for. Desserts. And we all know that I do not have much of a sweet tooth!

With all of this said, my daughter was excited to spend the day with her grandma and grandpa this past weekend. As she questioned why the four of us were going to the baseball game without her, she suddenly tuned that out with that excitement of spending that quality time with the grandparents. And then the question came to me, “Dad, should we make some blueberry pie to take over to grandma’s?”. Time was of the essence here. It was nearing twelve o’clock and we needed to be by grandma’s by at least 3:30. So my response was “well dear, as I would love to make the pie, it will take some time to make the dough and cook everything in time. How about we make blueberry muffins?”. I couldn’t let that eagerness to cook and create something she was so excited about go , could I? So as I knew everything that we needed, I only needed to head to the store to purchase some extra blueberries, and off to the store we went.

I do love baking with my kids because the best thing about that is that they can measure everything themselves, and mix everything. Pretty simple when it comes to making things like these awesome muffins, or any type of cookie for that matter. So when we returned home, we quickly got started.

Ingredients: (Makes about 9-11 muffins)

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1 whole egg, room temperature, beaten
• 1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and patted dry
• Muffin liners

For the Crumble Topping:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

These blueberry muffins are not only really easy to make, but wow, are they packed with greatness.

Begin by heating the oven to 400 degrees.

Add the muffin liners to your muffin tin. This recipe will make about 9-11 muffins.  To a bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt, oil, and baking powder.  To a small bowl, add the milk and beaten egg and mix that together.  Add this to the flour mixture, and begin mixing with a wooden spoon until all lumps are out. Next, add in the blueberries, and gently fold into the mixture, being careful not to bust any of them open.

To another bowl, add in the crumble ingredients, and begin mixing and mashing up the butter just a bit.

Take this mixture, and begin filling the muffin liners. You will want to fill them almost to the top but not all of the way as they will rise up a bit. Divide the crumble topping onto each muffin, and feel free to be generous. Start by adding enough crumble to cover each muffin, then with any leftover, begin sprinkling over all of them.

Place these in the oven for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven to let cool a bit.

The result. Well, nothing but a moist and perfect muffin. For someone who thinks he does not have a sweet tooth, well, I think I do. We immediately had to plate three of them for grandma’s house, and then we enjoyed one (I mean two) ourselves. As much as I got the pleasure from shopping with my daughter to mixing and baking the muffins, I think I got more pleasure out of watching her eat and talk about the muffins.

As we wind down the winter months here in Wisconsin and gear up for spring, I thought I would introduce one of those comforting dishes that is just perfect for fall or winter months. In my opinion, this dish can be served anytime of the year as it is not only super easy to make, but it just pleases you in every way. I’m talking about pasta with a sage and brown butter sauce.

We first planted sage a couple of years ago in our backyard. Not knowing much about the herb, I just figured that I would grow it, along with the mint, rosemary, and bay leaves, only to be used in the early fall months, especially sage. Little did I know that much like our mint that sprouts up with open arms every year ready to take over parts of my lawn, sage did the same darn thing. I liked that. Actually, I loved that. So as I looked at the sage, I knew that I wanted to make a super simple pasta dish for my wife, and myself for that matter. A dish so easy to make that you will be blown away by the comforting reward.

Serves 2
Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb of Orecchiette pasta (or your favorite pasta)
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 6 fresh sage leaves, minced
• 2 tbsp Grated Parmesan cheese, to your taste
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of cracked black pepper

Begin by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. Add in the pasta, and cook for about 11 minutes.

During this time, make the brown butter sauce. To a skillet, add the butter and cook on a medium heat until the butter browns. This will take about 5 minutes or so depending on the burner. Once browned, add in the minced sage leaves, give a stir, and set it aside.

When the pasta is done cooking, add it to the skillet, stirring and tossing along the way. Add in the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper,  and give it another good stir. The sauce will begin sticking to the pasta, making a nice rich brown butter pasta.

Add to your serving bowls, top with a bit more grated parmesan cheese, and garnish with a sage leaf.

It does not get any easier than that. Give this one a shot. It’s comforting to say the least! Hope you enjoy.

The event was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Milwaukee and was located on two floors of the hotel. I immediately climbed the stairs to the second floor only to be introduced by the rectangular shaped room where amazing chefs and mixologists were eagerly waiting to serve. For some reason I walked to the back of the room to be introduced to some pretty awesome culinary delights from chef Nelly Buleje of Hilton catering. He served me something on a spoon that was just out of this world. A one bite pork and mushroom concoction that just blew me away. I thought if this event was going to be like this (and it was), then I just entered culinary heaven.

As I wondered through the hall, I quickly saw that chef David Swanson from Braise was hanging around in his corner as was chef Tory Miller from L’Etoile in Madison. It was that feeling of being a kid in a candy store for me. What I really enjoyed was being able to talk not only to chef Swanson and Miller, but also to chef Dan Van Rite from Hinterland and chef Justin Aprahamian from Sanford. Every chef was completely accessible, and each one of them were truly genuine and super friendly.

As I continued to eat their array of offerings, and blown away from their bite-sized presentations and flavors, I had to wash it all down with the punch offerings around the floors. Ice sculptured pigs were extracting punch concoctions from bartenders from such great establishments such as L’Etoile, The Aviary, Distil, Merchant, The Hotel Foster, and Burnhearts. All punches were concocted using some killer spirits, and I must say, all were amazing. Most of them had some great fruits, and amazing bitters, that you could probably get away with sipping on those punches for breakfast.

But remember, this was a competition, and I had to keep eating and drinking. Smelling each plate, and tasting every bite. As I went around looking for the voting box, I encountered a butchering demonstration from Scott Buer from Bolzano Artisan Meats.

As I continued to walk through the event, I noticed that Sassy Cow Creamery was also there. They offered up a create your own ice cream sundae, with, get this, toppings such as a maple bacon caramel, chicharrones, and ham marshmallows! As I am not big on desserts, I continued walking to the next table, only to encounter some really nice folks from Hometown Sausage Kitchen.

As I casted my vote, I thought it was time to call it quits. As tough as it was to leave the event, I decided to move along. As I was walking out, low and behold my friendly greeting with Kyle Cherek from Wisconsin Foodie.

The winners ended up being:
Best Chef: Justin Aprahamian
Best Punch: The Aviary

If this event happens again, and I hope it will, it is a must for any Wisconsin foodie. More information can be found online at Slopig.com

As many of you might already be aware, I am from Wisconsin. Among so many amazing things, Wisconsin is known for cheese, and beer. We are often referred to as ‘Cheeseheads’, and live in the land of dairy. I’m actually cool with all of that. I like the fact that we are known for cheese, especially the fact that we have some really good cheese being produced in our state. Not only that, but we are also known for beer, and great beer at that. So with that said, I thought I would come up with a recipe using both products, and create a beer mac and cheese.

This recipe infuses beer throughout the entire mac and cheese process. I first cook the pasta in beer, then while making the roux for the sauce, I begin slowly adding in beer to make the sauce. It’s a great new take on a mac and cheese, and is geared towards any beer lover.

Let’s get started:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb of elbow macaroni, or your favorite mac and cheese pasta, cooked before al dente
• 24 oz New Glarus Spotted Cow beer, or your favorite ale
• 5 cups of water
• 6 slices of Nueske’s bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 6 oz IPA beer, or your favorite beer
• 2 cups of grated white cheddar cheese
• 2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup of half and half, or 2% milk
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• Generous pinch of salt for pasta water
• Nice pinch of cracked black pepper

Begin by bringing your 24 ounces of beer and water to a boil. Season with salt. Add in the pasta and cook just before al dente, as we are going to finish the pasta off in the oven.  During this time, cook the bacon until it is nice and crisp, and set aside to crumble.

Next, get a large enough pan to hold the pasta, as we are going to make the sauce and combine everything together. If you do not have a large pan, don’t worry, as you can combine the two in a mixing bowl before placing in the oven to finish cooking.

Bring the pan to a medium heat, and toss in the butter. Let this melt until it is nice and bubbly. Add in the flour. Stir this with a wooden spoon and cook the flour until it is a nice golden color, then slowly add in the half and half. Continue stirring until all of the lumps are out, then add in the six ounces of beer. Continue stirring until everything is nice and smooth.

Toss in the black pepper, and mustard powder. Stir. Toss in your cheeses, and continue stirring until you have a nice and creamy cheese sauce. Super easy. Super delicious. Things should start smelling like beer. That’s good.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Now, add in the drained and cooked pasta, and the crumbled bacon. Give this a good stir.

I cooked mine in a cast iron skillet which I simply slipped into the oven, however if you are going to transfer everything to a casserole dish, simply spray the inside of the dish with cooking spray, or rub lightly with some butter.

Place this in the oven, uncovered for 30 minutes.

You will notice right off the bat, the aroma of the beer. I liked it. I actually loved it. The great note of the beer infused in the pasta, then the hoppiness from the IPA beer. If you are looking for something different to make for a mac and cheese dish, this might be the one.