Ginger's Crockpot French Dip sandwiches, mac & cheese, Cindy 5NY's coleslaw. Its what I served to a big family group when we were all on vacation together - bit hit.

I like to do roasted pork...

Which sounds wonderful for the weekend...

Hmmmm...

I have to roast chickens today though...maybe pork tomorrow...

I make spicy sweet tomatoes to go with mac & cheese. I sauté an onion in olive oil, add a 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes, cutting the larger ones in half, add brown sugar, Tabasco* and salt to taste, and simmer while the mac & cheese bakes. It's important to cook it long enough for the tomatoes to break down and the liquid to start to thicken.

* I've tried using other hot sauces, including Franks and Crystal, but none of them work as well together with the brown sugar.

Just a big, refreshing salad, dressed sparingly with a slightly sharp vinaigrette, to counter the rich creaminess of the mac and cheese.

A great macaroni and cheese dish can serve as the entree rather than a side dish. In winter, I'd serve it with steamed broccoli spears and stewed tomatoes or the tomato pudding posted below. In summer, I'd serve it with a salad and baked tomatoes stuffed with spinach and garlic.

TOMATO PUDDING

2 (1 lb.) cans stewed tomatoes
1 medium onion, halved and slivered
1 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, divided
2 Tbsp. water
1 cup Pepperidge Farm herb-seasoned stuffing mix

In saucepan, cook tomatoes, onion, sugar, and 1 Tbsp. butter over medium-high heat until liquid is reduced by half 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into shallow 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Melt other tablespoon of butter with water; stir in stuffing mix. Spread topping over tomatoes and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until tomatoes are heated and topping is golden. Note: Dry bread cubes can be substituted for the stuffing mix. The tomato-onion mixture can be prepared ahead of time. Just donÂt add the topping until ready to bake.

I would like to have something green on the plate with mac and cheese to balance the color as well as the flavor. To balance a more delicate entree it might be green peas. However, with mac and cheese I would want something with a more assertive flavor such as collards or mustard greens. If those are not to your liking maybe you would like swiss chard or spinach.

Jim

Usually a slice of ham and some green beans.

Zucchini darfc

BTW, a tomato dish such as Ruthanna's Tomato Pudding would be as good a contrast of flavor and color as the greens I suggested.

Jim

I love broccoli and cheese, so I think I'd make some sauteed broccoli with olive oil and garlic...

Though just thinking about mac and cheese is making me drool...

Emily

DH makes fun of me all of the time because I can't serve ham without mac & cheese. I must have grown up always having the two of them served together, because in my book, you just can't serve ham without it. I usually add a salad or some veggie, but if we have ham, you can bet we have mac and cheese!

Sometimes I do the mac and cheese with other things, but never would I do the ham without the mac and cheese. I'm just weird about that, I guess.

When I make Mac and Cheese I fix either ham, oven fried chicken breasts or salmon patties for the main dish, one of the three always and home canned black eye peas.

I made the Patti Labelle mac and cheese recipe last week with sauteed brussel sprouts and a big salad with homemade vinagraitte. I fried some bacon really crisp, then sauteed the spouts in a little of the bacon grease with some shallots. We crumbled the bacon over the mac and cheese.
Delicious. I had never made or eaten brussel sprouts before...

I agree that a big green salad might be enough! Although hot dogs might be good too :)

Great suggestions everyone!

I am making steamed broccoli and Ruthanna;s Tomato Pudding as the sides and DH made a big pouty dface when I said I was still deciding what to make for a "meat" and asked why I wasn;t planning meatloaf! So - thanks everyone and I have a ham craving now, so it will probably be ham in the next few days to finish the Mac & Cheese.

Those are good choices of vegetables.

So, why aren't you making meatloaf? :-(

Seriously though, I don't see any need for meat with that meal, even though I love meatloaf.

Jim

Ruthanna's tomato pudding sounds wonderful to me. Please post back and let us know how it turns out. I grew up on breaded tomatoes which is pretty similar and I love 'em!

Judi

Jim - I did end up making the Meatloaf - DH was just surprised that I had considered making something else. I guess in his world, it is like DLynn with the Ham and Mac&CHeese... they are a "must go together" sort of thing.

Ruthannas Tomato Pudding was fantastic adn I will definitely be making it again.

Thansk again for all the suggestions - I will keep them all on file for the next time.

Alexa

I used to always make meatloaf with mac and cheese, but Jessy's recipe sounds so much better than what I ever made and I am anxious to try Ruthanna's Tomato Pudding. I can remember feeling guilty because mac and cheese was considered a meat substitute. Whatever!!!!

jude

To some people, such as myself, mac and cheese is an entree. To many others it's a side dish.

Jim

I'm glad you liked it, Alexa. A few years ago, I put about 200 of our family favorite recipes onto a CD for our girls. Every one had the story of the recipe that often prompted memories of more than just that one dish. Here's the rambling one for the tomato pudding:

THE STORY: Sometimes we forget that in previous generations, not many fresh vegetables were available in the winter. Since she was a little girl, one of NanaÂs favorite foods was tomatoes. Her birthday was in winter so your great-grandmother would always keep a jar or two of home canned tomatoes set aside for her birthday. SheÂd make what they called tomato pudding for dinner that night. She used her own stale bread crumbs instead of the Pepperidge Farm but that most closely resembles the flavor my mom remembered. That's why we still have this dish at Thanksgiving Dinner - to remember to be thankful for canned tomatoes. LOL

Every summer, Aunt Bertie would host two or three canning weeks. We'd stay there, along with Nana, Aunts Betty, Evelyn, Margie and their kids. We'd have assembly lines to can and freeze all sorts of fruits and vegetables but tomatoes, peaches, raspberries, corn and green beans were the ones I remember most vividly. With the tomatoes, we'd can them plain, stewed, as ketchup, spaghetti sauce, straight tomato juice, and a variation of V-8 that my dad really liked. No salsa in those days. For years, Jodi and I were the tomato (and peach) peelers. Greg and Linda were the boilers and would dip the tomatoes in boiling water for just a few seconds and then put them into a cake pan to cool a bit before we slipped the skins off and passed them along.

Along the same lines, people would add small chunks of bread to thicken and "stretch" stewed tomatoes, even in restaurants. I hadnÂt thought of that until now because you rarely see the bread added anymore and I haven't make them that way since the 1960's.

I am making Meatloaf, Mac n Cheese and roasted cauli/brocc for supper today..

Ruthanna, how special is that! Thanks for sharing.

jude

Last night was fried chicken livers (in lard no less). I figure, if I'm going to blow any diets, may as well go all the way. And today's lunch is left-over mac-n-cheese with a bit of crab tossed in and a dash (or four!) of cayenne pepper added.

P.S. I've been known to like a cerain piece of jewelry so much, I'll work an outfit around it. So backwards or not, if it works, it works!

Id do Southern fried Chicken or Ribs with a side of greens

I like fried chicken also or barbecued chicken.

Like Jim, I consider Mac and Cheese an entree and wouldn't make any meat at all, but I'd want a couple of vegetable side dishes to balance the pasta and all that cheese.

Tuthanna, thanks for that memory, I remember family members standing in a kitchen canning and peeling tomatoes, talking and laughing, it was a better job with company. Now the Monkey Princess and Bruvver help wash and peel tomatoes, and it's still a better job with company.

Your tomato pudding sounds much like Grandma's stewed tomatoes with bread, she didn't call it anything except tomatoes and bread, but it was very similar to the recipe you posted except that she always buttered the bread.

Annie

roast chicken and steamed asparagus and m&c is a favorite of mine but I'll eat it with tuna salad on the side, a salad....

I love mac and cheese with baked ham and green beans but Alex, between you and me, promise not to tell anyone, my very favourite thing is mac and cheese with boiled wieners. Yellow mustard on the wieners and ketchup on the nmac and cheese......