Sometimes. When we were young and money was tight, dinner was often mac and cheese with little cubes of ham and tomato through it, or sometimes tuna. Pepperoni sounds good.

KFrame's recipe for mac and cheese was popular with DH, it has bacon pieces in it iirc.

I recently made the Hairy Bikers' Mac and Cheese with Crawdads (I subbed shrimp) and DH loved it. It was very good.

No. I'm a mac and cheese purist and get a little put off when I find chunks of other things in it if I do not know about them beforehand. I will change up the cheese but no other add ins for me please.

LOL! Amylou, I promise I would never serve it to you, or anyone else, without warning. I like to make a box (one pound, I think) of little elbows (they need to be firm!) at a time, and the mix-ins go in individual portions, while reheating, to taste. Expecting creamy smooth and getting lumps would be awful! In fact, thinking about that, it's what I dislike about crumb topping. Not the toping itself, but the sharp little bits that the spoon spreads around interrupting, willynilly, the pleasure of the creamy whole..

When I want a simple fast meal for the 2 of us, I buy a container of Bob Evans mac and cheese in the refrigerated case, put it in a casserole dish, add a can of drained flaked tuna and a handful of frozen peas. I add a layer of plain panko crumbs drizzled with butter and bake until bubbling. Restaurants out here also have lobster mac and cheese, which is quite good but quite expensive...but that's as far as I stray.

LOL, many years ago the Kraft mac and cheese was our go to!

About then, I decided to do a bit more cooking from scratch. The kids wouldn't touch my home made mac and cheese!

Bought some lobster mac and cheese for some reason recently, and it was ho hum!

"The kids wouldn't touch my home made mac and cheese!" and husband wouldn't touch a boxed mix. Now that we are empty nesters I prepare M & C from scratch and add broccoli. Maybe I put in spinach once. What ever cheese is in the frige gets grated in : Swiss, cheddar, muenster, American, mozzarella......

I do not eat or make mac & cheese, but if I do make a pasta and cheese baked casserole, you can be sure that it will be nothing like the bland, horrible mac & cheese that is so prevalent.

I do not like bechamel sauce, and I especially do not like mornay sauce. I also especially dislike elbow macaroni, and it is one of the few pastas that I do not like.

If I make anything similar to mac & cheese, it will have vegetables in it, rigatoni, rotini, fusilli, rotelli, or similar pasta, but never elbow macaroni or anything close to that.

I also only use Italian cheeses when I make a pasta casserole.

American mac & cheese makes me embarrassed to be American. It is one of the most gag worthy dishes I can think of.

LOL! Lars, when in college, my daughter was asked multiple times for marriage simply based on her Mac & Cheese. Needless to say... she declined the offers.

As to the question: maybe some ham if necessary. I like a good Mac & Cheese, and I abhor bad ones. Most restaurants have bad ones and too frequently come as sides; they are usually either yucky bland or have really strange flavors from really strange cheeses.... or maybe something else I don't want to think about.

My favorite additions are Hatch green chiles or pimento cheese.

I serve whatever Annie's Organics brand puts in the box. To my grandson. Otherwise, I never make or eat M&C.

i always try to keep a blue box of the Kraft stuff.....I goose it with a good grating or parm and package of Goyza seasoning which is heavy with cumin and paprika or maybe ground red pepper...it's mildly hot..

Don't want any cheese or bacon ir ham, certainly not canned tuna! It's my guilty pleasure!.

I liked ketchup on my Mac and Cheese. And I would put veggies in with it but then I would add more cheese. Of course these days I can't even eat it but I had to make it as nutritious as possible for one of my kids who would barely eat anything but it.

https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/menus/who-invented-macaroni-and-cheese.htm#:~:text=As%20you%20might%20expect%2C%20mac,first%20macaroni%20and%20cheese%20recipe.

LOL! I get that, IC!

I'm picky about Mac & Cheese, believe it or not. I might doctor the heck out of it once it's made, but the basic part has to be right. It has to be shells or elbows, but the proportion of the bigger ones isn't ideal, and they get too soft. I like my mac very firm, not icky squishy. I'm fine with some other cheeses, and if one doesn't have sodium citrate, American will provide it. But it has to be cheddary and preferably orange. I've had really good with vegan cheese but haven't been able to replicate it. Seasoned with pepper and onion powder. No wine! In a mornay, yea, but not in M&C. A little heat, as in chili flakes, ground cayenne or sriracha is quite nice as well, but that's more of a mix-in than something to put in the actual M&C in case someone doesn't like it. It's just as good added at the end.

Interesting about the lobster. I've had lobster M&C from a place that specializes in lobster, but found that it didn't enhance M&C or any of the other starchy things it was put on, other than bread. If they have lobster grits, I haven't tried them, but that might be good if done just right. The mac or potatoes or whatever overwhelmed the lobster, and the lobster didn't improve the base. What a waste! I feel vindicated knowing that several of you also don't like it! But I also don't care for truffles (black) in things like fries and spaghetti sauce. The flavor is present all right--truffle is a strong flavor--but I don't think they enhance it...though it might be better on M&C! I suppose I could sacrifice a little truffle brie (which is very good) to the cause, because that's the only truffle I have, but I don't think I can make myself do it. And I'm not sure truffles and American cheese belong in the same recipe. :)

We rarely have mac and cheese but we usually have some of the Kraft blue box in the pantry for when we are lazy. I don't put anything in it but we always have some breakfast sausage links on the side.

I am not a mac and cheese fan and since my daughter grew up, I never make it anymore. I consider it more of a kids' food....like fish fingers or chicken nuggets :-)

Seems to me that with additives, it moves from the realm of mac and cheese into that of a pasta casserole. Depending on ingredients, I DO like those but just plain pasta baked with cheese.......no thanks!!

It’s been a long time since I’ve made mac and cheese. One of my favorite versions is the Silver Palate’s Macaroni With Quattro Formaggi consisting of gorgonzola, fontina, mozzarella and parmesan.

Regarding the blue box stuff, I used to make a concoction when we were first married (going on 45 years ago). Can’t remember all the ingredients but the main ones were ground beef, Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup mixed with m&c from the blue box. DH loved it.

Skipping down to say I have often added hot dogs or smoked sausages on top of baked mac & cheese during the last 15-20 minutes of cooking, but never mixed into it.

And boxed M&C never ever has enough sauce or flavor for me - it's basically orange macaroni, IMPE.

Mine is made using any tube pasta and a bechamel with mature cheddar (the genuine article). I finish it under the grill (broiler) with streaky bacon and halved tomatoes on top, not mixed in. Sometimes I'll incorporate steamed leeks, cauliflower, purple sprouting or celery, since this is always a main meal in our house, not a side, and the lack of vegetables is guilt inducing. But then I wouldn't call it macaroni cheese. Never tried a box or frozen.

I looked up "purple sprouting". It's a kind of broccoli that's popular in Europe.

I had a roommate in college who liked the boxed stuff. It wasn't revolting or anything, but I think it's like PBJ--you have to grow up on it to think it's good.

I grew up on the boxed, and I just do not think it tastes the same as it did back then. I feel like they changed something about 10 years ago that made it taste of nothing. It used to be heaven on earth, now its tastes like just the earth......

Now I am a bit of a mac and cheese expert. Self appointed of course. I will judge a restaurant based solely on their mac and cheese, because it is so easy to make it properly, I feel like if it is bland or gross, then their is no use in trying the rest if the menu. Especially if its a meat and three, soul food, or "home cookin" place. They cannot cook if they cannot produce a good mac and cheese. Period. There are only a few tricks to make it perfect: Salt your water, grate your own cheese, and make sure you bake it long enough, which is easy to tell because you bake it until it gets browned on top.

I love it, but DH prefers his like the baked version, which I find too dry. i prefer a looser sauce. Hard to please both of us!

Amylou, I have to admit that I had a craving recently (before the pepperoni urge), and ordered a side of M&C. Bleeeeech!! It was way overcooked mushy waterlogged big elbows which obviously weren't properly drained before meeting the cheese, which was a thin sauce made thinner and runny from the excess water, which had no flavor beyond a tiny hint of milk except salt. But the chicken and veg were good, and everything else I've had there was good except potato salad, which is meh, not really bad like the M&C. I respect your right to judge by the mac and cheese, but some places really are just bad at a few things. ;) Who knows? Maybe it's like mamma made, or the chef just likes it that way and doesn't get enough bad feedback.

My Grandchildren like the classic M&C in the Kraft blue box so I keep it on hand for them. I make my Grandmother's recipe with cheddar, a can of ( chopped ) tomatoes and minced onions in it. Comfort food, of course. I always lean to the carbs. I mean how comforting is a cold crunchy salad?

I've been thinking. I wonder if the old Kraft box had MSG?

Don't rule out changing tastebuds over time. Lots of things that I loved as a kid no longer taste good to me.

i mix mine with several healthy shots of hot sauce, and garlic powder

But then there are all the ”healthier” versions, like the disgusting graham crackers. Though maybe heating canned soup in a stainless pot (like my mother's), rather than enamel, somehow neutralizes the metallic taste? I never thought of that before. About ten years ago, I had a Campbell's tomato soup in a kind of styro-ish container meant to zap and drink from the container like a coffee car cup. It tasted like it was supposed to, so I'm sure the metallic taste is from the can and it does, or at least did, taste pretty close to memory. I think the little difference was between zapped and boiled from condensed, more consistency than anything else.

Real deal mac and cheese. Made with love and heavy cream.....

And pink hearts. ;D

Always!

Homemade *real* is the best. I put cheddar on top and bake it. My son can eat a whole freaking casserole of my M&C LOL!

I don't care much for pasta OR cheese, so I'm not a great judge, LOL, and my oldest daughter is both celiac and lactose intolerant, so she sits by me!

My youngest daughter likes only Velveeta Shells and Cheese. Her oldest daughter and my mother will only eat Kraft from the box with the powdered cheese stuff. The Princess makes her own mac and cheese, with 4 or 5 kinds of cheese and it must have bacon, she's built on my "clean out the cheese drawer" experiments. Anyone who complains gets told "good, more for me". (grin) Her Dad likes Stouffer's from the freezer case.

I swear these people cannot be related to me, sheesh, I will eat a bite or two of the homemade stuff, just because The Princess works at it, but I think I would starve before I eat any of that boxed or frozen stuff.

Annie

Success!!! I don't remember my mother making mac & cheese,, and I can't imagine my father liking it. It's something I learned to like in college, but not my roommate's boxed stuff. For me, it's more of a snack food than a meal. Like it's mealtime but not enough appetite for something big. I have been on a mission to replace the frozen vegan noes I liked, but figured I first had to make M&C I liked before trying to make it with vegan cheese. I've been experimenting off and on for a long time, and just made a really good batch. I always start with a review of Amylou's recipe to remind myself of what M&C should be, so I don't wander off into "pasta".

Today's M&C Success

1 lb box Barilla high protein (wheat + legume) little elbow macaroni (very firm)

1 lb Tillamook extra sharp orange cheddar, grated (I think I like Joseph Farms better for this, but it's harder to find. Fancy proper cheddar is wasted in M&C, and is too oily as well).

4 slices Kraft Deli Deluxe American cheese

1 12 oz. can Meyenberg evaporated goat milk

Extra light olive oil (=none of the solids, good for cooking)

Wondra flour

Onion salt

white pepper

Grate cheese. Boil macaroni to just cooked through (I used a four quart pot). Drain well and allow to dry some while making cheese sauce. Add enough oil to generously cover bottom, heat at the low end of medium (I used #4.5 on my highest power induction ring for the whole, to the end) and add enough flour to give body to the oil without clumping. When it bubbles, add the milk. Add seasoning to taste. (I couldn't find the onion powder and the cheese wasn't as salty as I expected, and I didn't salt the pasta, so needed the salt anyway.) When the milk mixture starts to bubble, add the American cheese torn into inch or smaller pieces (I was going to use sodium citrate but that was missing too. Minions. Sigh.) When that's melted add 2/3 of the cheddar a handful at a time, stirring until it's melted. Adjust seasoning if needed. Add back the macaroni and stir really well, getting the cheese sauce off the bottom. Stir in the remaining cheddar a handful at a time. until mostly melted. Et voilà! I finally have made M&C the way I like it. :)

But I'm going to have to adjust it for using the sodium citrate if I'm going to make a vegan version...

STUFF

First pepperoni. Good flavor, but very dry. Better for pizza.

Salsa picante

Personally - I cannot STAND just plain mac and cheese. I have to add things in - veggies, or whatever. I also like the skillet mac and cheese better than the baked one - so many people want to add extra starch atop the baked one. Not remotely needed (then again, I am naturally a low carb person).

Broccoli works great. And my brother made an awesome lobster mac and cheese that also included peppers.

I probably eat the dish maybe twice a year. Not really my jam, as it were.