French Style Mac-N- Cheese & A Giveaway!

Mac and cheese is a food that I ate lots of growing up. It was never any type of gourmet style mac and cheese though, just a certain blue box version that had a neon colored cheese powder with it. As Ive gotten older and my palette has changed, that kind of mac and cheese really doesnt appeal to me very much anymore. Dont get me wrong though, occasionally Ill still have a small portion with my dinner when Jeremy asks for it.

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/french-style-mac-n-cheese/

Ingredients:

1 lb penne pasta

1 clove garlic, peeled and halved

5 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

2 cups milk

salt and pepper

pinch of nutmeg

1 1/2 cups gruyere cheese, shredded

1/3 lb brie cheese, rind removed, cut into chunks

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp thyme leaves plus additional for garnish

big chunk of a french baguette

handful of italian parsley, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat broiler.

Bring large pot of water to a rolling boil. Heavily salt the water. Drop pasta and cook to al dente.

Rub inside of of saucepot with cut sides of garlic. Heat pot over med heat. Melt in 3 tbsp butter. Stir in flour and cook out 1 min. Whisk in milk and cook to thicken. Season sauce with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in cheese to melt. Add in mustard and thyme leaves. Remove from heat.

Drain pasta and put it back in hot pot. Pour cheese sauce over pasta and toss to combine.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in microwave. In food processor, pulse baguette until you get some chunky breadcrumbs. Toss breadcrumbs with butter and parsley.

Place pasta in casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs and a sprinke of thyme leaves. Place mac and cheese under broiler for about 2 mins.

Now, onto my giveaway. This will be my first one and Im so excited! This isnt a food related giveaway though. Not long ago I ordered some stuff from Forever21 and accidentally ordered 2 of the exact same beret so Im passing along the extra one to one lucky reader! I even made a french style meal to set the mood! LOL  Even if this isnt your style, you can always enter and give it away to someone for Christmas!

To enter this giveaway leave me a comment  by Friday Nov. 13  answering this question:

What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving???

The winner will be decided by random.org. Good Luck!!!