Skillet Chili Cheese Mac

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Oh my gosh… This Skillet Chili Cheese Mac is so very delicious, y’all! This recipe started out as an “I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry” meal for Eric to have when he came home one night from work. I was super grumpy because I didn’t feel like cooking, which is weird. I was just hungry and I wanted food to magically appear in front of me without having to leave my house or move from the couch. Well spoiler alert, that didn’t happen. I normally don’t cook chili or even attempt to. Chili is actually Eric’s area of expertise… he makes a mean chili,and I really, really love it!

Except, well… I’m about to share something with you all today, and here it is. I HATE BEANS. I hate the dang beans in chili too. I just hate beans so much!

But the flavor of his chili is soo good that I will dutifully eat some every time, beans and all.

The kidney beans though? NOPE! If I was a toddler, I would fling those suckers onto the wall.

This Chili Cheese Mac Skillet has all the wonderful flavors of delicious, hearty, homestyle chili thrown together with a couple of my favorite classics, pasta and Cheese.
I decided to try my hand at this skillet a few weeks back now… and you know what? The first time I made it, I did my normal “let’s just forget to measure everything”, so I had no idea what amounts of the spices I used, and it was too delicious. Eric ate almost the entire thing that evening. I kept going back to pick at it after dinner, I couldn’t help it.

The next time I cooked it (this time making sure to keep track of what spices I used, and how much) I accidentally used like a tablespoon of pure ground cayenne pepper because I wasn’t paying attention to the labels…Whoops! Whatever you do, don’t do that. The underlying taste was still delicious, but try as we might, we just couldn’t handle the spice.

Okay then came the third time, perfect again. So, here’s that version for y’all.

It’s so delicious, and so filling. so perfect for these crisp cool Autumn Eves.

I’ll probably eat chili this way for the rest of my life now.

This is the perfect option for those Sunday Football parties that all will rave about, lighter on calories (or points for my weight watchers gals!), big on flavor- a big bowl full of creamy,  cheesy, and spicy America.

So here’s what happened in the kitchen the first and third time (but not the second time).

Grab up your ingredients- spices (oregano, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt and pepper), sour cream, mini shells, corn, cheese, tomato sauce, ground beef. You’ll also need garlic, green pepper, and onion.

Chop up your onion, green pepper, and a couple tablespoons of garlic or chop up a few cloves.

Throw the green peppers, onions, garlic and ground beef in a skillet, and cook together to brown the meat.

In a small bowl, mix up your seasonings. Here’s my chili spice mix. I kind of winged it by taste, and what I’ve seen Eric do. I’ve got chili powder, oregano, cumin, a touch of cayenne pepper, black pepper, and pink sea salt.

While the meat is browning, throw the spices in the mix and let it mingle with your meat, green peppers, and onions.

While the beef is browning, boil a pot of water for the noodles. Be sure to add some salt, noodles love salt.

When the ground beef is nicely browned, pour on the tomato sauce.

Now stir it together… how pretty!

Add some corn, mix together, and simmer while your noodles are cooking.

When the noodles are cooked al dente, strain them.

Add the noodles, cheese, and sour cream to your beef mixture…

Mix it all up together… so deliciously colorful!

and if you want to (but you don’t have to), top it with some chopped scallions to add a bit of extra tanginess, and even more awesome color!

Serve and enjoy!

Oh and I hear it’s the first day of fall today, aka the best day of the year in my opinion. Here’s a photo from right around a year ago… I must say she gets more adorable every day, and her daddy is fairly easy on the eyes too.

Be still my heart.

xo! Star