Hobo Hats and one heck of a recipe.

Cold fronts always mean I pull out my favorite beanie.

Simple, goes with everything, and keeps me warm!

Top: ShopMCE.com

Scarf: Thrifted

Jeans: Kohls

Leg Warmers: Forever 21 (super old)

Boots: Forever21.com

Beanie: ShopMCE.com

Kyle and I have been busy working on our new home!

(well our home for the next year at least)

I can’t wait to show y’all pictures! 

It’s hard because there are SO many things we want to do, 

but we can’t because we are renting it and it’s not actually ours.

But hey, that’s okay because we are getting a lot of ideas for when we do buy our first home.

As most of you know Kyle and I really enjoy eating, and eating a lot.

We ended up making this DELICIOUS recipe yesterday and I’m SO excited to share it!

I actually found the recipe on “light cooking” which is extremely surprising when you look at the title..

“Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Mac & Cheese”

I don’t know about you, but “light” isn’t exactly what comes to mind when I read that.

and then I read the recipe and realized that they only put teeny amounts of all the good stuff!

Well, we changed that REAL quick.

Here is the recipe that I copied, but we used 4 pieces of bacon, and way more cheese.

(you can never have too much bacon, or too much cheese)

Ingredients:

•  ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
• 1 slice applewood-smoked bacon (we used 4 pieces)
• 8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 
• 1 tablespoon canola oil 
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk (we used whole milk)
• 1/3 cup condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded six-cheese Italian blend (such as Sargento) (we used more than 3/4)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded colby-Jack cheese

Directions:

1. 1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.
2. 2. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings in pan. Finely chop bacon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add chicken to drippings in pan; sauté 6 minutes or until done.
3. 3. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; sprinkle flour evenly into pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Combine milk and soup, stirring with a whisk; gradually add milk mixture to saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes or until sauce cools to 155°. Add Italian cheese blend, onion powder, garlic powder, dill, and salt, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in pasta and chicken.
4. 4. Preheat broiler.
5. 5. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with reserved bacon and colby-Jack cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts.

We were a little worried it wasn’t going to turn out good,
but holy crap it was AMAZING!