Canadians love their…. Mac and Cheese (Part 2!)

canada, Canadian, canadians, pasta | February 9, 2015 | By

(Part 1 can be found here: Canadians like their…Kraft Dinner)

The whole “American boxed mac ‘n’ cheese vs. Canadian KD (Kraft Dinner) obsession” is one of the silliest, strangest things I have to try to explain when I’m comparing the differences between food in America and Canada.

Considering there’s an entire section in the Canadian Culture portion of Wikipedia about how obsessed they are with KD, it really is something worth talking about. What I hadn’t seen before was a video like the one above about how they actually *taste* different, though.

Having tried both quite extensively, I can say they do have some differences, but when it comes down to it, both are still just cheap boxed pasta that gets covered in an unnatural orangey “cheese” dust that college students live off of and the rest of us still indulge in from time to time as a guilty pleasure.

(If you’re curious about more of the technical differences, check out this post from Garden Gnome’s Canadian Perspective. She does a breakdown that is quite funny at times and even reminds us that only Americans would need two sets of instructions for how to open a simple box of mac and cheese.)

Corallini pasta for my WoW buddies

pasta, world of warcraft | January 29, 2013 | By

 
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This is one of those posts that will only really make sense to my World of Warcraft buddies. They don’t need an explanation, so I’ll spare the rest of you the boring details, too.
 
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When I saw it, I knew I had to buy it immediately. There’s really nothing special about it beyond the name.
 
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It’s hard to see what it’s like cooked, but it’s tiny little tube pasta. It went nicely buttered, salted, peppered, and served with a glazed piece of salmon.

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3 cheese stuffed shells – Do you really want to cook 7 nights a week?

2009, oamc, pasta, recipes | May 22, 2012 | By

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This is another guess-y recipe, but another one that I used to make a lot circa 2009. It was sooo easy to just put all the cheeses together, pipe it into dozens of partially cooked jumbo shells.
 
(Side note – When I was looking to see if I had posted about these yet, I realized I have more posts marked as “jumbo” than I would’ve expected. Aiming for “larger than life” much?)
 
I looked up a recipe for you so I’d have the right proportions listed, but really, I just used whatever I had. No mozzarella? Let’s go with cheddar. No cottage cheese? Cream cheese it is then… At one point, I kept catching plain yogurt on sale and even that would get added for the creaminess. It’s a catch-all recipe that works with whatever you have.
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You can use the pre-grated parmesan shaker cheese if you want, but we prefer buying the block. If you’re going to use a shredder like this instead of a microplane, though, then watch out for shredding your palm, too. Not that I’d ever do anything like that… 

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Am I the only one that finds these pictures appetizing? More than likely….but I also know what it tastes like in this form and it is delicious. Cheese, cheese, and more cheese, mmm. 
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Do not skip the step of writing the instructions on the bag. Sure, you probably assume you’ll remember the temperature when you’re ready, but chances are, you won’t. But hey, if you do, this is pretty forgiving considering the shells are already partially cooked and the filling only needs to be cooked enough to heat the egg and melt the cheese.
 
3 cheese stuffed jumbo shells
  • 1 (16 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells
  • 4 cups large curd cottage cheese
  • 12 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 pinch garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley

Cook shells according to package MINUS about 2 minutes cooking time. Toss in cold water to stop the cooking.

Mix filling and put into a gallon sized ziploc bag. Cut the tip and pipe filling into shells. I tend to double the filling recipe and then split it between 3 boxes instead of just two. Perfect for once-a-month-cooking plans again.

Place on a pan or two and then place in the freezer for an hour…or until you remember to pull them out.

When shells are a little more solid, place them all into a ziploc bag and freeze until you need them. When you’re ready to reheat, place in a casserole pan, cover with your favorite pasta sauce, and cook for roughly 30 minutes.

Or…. toss them in the microwave for a couple minutes, pour some sauce on, and call it a day. Either way works. :P