While Vrghr is on the road in Orlando Fl, wuff is staying at a delightful condo with a nice kitchen. Wuffy decided to create something based on a very simple "bachelor meal" Vrghr used to create - Hamburger Mac & Cheese - but kicked up a bit to make it a little more special.

Since the kitchen is a bit shy of wuff's normal set of pots and pans, Vrghr went for something that is easier to make, and relies a bit more on boxed and canned stuff than wuff's normal scratch-built items.

This starts with packaged Mac and Cheese. Vrghr chose a "Delux" version with 3 cheeses in paste form in a pouch, instead of the dry powder version, for a bit more richness and cheesy flavor. The burger is flavored with seasoned salt, pepper, chopped shallots and minced garlic. Several strips of bacon were added because - well - BACON!!! *grins* And an extra tablespoon or two of butter and milk increased the creaminess of the cheese sauce.

This is quite a nice little dish. Definitely gets that "bacon cheeseburger" vibe going. And needs nearly no technique to create; just a little frying for the burger patties.

Note: If you wish, you can skip the patties and just fry up the ground beef in the bacon fat with the shallots, garlic, and spices. The taste will be very similar, and the prep is every easier.

Give this a try for a quick and hearty meal!

Ingredients:
1 package "Deluxe" Mac and Cheese (try to get the one with the pouch of cheese and not the packet of dry powder)
1/2-2/3 Lb ground beef (93% lean or more, if you can)
5 strips Apple Wood Smoked Bacon (or any inexpensive brand)
2 small Shallots, small diced (can substitute a medium yellow onion)
1 heaping TBS minced Garlic
2 TBS butter
~1/3 C Milk
1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
1 tsp ground Black Pepper

Directions:
Boil the Macaroni Noodles in a large pot of well-salted water, according to the package directions. Drain without rinsing. But DO NOT add the cheese sauce as it directs at the end. Add the noodles back to the large pot with the butter and stir a bit for the butter to melt. Set the pot back onto the stove on the elect eye that was originally on (make sure it is off now) and let the residual heat keep the noodles warmer

Cut the shallots into fine dice. Add to a large bowl with the ground beef, minced garlic, seasoned salt and pepper. Mix gently by hand until the shallots and garlic are well distributed, but don't over-mix and make the patties too "glue-y". Tender is better

Form the beef mixture into small flat patties like you were making sliders. About 2 - 2 1/2 inches across and 1/2 inch thick

Slice up the bacon into 1/4 inch segments. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, fry the bacon until the edges just start getting crispy, but don't crisp them all the way through (they will cook more when you add the patties). Spread the bacon chunks out across the bottom of the skillet

Take the patties you made earlier and lay them on top of the partly-fried bacon segments in the skillet. Press lightly to embed them into the patties. Lower the heat to medium and fry the patties for about 3-4 minutes on one side. Flip, and fry on the other side. If there are any bits of bacon left in the pan, try to land a patty on top of it when you flip them and stick them to that side

When you flip the patties, add the cheese sauce to the waiting noodles and stir it in, letting it melt in among the warm noodles. As soon as the other side of the patties are fried (1-2 minutes), add the entire contents of the skillet to the pot of noodles. Gently fold the patties into the cheesy noodles so as not to break the patties up. But you want them coated with the cheese. If necessary, gradually add the extra milk to make the cheese more liquid, to more easily coat everything in the pot

Serve portions in a small bowl, and try to arrange a patty or two on top of the cheesy noodles for presentation

!DEVOUR!