There’s nothing better than returning from the farmers market to transform a bunch of garlic scapes into tempura-battered appetizer—complete with a sidecar of garlic aioli. This time of year, bags filled with the serpentine stems can be found eve…
There's nothing better than returning from the farmers market to transform a bunch of garlic scapes into tempura-battered appetizer—complete with a sidecar of garlic aioli. This time of year, bags filled with the serpentine stems can be found everywhere at farmers' markets, and unlike many of the fleeting jewels of summer, garlic scapes are a bargain.
Garlic scapes grow from hardneck garlic bulbs, and farmers trim them because they draw energy away from the forming bulbs. They taste sweet, like a chive or scallion, with a more mild—but familiar—garlicky zing. Finely sliced, scapes can be used just the same as garlic cloves, such as sautéed with vegetables, puréed into pesto and hummus, or roasted with meats and vegetables.
Green Chile Mac and Cheese is one of those dishes that if a restaurant has it on the menu, I’m 100% going to order it. There’s just something about that green chile flavor paired with creamy cheese that I can’t get enough of. So why, in green chile heaven, had I not made it myself at home yet?? It was time to fix that. ;)
Green Chile Mac: The Long Way and The Short Way
There are a few ways you can go about making green chile mac, but they all fall into two categories: the long way or the short way. The long way means buying fresh hatch chile peppers and roasting them yourself before adding them to your mac and cheese. This will definitely get you the most delicious and smokey green chile flavor, but in most of the U.S. fresh hatch chiles aren’t readily available year-round.
So I decided to make my green chile mac and cheese the short way, using canned green chiles. It’s fast, easy, and still gets you a good amount of that green chile flavor! And that’s more my style (most nights of the week, anyway).
Is it Spicy?
Green chiles can be spicy or mild. If you can’t handle the heat, make sure to look for a canned green chile that specifically says “mild” on the label. The recipe below also includes a pinch of crushed red pepper and while that ingredient can be spicy, it’s in such a small quantity in the recipe that it will not add a significant amount of heat to your green chile mac and cheese.
What Kind of Cheese is Best for Green Chile Mac and Cheese?
For macaroni and cheese in general, you want something that melts smoothly instead of stringy. Cheeses in the cheddar family melt smoothly, while mozzarella is a good example of a stringy cheese. To go with the green chile and cumin flavors in this dish, I recommend going with either a white cheddar, Monterey Jack, or a pepper jack if you want your mac to be a little spicier.
How Are the Leftovers?
Cheese sauces are usually a lot better when fresh compared to after refrigeration and reheating, but I still enjoyed the leftovers of this green chile mac and cheese quite a bit! While the cheese sauce wasn’t quite as smooth and saucy, the green chile flavor does intensify as it refrigerates, which added to the enjoyment.
Creamy Monterey Jack cheese, tangy diced green chiles, and a little earthy cumin make this green chile mac and cheese anything but ordinary!
Total Cost $5.00 recipe / $1.25 serving
Prep Time 20minutes
Total Time 20minutes
Servings 41.5 cups each
Calories 571kcal
Author Beth – Budget Bytes
Ingredients
1/2lb.macaroni$0.50
2Tbspbutter$0.10
2Tbspall-purpose flour$0.02
2cupswhole milk$0.82
8oz.Monterey Jack cheese, shredded$1.69
24oz. cansdiced green chiles$1.78
1/2tspground cumin$0.05
1/8tspcrushed red pepper$0.02
1/4tspsalt$0.02
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the macaroni. Once boiling, add the macaroni and continue to boil until tender (7-10 minutes). Drain the macaroni in a colander.
While the macaroni is cooking, prepare the green chile cheese sauce. Add the butter and flour to a saucepot and cook over medium heat while stirring for about 2 minutes.
Whisk the milk into the cooked butter and flour mixture. Continue to whisk and cook over medium heat until the milk begins to simmer, at which point it will thicken to a cream-like consistency.
Turn the heat off. Begin stirring in the shredded Monterey Jack cheese, one handful at a time, until fully melted into the sauce.
Drain the canned green chiles and stir them into the cheese sauce along with the cumin, crushed red pepper, and salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Make sure it is heavily seasoned as the flavor will dilute slightly when mixed with the pasta.
Finally, combine the cooked and drained pasta with the green chile cheese sauce. Serve hot.
How to Make Green Chile Mac and Cheese – Step by Step Photos
Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the macaroni. Once boiling, add 1/2 lb. macaroni and continue to boil until the macaroni is tender (7-10 minutes). Drain the macaroni in a colander.
While the macaroni is cooking, begin the cheese sauce. Add 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour to a sauce pot. Cook over medium while stirring for about 2 minutes.
Whisk 2 cups whole milk into the saucepot with the butter and flour. Continue to cook and whisk over medium heat until the milk comes up to a simmer, at which point it will thicken. It should thicken to the consistency of cream.
Turn off the heat and begin stirring in the 8oz. shredded Monterey Jack cheese, one handful at a time, until it is all melted into the sauce.
Drain two 4oz. cans of diced green chiles, then add them to the cheese sauce along with ½ tsp cumin, ⅛ tsp crushed red pepper, and ¼ tsp salt. Stir to combine, then taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings to your liking if needed. The sauce should taste heavily seasoned as the flavor will dilute a bit when mixed with the pasta.
Finally, combine the cooked and drained pasta with the green chile cheese sauce.
While the theme of the season continues to be “hot girl summer,” admittedly, we’re more into clean girl summer. There’s just nothing like the feeling of cracking open a brand new package of rubber gloves, taking a whiff of the bright, lemony scent of c…
While the theme of the season continues to be "hot girl summer," admittedly, we're more into clean girl summer. There's just nothing like the feeling of cracking open a brand new package of rubber gloves, taking a whiff of the bright, lemony scent of cleaning products, and scrubbing every nook and cranny of your home. Lucky for us, (and just in time for the heatwaves to come), one Facebook user has found the secret to your cleanest swimming pool ever, using a handy cleaning product that everyone already knows and loves—Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
In a Facebook post that originally appeared in 2018—and has since gone viral—Lisa Pack, a pool owner in Ohio, claimed that the best way to clean a stubbornly green pool is with the all-purpose Magic Eraser. And the technique couldn't be easier. "Now mind you, my pool wasn't green but it looked like it was getting cloudy," she wrote on Facebook. "I threw one of these in the skimmer basket and the cloudiness left and my sponge looks like this," she said, holding up a photo of the green-tinted eraser in front of her newly-clean swimming pool. Pack, along with hundreds of thousands of commenters, have since been in awe over how effective such a small and inexpensive product is at cleaning a swimming pool. "I'm pretty excited to think something so cheap could help so much," she said.
Grilled Shrimp Panzanella Skewers, layered with summer peaches, tomatoes, and sourdough bread, finished with balsamic and fresh basil. Grilled Shrimp Panzanella Skewers Panzanella is a traditional Italian bread salad, where cubes of (usually stale) bread add some heft to fresh summer vegetables at peak ripeness. Here, the bread is more of a background player with […]
Grilled Shrimp Panzanella Skewers, layered with summer peaches, tomatoes, and sourdough bread, finished with balsamic and fresh basil.
Grilled Shrimp Panzanella Skewers
Panzanella is a traditional Italian bread salad, where cubes of (usually stale) bread add some heft to fresh summer vegetables at peak ripeness. Here, the bread is more of a background player with its crunchiness providing a great counterpoint to the juicy, sweet grilled fruit and shrimp. More grilled shrimp skewers you will love are these Grilled Shrimp Scampi Skewers and Grilled Pesto Shrimp Skewers.
This Classic Greek Salad is bursting with summertime flavor! Made with vine-ripened tomatoes, cucumbers, bell pepper, kalamata olives and sheep’s milk feta, this salad highlights the best of summer produce and lets the vegetables shine! This Gr…
This Classic Greek Salad is bursting with summertime flavor! Made with vine-ripened tomatoes, cucumbers, bell pepper, kalamata olives and sheep’s milk feta, this salad highlights the best of summer produce and lets the vegetables shine! This Greek Salad is everything you want in a summer salad- refreshing, vibrant, flavorful and healthy. For many of you...
We asked and our community delivered. Here are your top 5 retro-inspired recipes with a modern twist!
In our latest recipe contest, we asked you to share your best retro-inspired recipes that were updated with a modern twist. We had an absolute bl…
We asked and our community delivered. Here are your top 5 retro-inspired recipes with a modern twist!
In our latest recipe contest, we asked you to share your best retro-inspired recipes that were updated with a modern twist. We had an absolute blast walking down memory lane and remembering some of our favorite "retro" recipes. From updated deviled eggs to new takes on chicken kiev, we loved your reimagined favorites and the stories that went along with the recipes.
We’ve partnered with Hood®—makers of great-tasting, high-quality cream made from real Hood Milk—to comb through our archives for our most-beloved desserts starring heavy cream. From dreamy mousse pies to easy no-churn ice cream, your bowls, plates, and…
We've partnered with Hood®—makers of great-tasting, high-quality cream made from real Hood Milk—to comb through our archives for our most-beloved desserts starring heavy cream. From dreamy mousse pies to easy no-churn ice cream, your bowls, plates, and spoons are in for a very sweet treat.
When it comes to desserts that delight—those heavenly recipes you come back to over and over again—there’s often one common denominator: heavy cream. The key ingredient in so many of the sweets we love, heavy cream (we're using Hood®) gives a sumptuousness—and yes, creaminess—to dishes that might otherwise be a little ho-hum.
These grilled veggie kabobs skewer all the best vegetables and are easy to throw on the grill! They’re an ideal healthy side dish.
Ready for the best best, easiest summer side dish? Let’s make Veggie Kabobs! Perhaps you’ve made these before without a recipe. But you’ll know, the veggies risk coming out under-seasoned and over-cooked. Here’s our best method for making veggie kabobs with a simple seasoning blend. All the best veggies come out cooked to perfection! It’s the ideal summer side dish for a grilled dinner. Let’s waste no time and get right to it.
Best vegetables for veggie kabobs
Sure, you can mostly use any veggies you want. But some veggies are not ideal here. The trick? Use veggies that all cook in a relatively similar timeframe. That means no extra hard veggies like carrots or potatoes. Here are the best vegetables for veggie kabobs:
Bell peppers, multi-colored for a beautiful look
Red onion or white onion
Zucchini or yellow squash (or a combination of both)
Other ideas? Pineapple adds a nice sweet and savory combination. Small 1 to 2-inch sections of corn on the cob works, and so does diced eggplant. You can use cauliflower, but we recommend steaming them first (see Grilled Cauliflower).
What to avoid? Broccoli and asparagus are too hard to skewer. Carrots and potatoes should be avoided, or parboiled. Brussels sprouts also aren’t ideal for skewers, as they take slightly longer than the above veggies.
Tips for chopping for vegetable skewers
Once you’ve selected your veggies, here’s what to note for the skewering process:
Chop the vegetables into relatively similar sizes. You’ll want them to be bite-sized for easy eating once they’re grilled to perfection. Keep in mind, they’ll shrink quite a bit once they’re cooked.
If using wooden skewers, soak them while you’re chopping. You only need 15 to 20 minutes for soaking, which is about the time it will take to preheat the grill and chop.
Or, use metal skewers! We purchased some metal skewers to save us from the soak. (Worth it.)
Seasoning for veggie kabobs
How to season veggie kabobs? You can make marinated veggie kabobs, but we prefer just throwing them on the grill with olive oil and seasonings. Here’s what we’ve found makes a killer seasoning blend. Throw on equal parts of:
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dried oregano
Smoked paprika (a smoky version of regular paprika you should be able to find at your local grocery; see more info here)
Kosher salt
Or, brush with BBQ sauce or teriyaki
A variation we often take on these veggie kabobs? Brushing the veggies with a sauce! Skip the seasonings above and just go with the sauce. You’ll want to do it twice: once before they go on the grill, and then a generous slather afterwards. Here are a few sauces we’ve tried and loved:
Miso sauce: haven’t tried this yet, but our miso dressing would also taste incredible
Heat and grill time for veggie kabobs
Once you’ve cut and seasoned the veggie kabobs, throw the them on the grill! Here are the specifics on timing and heat level (or jump right to the recipe):
Preheat a grill to medium high heat. That’s about 375 to 450 degrees.
Chop and skewer the veggies and season. See the recipe below.
Grill on the grates for 10 to 12 minutes. Cook until charred and tender, turning every few minutes.
Make it into a grilled meal!
These vegetable kabobs (aka skewers) are a fantastic side to round out a grilled meal. Here are a few ways to pair it!
Of course, there are lots more grilled veggies to throw on too! These vegetable skewers are part of our grilled vegetable series, which has all of our favorites:
½ teaspooneach*garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, smoked paprika, and kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Optional: lemon wedges
Instructions
Preheat a grill to medium-high heat (375 to 450 degrees).
If using wooden skewers, soak them at least 20 minutes.
Chop the onion into large pieces. Cut bell peppers into chunks. Slice the zucchini into rounds 1/4-inch to 3/8-inch thick. Add the sliced veggies to a bowl with the whole mushrooms and tomatoes toss everything with the olive oil, spices, and salt.
Skewer the vegetables and place each skewers on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with a few more pinches kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.
Place the skewers directly on the grill. Grill 10 to 12 minutes until tender and blackened, turning every few minutes. If desired, spritz with lemon wedges before serving.
Notes
*You can also brush the skewers generously with BBQ sauce or teriyaki sauce before grilling and then after grilling.
A Big Little Recipe has the smallest-possible ingredient list and big everything else: flavor, creativity, wow factor. That means five ingredients or fewer—not including water, salt, black pepper, and certain fats (like oil and butter), since we’re gue…
A Big Little Recipe has the smallest-possible ingredient list and big everything else: flavor, creativity, wow factor. That means five ingredients or fewer—not including water, salt, black pepper, and certain fats (like oil and butter), since we're guessing you have those covered. Psst, did you hear we’re coming out with a cookbook? We’re coming out with a cookbook!
Odds are, if a recipe calls for lemon, the author will tell you to zest it or juice it or both. Look no further than these this creamy pasta or these speedy shrimp or this no-churn ice cream. But what about the rest of the lemon? Does it not deserve our attention, too?
Gremolata is a bold and bright Italian condiment that will liven up your meals. It’s made with three simple ingredients that you might have on hand already—fresh…
Gremolata is a bold and bright Italian condiment that will liven up your meals. It’s made with three simple ingredients that you might have on hand already—fresh parsley, lemon zest and garlic.
Gremolata is the perfect last-minute finishing touch for any dish that seems a little blah, you know what I mean? When guests are on their way over, sprinkle gremolata over store-bought items like hummus to make them seem more fresh and fancy.
When I have the time, there’s nothing better than a bold herbed sauce to complete a meal, like pesto or chimichurri. Gremolata is simpler than a sauce (no blender or food processor required), but more elevated than a basic sprinkle of chopped parsley.
Perhaps gremolata’s most winning feature is that it’s ready in under five minutes. Sprinkle gremolata all over your grilled dishes this summer!
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