Chicken Macaroni with Cheese

This is not a baked recipe my friends, it was soup. The weather is cold and rainy and soup is what my mind tells me to prepare. It as just a patterned recipe although what I just added was cheese because there was no evaporated milk available here. I don’t like to use fresh milk and I don’t have the time to go out so in order for my soup to be cloudy a bit and to make it milky, I used a regular cheddar cheese.

I did not grate it; I just cut it into smaller cubes. It tastes great and it was still a delicious soup. Before, I was able to share here about chicken soup but I used penne pasta. Now I did use elbow macaroni and cabbage. If you have carrots, it would even be better to look at plus sprinkle it with fresh celery.




You can use butter for frying the chicken first. But I what I did use was a normal vegetable oil and I see to it that the chicken was light brown in color before you sauté it in garlic and onion and add some chicken bouillon cube before putting water for the soup.

It is up to you how much water would you like to put. This depends on the number of chicken that you have and for how many persons should you serve your soup. You can only put the cabbage once your macaroni is 75% done so you don’t over cook your veggie.

I also use fish sauce here as well as salt and pepper for seasoning. If you don’t have fish sauce, it’s okay. You can just use plain salt and ground black pepper to taste. It will only take 3 to 4 minutes to get your chicken done before you add your macaroni. About the macaroni, this will take about 5-8 minutes (this depends on the brand) of macaroni that you are using so just look at the instruction on the label.

You can also add other veggies to your soup like green beans but I still prefer to use only cabbage, carrot or you can add some corn kernels and mushrooms too. This recipe is just easy to make so I do hope you try it also.

Macaroni Carbonara ala Pobre

You can’t resist carbonara because of its creaminess. I have to make it simpler this time because first of all I don’t have fettuccine pasta, second I cannot include bacon in this dish since we don’t eat pork meat. I am sure you would say, ohhh no! a carbonara will never be carbonara without the taste of bacon. Well, that is true because that is how carbonara should be made. But for those who don’t eat pork, well this recipe is for you since I only improvised chicken instead of bacon.





You might also think that why not use pasta such as spaghetti or fettuccine? Well, as I have said, nothing on hand that is available except macaroni so my version for today was Macaroni Carbonara ala Pobre. I used only cheddar cheese because it’s too expensive to buy parmesan cheese here. Maybe if I do have an extra budget for that, I can boost some more for my ingredients. Sometimes, we just don’t need to follow what’s on the cookbook. We need to innovate at times and if you’re bold to do things and experiment, you might be able to invent something special and something that tastes good even if the ingredients are not the actual things you added.

So I sliced off those button mushrooms, readied my sauce and other ingredients to make this especial dish. It was perfect for brunch as what I prepared before hubby goes to work. It was already heavy in the tummy and I just wish I had garlic bread to go well with this recipe. Anyway going back to what I am drawing here, you just needed these few ingredients to make macaroni carbonara ala pobre inviting:

Ingredients:

Macaroni (elbow)
Button mushrooms
Garlic
Onion
Maggi ginisa flavor mix
Chicken bouillon cube
All-purpose cream
Cheddar cheese
Salt
Ground black pepper
Water
Cooking oil

Preparation / Method on cooking Macaroni Carbonara ala Pobre:




Step 1: Boil the macaroni: Just follow the instruction on how long your macaroni will be ready. It usually takes about 8-12 minutes of cooking, it also depends on the brand so be sure to read the label. Once your macaroni is done, set it aside.

Step 2: For your carbonara sauce, this is what you need to do:
Sauté garlic and onion on a pan with oil and put the button mushrooms. While you stir you can now add your ginisa flavor mix and chicken bouillon cube to add flavor to your mushroom. This is the signature that will keep your mushroom tasty.

Step 3: You need to get ready your all-purpose cream. If it’s too thick, just add ample amount of water and just add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Stir well so that it won’t stick at the bottom of the pan. Make sure that your flame is in medium to slow heat. Once your sauce is done, it will be ready to mix with your macaroni. Best to serve with garlic bread and I do hope you will also try this simple yet affordable recipe.