Recipes

[HonnyBrown]

It's cheating.

My Mom made Stouffers once and my brother and I revolted. It can never match homemade.

[Marienkaefer2]

I like Lynneuk' s suggestion of the breadcrumb topping. One thing that may be to consider: Some people may just want plain Mac and cheese, with no jalapenos or anything else added. I have a health issue and I can't eat spicy foods, or foods with pepper, garlic, onions, etc. I always look for a plainer dish at a potluck, and Mac and cheese would be it. So if you are making two trays, "jazz up" one and keep one plain. Just my.opinion.

[mima]

No not cheating. Potluck doesn't have to be homemade at all.

My friend cheated big time though. She was trying to impress her boyfriend and bought some kind of crab appetizers and baked them in the oven and acted like she made them. He asked what was in them and she rattled off some stuff like crab and paprika. When they went to the grocery store together, he pointed at the package in the freezer section and he said "Hey, these look like what you made". He knew all along they were bought! They just laughed about it. No biggy.

[JustJules]

I like Stouffer's mac & cheese. Unless there is some rule that you have to make your dish from scratch then I don't see how it's cheating at all. It's nice that you are bringing something, and while it's not exactly healthy it is a comfort food that most people enjoy. I think the idea of putting some panko or bread crumbs on top is a good idea but I wouldn't add the bacon. It's already a rich dish and bacon isn't really necessary, and not everyone likes bacon (hard to believe).

[lovesrecess]

Not cheating at all!....I attended a luncheon at a billionaire's home; his wife was in my church Bible study group......there were about 20 of us and she had three full-time kitchen staff.....we were served small squares of Stouffers lasagna on Wedgewood china and a really good Caesar salad with curls of parmesan shaved over the salad as it was served ......we didn't know it was Stouffers til they took us on a tour of the house and we saw the empty box on the counter! If it's good enough for this, I think you are just fine taking the Stouffers and making it your own however you want. A smart timesaver IMO.

[LTT1]

Oh, please house_cat, do ask for some more "cheating" ideas, if you want to call them that! I like the idea that they are instead called "time savers!"

[Tinkrbl44]

Of course it's not "cheating" .............

It would only be cheating if the stipulation was made that either:

1) you must make it from scratch ...... or ..........

2) it must be your own personal recipe from scratch ...

With potluck, you want something that will appeal to many ..... and Stouffers fits the bill!

PS ..... If you add something like jalapenos or whatever, it would be helpful to have a card or post it note that says Mac and Cheese w/Jalpenos .... just so people know what they are getting.

[lovesrecess]

On 11/9/2014 house_cat said:

On 11/9/2014 Bluegrassbaby said:

Cheating? No....Cost effective? Yes, have you seen the price of cheese lately...wow!

This, too. Last time I made homemade lasagna I realized I could have bought Stouffer's for about half the price. I like mine, but I think Stouffer's is a very acceptable alternative.

when I added up what it cost me to make the last pan of lasagna I made, I vowed to just buy Stouffers....not to mention how much time it takes to assemble it from scratch. When my girls were in HS and college I tried to always keep a pkg of it in the freezer since there always seemed to be a boy or two (four daughters!) at our house at dinnertime.....and I knew they would be "all over it!" DH likes it just fine so no reason to make my own now. It is one of the few prepared dishes I buy though.

[Perkup]

Why not. There is no requirement that everything be homemade, and I'd bet others will do something similar. Enjoy the gathering.

[BeckiWV]

It's not cheating at all, do it!