Salsa Con Queso Macaroni

I'm always so excited when I find a new recipe for my family to try. Since we eat at home almost 100% of the time, I just get soooooooooo bored with our regular menu items. I always get really discouraged when I try to find new recipes because it seems like everything is a boring version of the same thing. That being said, Mexican Mac and Cheese?!?!?! So not boring! I used this recipe from TheWellFedNewlyweds. for inspiration, and switched it up a little bit and adjusted it to feed a family of 5. This is how I made it!

Ingredients

1 lb large macaroni shells pasta
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 medium red onion, diced
 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, chopped (I left it in big pieces, so my kids could pick it out.)
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 T. flour
2 1/2 cups milk
6 T. cream cheese, diced
16 oz. Monterey jack cheese, shredded, divided
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 box of Tyson grilled chicken strips
Salt, pepper and lime zest to taste

Directions -

Boil pasta as directed. Follow the "al dente" instructions.

While your pasta is boiling, in a separate pan, saute onion and jalapeno over medium heat until your onion is translucent. Add garlic, cumin, chili powder and flour. Once this mixture is warmed through, and milk, chicken, cream cheese, 12 oz of cheese, salt, pepper and lime zest. Stir until your cheese sauce is hot and melted through. Next, add your tomatoes and pour over your drained pasta. Stir everything together and spread in an 8x10 pan. Bake for 25ish minutes until it is hot and the cheese on top is melted.

There are a lot of ways you could mix this up! Next time, I will definitely add spinach. You could also swap out the chicken for ground beef. In a pinch, I think you could easily switch out the spices and veggies for a cup or so of jarred salsa. I love how adaptable this is!

I served mine with Pineapple and Avocado Pico de Gallo, and it was a hit! We enjoyed restaurant quality food without the restaurant price!