Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese FAIL

In order to make up for the fact that I didn't cook anything last week due to Jackson's stomach virus, I decided that I'd cook twice this week. Unfortunately, I got cocky with this recipe - and it completely backfired. Here's the original recipe (from Family Circle Magazine):

Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese (serves 8)

Ingredients:

• 1  box (1 pound)  elbow macaroni or rotini
• 1  pound  ground sirloin
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/4  cup  ketchup
• 2  tablespoons  yellow mustard
• 1  tablespoon  unsalted butter
• 1  tablespoon  all-purpose flour
• 1  can (12 ounces)  evaporated milk
• 3  cups  shredded cheddar cheese
• 2    medium-size tomatoes, cored and thinly sliced
• 2  tablespoons  seasoned bread crumbs

Directions: 

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 2-quart oval baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling. Add pasta and cook 10 minutes, according to package directions. Drain.
3. While pasta cooks, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sirloin, breaking apart with a wooden spoon. Cook 6 minutes, until no longer pink. Season with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Remove from heat and stir in ketchup and mustard. Transfer to a bowl.
4. Return skillet to medium heat and add butter. Once melted, whisk in flour, then add milk in a thin stream. Bring to a simmer and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2 cups of the cheese. Stir in pasta. Pour into prepared dish. Top with meat mixture, remaining cheese, sliced tomatoes and bread crumbs. Spritz with nonstick cooking spray.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Increase heat to broil and broil for 2 minutes.

I didn't have all of the ingredients, and it was raining, but I really wanted to try this. So this is what I did.


MY Mac and Cheese (serves ?????)

Ingredients:

• 1 Box of Velveeta Macaconi and Cheese (Mistake #1)
• 1 frozen clump of mystery meat (I'm pretty sure it was hamburger meat)
• Ketchup (I didn't measure)
• Whole grain mustard (I didn't have yellow mustard and again I didn't measure)
• One big ass tomato sliced up
• Breadcrumbs (Unmeasured)
• Salt and Pepper 

Directions:
1.  Set oven to 350 degrees and spray a pan with Pam. In my case I thought the pan I used was the right size but it ended up being huge. So what do I do? Smoosh the mac and cheese over to one corner. Smart, right?
2. Brown the meat in a pan (hey at least I am getting the hang of THAT). Remove from heat and add salt, pepper, ketchup, and mustard.
3. Make macaroni and cheese according to the box.
4. Mix mystery meat in with the mac and cheese. Add some breadcrumbs.
5. Put mac and cheese in the pan.
6. Put tomatoes on top of mac and cheese and sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
7. Bake in the oven for an undisclosed amount of time (in my case until it looked like Jackson was going to start screaming - about 8 minutes).

You can see the many reasons why this recipe failed. Lesson learned - I suck at cooking so stick to the recipe.