Kraft=Psychic?

Kraft is now taking advantage of creepy video analytics technology in order to predict what grocery shoppers might want to eat for dinner. The "Meal Planning Solution" kiosk will scan a shopper's face, determine his or her gender and age, and provide appropriate suggestions - which, obviously, will come from the Kraft family of products. I'm hoping that their recommendation for a 23-year-old female would be some sort of delicious mac and cheese, but I'm guessing it would probably be something boring like salad dressing. The kiosk can also send recipes and shopping lists to your smartphone, and it will dispense a free sample before you continue your shopping.

Read the full article here.

Heroin + Mac & Cheese = WTF?

Police in Portland, Oregon recently found over 4 pounds of heroin hidden in boxes of food in a drug dealer's home. This story would not have caught my eye were it not for the fact that some of the heroin was hidden in boxes of macaroni and cheese. It's not my job to tell people not to do drugs, but I do feel a responsibility to chastise these irresponsible individuals for tainting perfectly good macaroni and cheese with heroin. I don't even like it when people put peas or broccoli or mini hot dogs in mac and cheese, so hearing about someone contaminating this delicious food with an illegal drug (and not just any illegal drug, but one of the sketchiest ones out there) truly hurt my soul. Shame on you, Flavio Meza. Shame on you.

Read the article here.

Kraft Homestyle

I have been "saving" this macaroni and cheese for a really long time. For some reason, I had built it up in my mind to be the best thing I'd ever eaten. My mom has this recipe that takes like 5 hours to make and involves about 7 different cheeses and a ton of cream and who knows what else, and I was anticipating that this would be better than that. Perhaps I was hoping beyond hope, but, I mean, it comes with breadcrumbs and everything. They've also been marketing very aggressively toward adults, which I took as a sign they were attempting to do something very different than their previous products.

The preparation, while not as arduous as a legitimate homemade mac and cheese dinner, was nonetheless more involved than your typical prepared dinner. You have to prepare the pasta, then mix the "Special Seasoning" packet with butter, then add milk and cheese sauce and cook that before adding pasta. Then there's an optional oven finish, in which you put shredded cheese (not included) and bread crumbs (included) on top and bake at 425 degrees for a few minutes. I obviously did this, since I figured I had already come this far and might as well make it as good as possible.

It actually looked like this at one point. And I was scared.

They tell you to stir the pasta into the sauce, and at first when it looked like this I was worried there wouldn't be enough cheese for the macaroni.

But there was!

Pre-oven-finish.

Out of the oven.

Hooray!

Ratings

Flavor: 4/5. So when I stole a bite or ten before adding the breadcrumbs, it was pretty solid, but definitely still had a strong "artificial" taste. You know the one – where it doesn't taste bad, but you can definitely tell it's not real cheese. Not that I'd expect anything less from Kraft, but it certainly wasn't "Homestyle" unless your home is the Velveeta factory.

Consistency: 5/5. Creamy and, while I was worried there wouldn't be enough sauce for all the pasta, there definitely was.

Pasta Shape: 3.75/5. I like the elbows, and the ridges were a nice touch, but the whole time I was wishing they were shells or something similar. Elbows bore me. Personal preference.

Overall: 4/5. I really, really wanted this to be perfect. I wanted to genuinely be able to say that I've found a new supermarket mac and cheese that tastes like the real thing. Unfortunately, this isn't it. It's certainly not bad, but for the amount of effort you have to put in I would say it's probably not worth it. Just throw some bread crumbs on top of Velveeta and call it a day in about half the time.

Nutrition Information: Serving Size 3 oz (about 1/4 package), prepared. 340 Calories, 120 Calories from Fat; 8g Fat, 2.5g Saturated Fat, 0g Trans Fat; 15mg Cholesterol; 690mg Sodium; 41g Carbohydrate; 1g Fiber; 3g Sugars; 10g Protein.

Spotted In Boston

VOTE FOR MAC AND CHEESE SPRING ROLLS!

Boston restaurant Davio's is currently conducting a poll in which fans of their Facebook page can vote on which spring roll the restaurant will create. Well, one of the options is a mac and cheese spring roll, and therefore I am calling on everyone to head to the restaurant's page and vote before the end of the day! As a side bonus, Davio's will donate $1 to Kevin Youkilis's Hits for Kids charity with each new "fan" of their page. Mac and cheese wins, diners win, and charity wins. You can't go wrong.

Vote here.

Kraft Cheesy Alfredo with Pasta Twists

I'd first like to apologize for the lack of mac and cheese reviews as of late (since I'm sure the millions of people who read my blog are just beside themselves wondering why I haven't written more). Moving back home after college has led to a lot more of my mom's food, which includes things like fresh ingredients, vegetables, and all-around healthiness. Good for things like combating heart attacks and obesity, but terrible for this blog. On the flip side, though, unemployment has left me with a lot of free time at lunch, which should counteract the effects of Mom's healthy cooking.

I don't generally consider alfredo sauce a part of the cheese family. Though it does contain parmesan, it doesn't generally taste particularly cheesy, and cream seems to take center stage within the sauce. However, I'm willing to make an exception for Kraft because, let's face it, there's not actually all that much real cheese in their regular mac and cheese either.

Ratings

Flavor: 4/5. This was actually a remarkably good sauce. It didn't taste like alfredo, per se, more like a hybrid of cheese and alfredo sauce.

Consistency: 4/5. Pretty standard; it could've been a little thicker but didn't necessarily need to be.

Pasta Shape: 4.75/5. Gemelli was a solid choice for the "alfredo" sauce.

Overall: 4.25/5. I actually enjoyed Kraft's attempt at alfredo sauce a lot more than I thought I would. Granted, it was not an alfredo in the strictest sense, but it was still good. I also found it interesting that a perusal of the ingredients revealed that the sauce even contained a touch of onion, and I wonder if we can attribute the sauce's deliciousness to this fact.

Nutrition Information: Serving Size 2.5 oz (about 1/3 box), prepared. 380 Calories, 130 Calories from Fat; 2.5g Fat, 1g Saturated Fat, 0g Trans Fat; 5mg Cholesterol; 650mg Sodium; 50g Carbohydrate; 2g Fiber; 7g Sugars; 9g Protein.

More Mac and Cheese Violence?!

I think it's pretty clear that I'm as passionate about mac and cheese as the next person. However, I honestly can't say that I've ever assaulted another individual during a mac and cheese-related argument. I guess that makes me a little different than a seventeen-year-old from Waterville, Washington, who assaulted her brother with a spatula (yes, a spatula - couldn't make that up if I tried) during an argument about the presence of butter in macaroni and cheese.

Read the story here.

Kraft Goes on Tour!

Kraft will be sponsoring a mac and cheese tour in order to promote their new Homestyle variety. When you visit the locations hosting the tour, you'll be able to enjoy free samples of the new flavor. Unfortunately, the tour is mostly limited to the South and Midwest; apparently those of us on the coasts are finally being punished for our obsession with healthy eating. Or perhaps I'm just bitter.

In any case, you can check out the schedule here.

Mac and Cheese in the News

Two Oakland women who wanted to open a mac and cheese restaurant found that their plans were thwarted by fast-food giant McDonald's. The women wanted to call their restaurant "Little Mac" - you know, as in mac and cheese. Apparently McDonald's, however, "owns all variations of the prefix 'Mc' or 'Mac'." This seems a little ridiculous; on the bright side, though, the owners are taking advantage of the situation by holding a contest to name the restaurant. The winner will receive a lifetime supply of mac and cheese! Sounds pretty good to me; I wish I lived closer to Oakland.

Read the full article here.

New Kraft Ad

All the Gleeks out there who watched the season finale may have seen that Kraft premiered a new ad for its Homestyle mac and cheese during the episode. What do you think?

Jersey Shore Boys Make Mac and Cheese

I'm sure everyone has heard of MTV's delightfully trashy Jersey Shore. If you haven't, you still have time to catch up before Season 2 premieres on July 29. The first ten minutes of Season 2's first episode will be shown tonight before the MTV Movie Awards, where the cast will be promoting the show. As part of the promotion, cast members DJ Pauly D and Vinny prepared truffle mac and cheese with a professional chef. Would you trust a couple of self-proclaimed "guidos" to prepare gourmet mac and cheese for you?

Watch the video here.

Man Assaulted by Mac and Cheese?!

I wish I could say I were kidding, but apparently this actually happened. A man and a woman got into a conflict at an Elyria, Ohio cookout, and things got so heated that the woman threw mac and cheese on the man. She then hit the man on the back of the head with a pogo stick before leaving the event. While I'm not trying to trivialize assault, I think we can all agree that the greatest crime here was the waste of perfectly good macaroni and cheese.

Read the full story here.

Mac and Cheese in the News

The New York Times recently featured a great article on Kraft's attempts to market mac and cheese to adults as well as kids. I know that boxed mac and cheese gets a reputation for being a food parents make when they're too tired to make a real dinner for their kids, but hopefully people will begin to understand that some people actually enjoy eating it.

Read the full article here.

CHEDDAR EXPLOSION VIP

Some of you may recall that I reviewed Kraft's Extreme Cheese Explosion mac and cheese, the release of which coincided with a contest that would allow a kid to pull the trigger to demolish Texas Stadium. The winner was 11-year-old Casey Rogers; the promotional video is below.

Tombstone Mac and Cheese Pizza?!

When I went to South Carolina for spring break this year, one of the things about which I was most excited was visiting CiCi's Pizza. I know it sounds like a weird thing to get excited about, but they happened to have a mac and cheese pizza that looked like the most amazing thing ever. CiCi's did not disappoint, but I did, unfortunately, have to return north, where our repertoire of fast casual dining restaurants is severely limited.

I thought that mac and cheese pizza was going to be just a fond memory until I was browsing through the grocery and found this pizza: a Tombstone frozen pizza with Kraft mac and cheese on top. Brilliant, no? I immediately rushed home in order to see if my wildest dreams had, in fact, come true.

Ratings

Flavor: 3.5/5. The cheese tasted remarkably good – you could tell it was Kraft, but it was better.

Consistency: 3/5. The sauce itself was pretty good. However, I thought that the frozen-pizza crust was too thin to hold the macaroni and cheese, and it additionally made it seem dry.

Pasta Shape: 4/5. Elbows are a conventional choice, but they worked surprisingly well with the Kraft sauce.

Overall: 3.5/5. So the mac and cheese pizza did not disappoint. While it wasn't perfect and there were things I definitely would have changed, it was pretty damn good. A solid meeting of two delicious foods.

Chef Boyardee Mac and Cheese!

So I know what you're thinking. "Canned mac and cheese…WTF?" At least that's what I was thinking. After all, how exactly can you preserve the goodness of mac and cheese in a tiny, non-refrigerated can? Nonetheless, I figured it was worth a shot, especially since I am deeply committed to trying all unfamiliar supermarket mac and cheeses.

I had the choice to microwave this one or cook it on the stovetop. Though cooking it in the microwave would have been more in the spirit of canned food, I figured I had the ten free minutes to throw it in a pot and heat it up.

Ratings

Flavor: 3.5/5. The flavor was actually pretty good – certainly better than expected. My one problem is that there was a slightly strange aftertaste. Random note: when I heated up the leftovers later, the aftertaste had disappeared slightly.

Consistency: 4/5. Surprisingly creamy, with a solid amount of "cheese."

Pasta Shape: 3/5. Pretty much the same as Kraft. I don't actually know if this pasta shape has a name besides "the Kraft shape."

Overall: 3.5/5. So the canned mac and cheese actually surprised me and wasn't terrible. If you have the ability to make other types of mac and cheese, I would probably choose a better one, but if you are in a situation where you can't boil water or need to pack canned food for some reason, this actually isn't a terrible option.

Nutrition Information: Serving Size ½ can. 180 Calories, 14 Calories from Fat; 1.5g Fat, 1g Saturated Fat; 20mg Cholesterol; 1090mg Sodium; 35g Carbohydrates; 2g Fiber; 8g Protein.

Mac and Cheese in the News

Orillia, Ontario food bank The Sharing Place is holding a mac and cheese fundraising dinner this June. Don Evans, the food bank's executive director, said that they chose to serve mac and cheese since doing so will "remind people that not all of us are able to enjoy a seven-course steak dinner when we choose." Personally, I'd take mac and cheese over a steak dinner any day, especially the gourmet fare Evans is promising. It's also great that the best food in the world is being used for such a wonderful cause.

Read the full article here.

Pasta Roni Four Cheese Corkscrew Pasta

This mac and cheese is a little different that most others in that it doesn't attempt to call itself a mac and cheese, per se. Rather, it's marketed as a pasta dish that just happens to have a four-cheese sauce included. The Pasta Roni company (fun fact: it was founded by a guy named Domenico DeDomenico. Seriously.) invites us to "Join the Trolley on a taste adventure around the world. From the zesty to the savory to every delicious corner of the Earth, Pasta Roni takes you on an exciting flavor journey." Basically, it's boxed mac and cheese that they want grown-ups to eat without being embarrassed.

The preparation for this one is a little more involved than your typical Kraft dinner. You're told to boil water, milk, and butter before adding the pasta and "Special Seasonings" (read: orange cheese sauce in a packet). I won't lie, I have never boiled anything besides water and it freaked me out when the mixture started to boil over a little. Thankfully, my roommate, Katie, (who, by the way, is a vegan) was able to rescue me. At least if this mac and cheese sucks I can say it taught me something about cooking.

All the ingredients sitting in the pot. It looks like corn chowder!

Boiling milk, water, and pasta together...weird.

Waiting for it to cool!

Awesome.

Ratings

Flavor: 4/5. There was definitely a decent flavor, and it stood out from other macaroni products. However, the sauce actually tasted better when I sampled it halfway through cooking than it did in the finished product. I felt like the flavor all boiled away (can that happen?). I think I may try making this again, but preparing it in a manner more similar to Kraft or Annie's (i.e. boil the pasta first, then add cheese/milk/butter).

Consistency: 3/5. The sauce looked extremely thin and runny at first; Katie even commented that it didn't look very creamy. "That's what she said" jokes aside, the box did say to allow the sauce to thicken for three to five minutes. I gave it a shot and the consistency did, in fact, improve. It still wasn't as perfect as it could have been, but no major complaints here.

Pasta Shape: 3/5. Don't get me wrong, I like fusilli, but I didn't love it with this sauce. I prefer it with something with a stronger flavor or something thicker.

Overall: 3.5/5. Though this was not my favorite mac and cheese ever, it was decent, and, as I mentioned above, I will probably try it again with an alternate preparation. As I've mentioned before, I'm a purist and don't believe in adding other things to mac and cheese. However, those who enjoy mixing in vegetables, tuna, or meat may want to try that with this kind. I would recommend giving this one a shot, because I could see some people really enjoying it.

Nutrition Information: Serving Size 2.5 oz (about 1 cup prepared). 370 Calories, 140 Calories from Fat; 16g Fat, 5g Saturated Fat; 10mg Cholesterol; 890mg Sodium; 49g Carbohydrates; 2g Fiber; 11g Protein.

Lean Cuisine Macaroni and Cheese

I'm always extremely wary of low-calorie versions of high-calorie foods. There's a reason delicious foods so often have high calorie counts, and I find that it's better to enjoy a small quantity of the high-calorie version than a whole lot of the low-cal. That said, who doesn't secretly wish for a less fattening version of their favorite food?

Lean Cuisine describes this product as "Tender macaroni in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce." I don't know how creamy or cheesy something with under 300 calories can be, but I'm keeping an open mind. Users on the Lean Cuisine website have given this mac and cheese a rating of 3/5, which is slightly promising, but I also have to keep in mind that these are people who are probably dieting and therefore used to eating blander food than the rest of us.

Halfway through the cooking process.

Ready for eating. Looks delicious. Too bad it wasn't.

Ratings

Flavor: 1/5. I don't even know if I should have given any points because there was literally no flavor. None. I might as well have been eating thick orange water on pasta and I probably was.

Consistency: 4/5. Despite the horrible flavor, the sauce was relatively thick and appeared creamy. Unfortunately, good consistency means nothing when the flavor is as bad as this was.

Pasta Shape: 3/5. Elbows: a safe but solid choice.

Overall: 1/5. Normally, I give consideration to all factors equally when determining this ranking. However, the flavor was so disappointing and terrible that nothing could remotely redeem this mac and cheese (if you could even call it that). Do not buy this under any circumstance. If you're really trying to watch calories, buy a better mac and cheese and save half of it for another meal.

Nutrition Information: 290 Calories, 60 Calories from Fat; 7g Fat, 4g Saturated Fat, 0g Trans Fat; 20mg Cholesterol; 620mg Sodium; 41g Carbohydrate; 2g Fiber; 8g Sugars; 15g Protein.

Annie's Deluxe Shells & Real Aged Cheddar

Although Annie's is known for its classic shells with white cheddar, they do have a number of varieties to satisfy people like my boyfriend, Steve, who refuses to eat macaroni and cheese that isn't neon orange. Upon opening the box and seeing the silver packet of sauce, his first comment was, "This looks like Velveeta in a more expensive package." This comment was not made in a derogatory manner, since we all know Velveeta is delicious, but it was definitely interesting. Despite the Annie's brand's commitment to organic ingredients and environmental issues, I often think that many of their products are Kraft foods in nicer packaging. Sure, they used real aged cheddar in this mac and cheese, but how processed is it? After all, cheese doesn't naturally come in a creamy form that can be squeezed out of a packet. That said, if a food is delicious, I'm not inclined to complain about the packaging or the company's marketing strategies.

Steve adding the sauce to the pot. Velveeta or Annie's?

Ready for serving.

Delicious!!

Ratings

Flavor: 4.5/5. This had a great, cheesy flavor, and I actually could tell that it was real cheddar. It definitely lacked the processed flavor of many similar products.

Consistency: 3.5/5. I always find it a little creepy when sauce comes pre-made in packets, like this one did, because it looks so gross and weird when you squeeze it out. However, it stuck nicely to the pasta and ended up being really good.

Pasta Shape: 5/5. See my previous Annie's review if you want to know my feelings on shells.

Overall: 4/5. I wanted to give this a 4.5, but Steve claimed that I shouldn't have because "we could have bought the same thing in a Velveeta box for less." We compromised on a rating of 4. This is a seriously delicious mac and cheese and it may have replaced original Annie's as one of my favorites.

Nutrition Information: Serving Size 1 cup prepared; about 3 ½ servings per box. 320 Calories, 90 Calories from Fat; 10g Fat, 6g Saturated Fat, 0g Trans Fat; 25mg Cholesterol; 760mg Sodium; 46g Carbohydrate; 2g Fiber; 4g Sugars; 14g Protein.