Chorizo Mac & Cheese + Key Lime Cheesecake

I had the pleasure of cooking, eating and board gaming at Stephanie’s house last night. When I got to her apartment, we both threw on aprons and started making dinner. I loved getting to cook with a friend, it doesn’t happen very often! The entree we prepared was Stephanie’s mother’s Mac & Cheese and she substituted ground beef for soy chorizo. Unfortunately, I do not have the recipe, but I highly recommend adding soy chorizo to any mac & cheese – a healthier way to add tons of flavor, and I swear you can’t tell it’s not meat.

It was just as delicious when I had it again for lunch today.
In between dinner and dessert, we played The Settlers of Catan, which is a European board game Steph and Jeff love. I’m a little embarrassed, but let's just say I got IN-to it. I’m actually considering purchasing it off Amazon right this minute. It’s similar to Monopoly except that you build settlements and cities by accumulating resources, and essentially the biggest tycoon wins it all. And no, I didn’t win either game but that’s not what matters. We took a break to make dessert: Smitten Kitchen’s key lime cheesecake. We learned from this experience that cheesecakes are ridiculously easy to make, but waiting for them to bake and set is not. We broke the rules and sliced into it before it had cooled completely, making it on the pudding-ish side, but I was not too worried about that. It was scrumptious and tart and mmm.
This has motivated me to suck it up and go buy a spring form pan, why have I been so stubborn? That and a garlic press. It makes mincing garlic super quick AND fun. Steph, Jeff, Eva (meow) and I had a lovely evening. And I’m not just saying that because she hired me