An easy dinner; Grove-style

Well, not sure if it's Grove-style, but I did get the items here in Coconut Grove and I prepared it in my Coconut Grove kitchen, so I guess that makes this Macaroni and Cheese meal, Grove-style. I barely boil water, not that I can't cook, it just doesn't interest me, and yet I find cooking shows and food and restaurant shows soothing and interesting to watch. I love Top Chef, and I watch various shows on the Travel and Food channels. Here is an easy macaroni and cheese meal, something different than the usual in the Kraft box. I am actually eating this as I write, that's the plate I am eating from right above.

Last weekend I saw this tv show where they went around the country visiting restaurants that only offered mac and cheese dishes; each restaurant had a bunch of different recipes on the menu, but they were all mac and cheese. One stood out in my head, it was mac and cheese with lobster. There were other ingredients and special cheeses and stuff, but the chunky lobster pieces in the mac and cheese looked so good.

The next day I happened to be at The Fresh Market here in Coconut Grove and right there next to each other was the shrimp bar, which they have set up with different style cold shrimp and the hot bar, which usually has things like turkey burgers, meat loaf, pot pies and yes, mac and cheese. And sort of like the old Reeses commercial (you got your chocolate in my peanut butter; no, you got your peanut butter in my chocolate), I bought the mac and cheese and the shrimp and married them!

I heat them both up together, in the microwave, but you can do it on the stove or regular oven and the beauty is that the shrimp gets hot along with the mac and cheese, so it's all the same consistency and temperature. Another great thing is the extras that come with the shrimp -- red and green peppers, onions, olives, and other things, so it all mixes in well and it's really great. I have done this a few times already, I am going to try it with lobster next time.