Four-Cheese Bacon Mac 'n' Cheese

Do you remember the Blog Swap I co-hosted back in June?  Well in case you missed it, here's the post I shared over at My Favorite Finds.  It's a little naughty, but super yummy. So it's kind of my usual.  ;)

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I've been following Carrie's blog for a while now.  I link up to Must Try Mondays every week and I've even been featured - super awesome!  When Carrie contacted me and asked if I knew when the next Trading Blogs was happening at Serendipity and Spice, a light bulb turned on.  Why wait for someone else?  I instantly told Carrie my idea - we could co-host our our blog swap!  I loved it.  Carrie loved it.  And here we are.  YAY!!

Carrie always has such great posts on her blog that I knew I wanted to make sure my guest post was worthy of it's place among the other posts.  So today I'm sharing with you a new family favorite of ours, and it has bacon, which always makes for happy tummies.

Four-Cheese Bacon Mac 'n' Cheese

Adapted from Family Circle

Ingredients:

1 pound macaroni pasta

8 slices bacon

1 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups 2% milk

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

8 ounces medium cheddar cheese, shredded

4 ounces jack cheese, shredded

8 slices american cheese

4 ounces Farmer's cheese or Feta cheese  {if you don't like strong cheese flavors sub extra jack}

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 13" x 9" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook pasta according to package directions, and then drain.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium-sized saucepan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Transfer to paper towels.  Carefully pour off drippings, reserving 2 tablespoons in the pan.  Add butter.
4. Whisk flour into bacon grease until smooth. While whisking, slowly stream milk into flour mixture; whisk to remove any lumps. Stir in onion powder, salt,and pepper.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat,then reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes.  In a large bowl, toss together cheddar, jack, and Farmer's cheese.
5. Remove milk mixture from heat; whisk in American cheese and 1 1/4 cups of the cheddar mixture.  Toss bacon pieces with remaining shredded cheese.
6. In pasta pot, combine cooked pasta and cheese sauce.  Pour half into prepared dish. Sprinkle with half the bacon-cheese mixture.  Repeat layering.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.  Increase oven temperature to broil and broil for 3 minutes, until the top is browned.  Cool slightly before serving.

This is a great make ahead dish.  You can throw everything together and stick the pasta in the fridge.  Just add another 15 to 20 minutes to the baking time so that everything is warmed through before broiling.