Recipe | Embellished Boxed Mac and Cheese: Recipe 2

1 box of your favorite mac and cheese
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/4 cup roasted red/any color peppers
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 cup frozen peas
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup water
a couple tbsp fresh basil, roughly chopped
a couple tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. While you're waiting for that to boil, set a large skillet on medium heat and add a few tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Saute the onion, sun dried tomatoes, and roasted peppers. Cook them for 5-7 minutes, or until the onions begin to soften. Salt and pepper the veggies.

Add whatever cheese sauce comes with your mac and cheese box to the veg mixture along with the 1/2 cup of water. Incorporate the cheese and water to a creamy consistency. You can use veg stock if you want, I just didn't have any on hand. Add the frozen broccoli, cover the pan, and cook until the broccoli is thawed - another 7-10 minutes. Remove the lid, reduce the heat to simmer, and let the sauce cook down a little bit. Salt and pepper this layer and add the crushed red pepper flakes.

While the sauce is reducing, your water should be boiling, so you can drop your pasta in. If you find your sauce is reducing too quickly, feel free to add some of the starchy pasta water to it to loosen it up a bit. This will also help the sauce stick to the pasta when you incorporate the two of them.

When your pasta is done cooking, drain and add it to the sauce along with the frozen peas. Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes and basil. Salt and pepper the dish if necessary. It's important to wait until the end of the cooking process to ass the peas because they will break down and turn to mush if you add them early on. The residual heat from the sauce and pasta together is enough to thaw them through. Or, you can thaw them out ahead of time if you're worried about serving frozen peas.

Enjoy!