Baked Mac and Cheese with "Fritos Twists" Crust

JS:
When my mother returned from one of a cross-border trip to the Washington state, she brought home some junk food: potato chips, corn chips, Corn Pops cereal.

She's tempting fate, our mother, knowing that her people don't have any self-control when it comes to junk food. When asked why she would buy so much junk food when she's the one who would admonish us not to eat too much, she would get slightly defensive and say that she's buying these for our parties and gatherings, so our guests would have something to munch on after finishing dinner.

I happen to think that it's another self-control issue (genetics, you know): she has no control over her shopping. ;)

JS:
One infernal item she bought recently are these Fritos Flavor Twists.

(See left. Image from fritolay.com.)

We don't have the exact same thing for sale here in Canada, so these are quite "exotic." Of course, they're not particularly good, but that of course didn't stop me from finishing a couple of bags in one sitting!

When I saw that there is one lone bag still in the pantry, I knew I had to take control of the situation before I end up on the couch with my hand inside that bag. Better put this bag out of its misery.

We had some kids coming over to play with my nephew and nieces so I thought, why not make a kid-friendly meal of mac-and-cheese with the Fritos twists as my breadcrumbs? They're kids, and for our kids anyways, mac-and-cheese is a rare treat since we never really have it. Might as well go all the way with the junky-goodness of Frito-Lay into the mix!



JS:
I made a standard béchamel sauce for my mac-and-cheese and tried to make my version "healthier" by incorporating more protein, in the form of shredded beef, into the sauce.

For the cheeses, I used a combination of white and regular cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano. I then folded in the crumbled honey barbecue twists into the mac-and-cheese.


Fritos Flavor Twists crust

JS:
More crumbled twists went on top, along with some more shredded cheddar and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for the crust.

Of course, besides the kids, I also had a couple of servings of this Mac and Cheese, doused with Frank's Red Hot sauce. But, at least, that's only a twelfth of the Fritos Twists instead of the whole bag! :)

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