Italian sausage and portabella mushroom mac and cheese

Zack and I went for a walk to the lakeshore and beach before going to the grocery store. We just relaxed and soaked in the afternoon sun for a while and then made a sand castle. I still feel like there's sand all over me even after taking a shower.

For dinner, I turned to Rachel Ray's cookbook Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats for something fast and easy to make. Today I made a variation on her mac and cheese recipes.

I actually fused two of her recipes together. One was a sausage and mushroom polenta "lasagna" and the other was her mac-n-cheddar with broccoli recipe. We had Italian sausage left over in the freezer, so Zack, my sous-chef, sauteed the sausage with some chopped onions and sliced portabella mushrooms. He also cooked the macaroni pasta. I made some roux using flour, milk, heavy cream and chicken stock. After mixing together the roux sauce, cheddar cheese, cooked macaroni, and the sausage mixture, I put this in the oven for about 10 minutes to melt the cheese.

It was yummo, as Rachel Ray would say. Of course, I have plenty left over for lunch tomorrow. I'll be looking forward to that.