Every so often food items will curiously appear in our fridge and pantry. Items that I didn’t buy. A tub of spreadable butter. Individually-wrapped American slices. A jar of Reese’s Creamy Peanut Butter. Diced peaches in syrup. It’s not that I really have anything against these products, but in our almost three years of marriage my husband has come to understand that if he would like to eat such foods he will need to purchase them at the grocery store himself. And so he does.

So it was a little bit out of character for my husband when he came home the other day with sugar snap peas.

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Rich, golden spinach-bacon macaroni and cheese is kind of like having a little angel and a little devil on each shoulder. It’s decadent for sure, but the spinach relieves just a touch of the guilt.

This was a rather simple recipe, from the back of a pouch of Kraft cheddar cheese, but the flavors were anything but basic. There’s no added seasoning whatsoever to this dish – all of the rich flavor comes from the ingredients themselves. The roux for the cheese sauce starts from the leftover bacon drippings, distributing a gentle bacony flavor throughout the pasta. The cheddar is both sharp and buttery and the parmesan is salty and a little nutty, so the combination is pretty robust and complex. And aside from a welcome color contrast, the spinach adds a nice herbiness to the mix.

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