Introduction: Mac & Cheesy Rollups Using Leftovers

About: Alton Brown taught me how to cook, now I want to tackle diy projects.

I've noticed lately everybody and their mother seem to be slapping some sort of crap into flattened bread, rolling it up and pan frying it and then posting it on Instagram or Pinterest. I would not be the terrible food blogger I am today if I did not follow suit and follow this trend myself and see what this is all about.

I don't have the massive budget everybody else has so I can't just go out and just buy a loaf of white bread and that fancy american cheese-like product so I am rolling with leftovers. With me so far? Do you see where there is sarcasm and where there is not? Good, we will get along nicely. Let's begin.

Step 1: Gather the Players

I had some leftover macaroni and cheese in my cold clammy hands at the time of my epiphany so that is going to be the star of the meal.

Whitebread is for sugar addicts so I used some generic wheat bread I had in the pantry.

Sriracha makes everything happier, especially mac and cheese, so it was a no brainer to add this to the eventual mouth party.

Extra cheese will help us get all gooey.

Salt. Don't skip it you prude, we gotta have some salt no matter what.

Step 2: Flatten Your Bread Out

Make like a 8 year old and cut the crust off your bread. It won't look right when you roll it up so stop questioning me and let me cook you this stupid thing so we can all move on with our day. Mkay? JEEEESH!

With the crusts removed and the anger firmly in check, roll the bread out into flattened squares. Your bread needs to be relatively fresh or it will break up and fall apart. I got lucky today, the woman of the house didn't put the bread into the fridge and turn it into cardboard-garbage-bread-crumbles. Hooray for my day!

Step 3: Fill the Bread With Whatever Sadness You Have Laying Around

Bob Evans microwave mac & cheese is a staple around our house. It's kid friendly taste works well for "I'm not going to eat that! I hate you!", type emergencies. Today however daddy just needed to fill his food hole with sustenance so now we have some leftovers handy. How convenient right?

Scoop a bit of your filling into the bread. Add a half slice of processed cheese to make the entire thing ooze like all the fancy pictures you have seen online and then add a squirt or two of sriracha or something to add flavor to this mess.

Step 4: Butter Butter Butter Butter Butter

Get some butter bubbling, not sizzling. Pretend like you are making a grilled cheese sandwich, like you have done a million times before. Get your pan hot, but not too hot.

Resist the temptation to put your entire hand into the pan to see what happens. You still have chores to do today.

Step 5: Drop the Little Fragile Tubes Into the Pan

These things are pretty fragile, so carefully roll them and put them seam side down into your pan.

Monitor for brown-ness(?) and turn roughly four times so you get all sides GB&D*.

Flipping them is out, so gently roll them to make sure you get all sides like Ann Fisher.

Do they look good? Good is a relative term here of course.

Step 6: Done. Now Bask in Your Success You Miniature Bobby Flay

They are now done and you have realized you have wasted a good 15 minutes on this nonsense.

Sprinkle them with some finishing salt so they taste like some sort of food and then chop a few at a jaunty angle to show that you are real fancy like.

Happy with what you see? Time to eat one.

How are they?

They are crispy on the outside (if you fried them right) and gooey on the inside. A little kick from the sriracha makes your mouth tingle and everything is ok in the world for 2 seconds. If you used a really nice mac and cheese I'm sure the flavor will be a bit more complex. If you used white bread the things might look a bit more appetizing. If you used what I used you might have fallen asleep mid chew.

Step 7: Was It Worth It?

There was a fair amount of steps involved to make these and now is the time to ask yourself, "Was it worth it?"

In this instance, not so much. They are good, but are they 20 minutes of cooking and 10 minutes of cleanup good? Nope.

Are they a great way to get your kid to eat something slightly different? Yeah, I can see that. I can imagine these going good with a soup to dip into as well.

There are tons of recipe Instructables with words such as "amazing" or "delicious" or "mouth-gasm". I'd like to mix it up a bit and use "mediocre" as my closing word. It seems the most applicable.

Step 8: Questions?

What does GB&T mean?

Golden Brown and Delicious. Or what your sister calls her boyfriend.

What are you cooking on?

My stove is a shitty electric coil stove so whenever possible I use my portable induction burner. Induction is great because you have more granular control over your heat and it is much safer to cook on. I have a Max Burton and I like it.

Do you have any more Instructables or reviews?

Well funny you should ask. I DO have more reviews, recipes and drivel on my site ColumbusCOOK. Thanks for asking!