I make videos about food, cooking, and meal prep for fitness enthusiasts. I'm a former strength and nutrition coach turned food blogger and have been running a site called Kinda Healthy Recipes since 2017.
Join me on the eternal quest for muscle protein synthesis.
A Little More About Me
After finishing a bachleor of science degree in nutrition and food science back in 2014 with limited job prospects, I became an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and started my career as a personal trainer. Fitness blogs and forums were huge inspirations, so naturally I started blogging as well. Over time, it evolved into more and more food content up until 2017 when I started making healthy recipes full time.
In 2020 I started a second food blog with my wife called With the Woodruffs. We cover everything from grilling and smoking to baking and ice cream making. Life's about balance, right?
The narrating sucks... I wish you were more confident and clear instead of sounding like a depressed slop especially when I'm trying to follow along it was frustrating But overall, great recipe and great video. I just wish you put more effort into narrating
I have not had a recipe from Mason I haven’t liked. Just got my first pellet smoker, pitboss, and saw he had a Mac n cheese recipe and knew I was in good hands. Mason is always a reliable source for ideas.
Hey, this looks great. I havent tried it yet, but I do have one question. Is there a reason for pouring off the oil from the cooked pancetta, and then adding back more oil? It seems to me that the pancetta oil would have more flavor to add to the dish.
One thing i found on my mac and cheese is if your cheese sauce is too thick you can add some of the pasta water you cooked the pasta in to the sauce until you get the proper consistency. And you dont lose flavor.
I did it two times and it keeps coming out cassaroley. 225 for 45 mins, mix and cook for 45 more. It’s already thick by then not enough time for 30 minutes with crumb topping
This looks amazing, though meat is juicier than typical chicken breast and more flavorful😮! What should the oven temp or slow cooker temp be? I have a cast iron, slow cooker (Instapot brand) w/the feature to sauté and that’s what I plan on using like your recipe shows to brown the chicken thighs but I’m not sure what temp to slow cook or oven bake for the 20-30 min and of course I want the chicken thighs tender. I plan on putting the chicken in tacos. I just made homemade beans tonight for tomorrow’s tacos… I don’t make true refried beans because my stomach can’t handle the heavy oil but I pressure cook beans with a little bit of butter and bacon fat used to first sauté the onion, jalapeño and garlic with mild salt and pepper (2lbs of refried beans usually takes 110 min pressure cooking using the Instapot pressure cooker with 5-6 cups water) and they go excellent in tacos, burritos… you name it homemade simple beans are superior to any canned version and now I prefer them to traditional restaurant refried beans. Anyways look forward to this recipe, I find chicken the hardest meat to cook with because it can become tough and dry so easily but I love chicken tacos more than beef and this looks amazing so thank you!
I made this today and it came out incredible. I also smoked some chicken tenders for 1.5 hours (just above the Mac) and chopped that up into it. Will be making over and over again thank you so much!!! Question though, how do you make it creamier? Mine came out slightly dry, but the flavors were there and it was still amazing. Thanks!
If anyone needs to know how to pronounce Worcestershire sauce, it's like this: Wuss (and in puss, pussy) - ster - sheer. Not shire, as in where the Hobbits live. Worcestershire. Simple.
I made this Friday for us after prepping 72 pounds of smoked mac and cheese using my original recipe for a wedding we catered yesterday. Both recipes are amazing and everyone loved my mac and cheese but this recipe is my husband’s favorite. AND IT TAKES SO MUCH LESS TIME TO MAKE! We added a little cheddar cheese, some bacon, and I used my homemade freeze dried bread crumbs instead of Panko. This recipe is definitely a keeper! I could have saved myself about 6 hours of prep time for the wedding with this recipe not having to precook the noodles and make the cheese sauce on the stove. :)
My Fiancée and I made this tonight on our 18” Weber Smokey Mountain and used applewood chunks for the smoke. It came out great! Super solid recipe and great video - thanks for sharing! My only question is does the BBQ rub you used contain a decent amount of salt? The one we used didn’t and we thought salt was the only thing missing from the final product. Easy fix though and like I said it came out so good! Next time we make it we’ll add some of our home grown hatch chilis to spice it up a little🤤
Both videos were excellent. Ready to try this out. One question or point of clarification needed . . . your recipe here and on your website calls for Elbow Mac but your video sure looks like you are using Cavatappi for the Mac. If truly Elbows, I'm concerned the Cavatappi (my preference) will not cook right since I suspect those noodles would absorb more liquid than the Elbows??
