Dress up your mac n' cheese and take it to dinner.

I’ve been wondering where to put my bacon since outdoor burger season ended a few weeks ago. Misplaced bacon can be a truly unfortunate thing. The other day on an especially cold and damp day I was scanning the comfort food index on FoodNetwork.com and came across this happy marriage: Dressed-Up Bacon Mac and Cheese from Food Network Magazine. If this isn’t a solution, I don’t know what is. I liked this recipe instantly, mostly because… it doesn’t go you-can-only-eat-this-once-a-year-crazy with amounts of butter and 47 different cheeses. Just provolone and Asiago. Okay, so it’s not exactly low-calorie either. But if you’re going to sprinkle crispy, delicious bacon on top, you’ve already blown through the ‘healthy’ checkpoint. I’m going to forego my failsafe recipe — Alton Brown’s Baked Macaroni and Cheese (even though FoodNetwork.com users voted it the best last year) — and try this one tonight for an snuggly, side-dish only menu.