"Fancy" Macaroni and Cheese

this meal is the most requested meal by my husband. seriously, every time i ask him what we should have for dinner, he always says, "fancy mac?". it's not called fancy mac because it's fancy, but because it's macaroni and cheese from a box, but dressed up.

"Fancy" Mac

ingredients

2 boxes mac and cheese, any variety. we use the cheap-o kind that comes to about $0.39 per box.

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

2 stalks of broccoli (more-or-less), cut into florets and small pieces of stem

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about one pound), diced. if you don't want to dice and cook your own chicken breasts, you can use pre-cooked chicken breasts, or some of a rotisserie chicken.

spices for your chicken. i like garlic, paprika, a little ground red pepper, salt, and pepper.

instructions

in a large pot, boil enough water for the noodles and broccoli. usually i use a big saucepan or a stock pot.

in the mean time, dice the chicken breasts and cook them over medium in a frying pan with a little olive oil. season and cook through.

while the chicken cooks, add the noodles and broccoli.

cook for 7-ish minutes--just long enough for the noodles to cook.

drain the pasta and broccoli and return to pot.

add butter and milk, along with cheese sauce packet.

when chicken is done, incorporate into the noodle/broccoli/cheese sauce mixture.

serve!