I’m kicking off a new and super fun category of posts today & I’m really excited about it! It occurred to me while watching Top Chef a few weeks ago that the recipes from all the episodes are likely sitting on Bravo’s website, which of course they are. And obviously I was going to have to make every last one of them.

The recipe I’m sharing today is one of Tiffany Derry’s. You know Tiffany (and if you don’t, please come out from under that rock, would you?) – she was fan favorite in Season 7 and returned for the All-Stars season. Spunky and strong, she rocked both of her seasons and is someone I would love to sit down and have a cup of coffee and a chat with. Wait…I am sitting down and having a cup of coffee and a chat with her…in about one hour from now. Okay, she might not be drinking coffee and maybe she likes to stand when she talks to complete strangers, how do I know? But we will be having a chat and I’m sure it’s going to be just as fun as she seems to be. And since I’m posting the audio next week, you’ll be able to make your own decision on that.

But for now, I’m going to share one of the recipes she recently created for Sargento cheese. So I’m cheating a little with this post since it wasn’t made on the actual Top Chef show, but since it’s a Top Chef’s recipe I’m thinking you’ll forgive me. Especially when you make this mac ‘n cheese at home and your family declares you to be the best cook in the entire universe. I’m pretty sure that even your kids grades will improve with just one taste. Really, it’s a proven fact*.

*Not a proven fact.

There are four more fabulous recipes coming from Ms. Derry in the next couple of weeks, including an amazing stuffing recipe that I’m making for my own holiday table this year! Look for that early next week. Heck, to save you the trouble of remembering, why not let me do the work for you and send it straight to your inbox? Leave your email below and I’ll take care of the rest. Go on, I’ll wait:

Great! Nice to see you again. Now go make this yummy mac ‘n cheese for your family (or just you if you’re not willing to share, no judgement).

UPDATE: I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first? The bad? Okay. Here it comes. Sigh…there was a misunderstanding between the PR firm and myself: I thought they were recording my conversation with Tiffany and they thought I was recording it. So sadly…I have no audio documentation of this call. But the GOOD NEWS is that it was an absolutely fabulous call! {Which kinda makes the bad news worse, I know, but is the glass half full or half empty, people?} Anyhoo…she was sweet, fun, down-to-earth and we laughed A LOT. Her PR people jumped in a couple of times to tell us we were running out of time, and that’s when I told Tiffany we really needed a couple of beers so we could really chat. And then we laughed again.  That’s the kind of person I take her for: someone you could go have a beer with, which to me translates into someone that I could hang out with all night and have some of those really great laughs that come from your belly and last all night.

And for even more good news, the PR firm is making sure that all the answers to questions will be typed up so I can post them. Yahoo!!  And Tiffany herself brought up this mac ‘n cheese recipe and how much she loves it, with no prodding from me.