After making Braised Short Ribs for Thanksgiving, we had a lot of leftovers – a whole rib that hadn’t even been touched. I also saved as much of the braising liquid as I could. By Monday I was tired of reheating the various dishes and decided to make something out of it.

This is just something I put together by using what was in the kitchen. It’s quick with little to no fuss, since the meat has already been cooked, and I ended up washing only two pots afterwards. The macaroni was found in the back of the pantry (I’m hoping it was bought this side of the millennium.) Therefore, nothing fancy going on here. Toss in whatever you have on hand it’s pretty hard to mess up cheese and pasta!

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Shredded Beef
• 1 lb.  Macaroni Pasta
• 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 2 Bellpeppers (diced)
• 1 med. Onion (diced)
• 1 Jalapeno (diced) – optional
• 2 tsp. Sea Salt
• 2 tsp. freshly ground Black Pepper
• 1 1/2 cups of Skim Milk – or whichever you prefer
• 14 oz. can of diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies
• 1 – 2 cups of the original Braising Sauce
• 3 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese (8 oz.)

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and arrange a rack in the middle. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

While that is happening, in a large dutch oven melt the Butter over med-high heat. Add the Onions, Bellpeppers, and Jalapenos. Season with Salt and Black Pepper. Cook until veggies have softened and the onions are golden.

Add the shredded Beef. You can use two forks to shred the meat, but I’ve found that the best way is to use your hands. So that’s what I did. I warmed the meat up in the microwave to soften it up and because it was too cold to touch.

By this time the water in the pot should have come to a boil. Toss in your Macaroni and undercook it by 2 minutes. Then drain it and wash with cold water to stop the cooking processes. It will finish cooking in the oven. Set aside.

After the beef has been in the dutch oven for a few minutes add the Milk, canned Tomatoes, and Braising Sauce. Bring to a simmer.

Add the Macaroni and 1 1/2 cups of Shredded Cheese. Mix well.

I know, there’s a discrepancy here. My dutch oven was not large enough to fit all of the pasta. I decided to add in the cheese, but held off on the macaroni until I could mix it all once I transferred to the larger dutch oven.

Hopefully, you used a large enough dutch oven (unlike me) and can go ahead and sprinkle the remaining Shredded Cheese over the top. Or else transfer to a bigger baking dish. Bake uncovered for 20 – 25 min or until the cheese is bubbling and the pasta is lightly browned at the top. Let cool for 5 min before serving.