Mac And Cheese: Not Just Kids' Stuff

Going into work at 5am calls for a quickish meal the night before. Usually leftovers but always quick. But always delicious.
After some shuffling around the freezer last night, I finally decided on Mac and cheese with broccoli and maple bacon tossed in. I know, I know. I have a problem with maple bacon. You could say I have issues when it comes to maple bacon fat.
This dinner is no different. For dinner tonight I combined many food loves: Maple bacon and broccoli..And bacon fat.

Instead of using butter for the powdered cheese sauce (along with an extra quarter cup shredded cheese) I used the bacon fat. It was probably about two tablespoons, which Matthew has just informed me is "A lot of bacon fat."
I gave him a blank look: "Problem?"
"I bet your heart loves you for that." He said
"That's love flowing through my veins!"

Okay, so honestly, not the most "healthy" meal I've made this month; the 1.5 cups of steamed diced broccoli barely constitutes a serving of vegetables each, and the extra cheese, powdered sauce and, ahem, bacon fat probably isn't going to do too much for my hips, but Matt and I have gotten it in our heads that we work on our feet constantly and I for one don't eat much at work. So the occasional bacon fat laced cheesy meal probably wont do as much damage as an office drone eating a burger and a Milky Way a day.
But I digress. Back to dinner.
The "Extra" bacon fat has yielded this incredible mouth feel. Smooth, tender, creamy meltingness. It's what makes fat so irresistible and perfect. A primal addiction for humans.
The steamed broccoli is leftover from last night's dinner, was diced tiny and speckeled and nestled in the pasta. The maple bacon adding another level of flavor while staying uninrusive in the background.

This is a fairly easy and adaptable meal to make. Any protein of veggie leftovers can easily be tossed in with boxed mac and cheese, as long as you add a little shredded cheese and a little extra milk. You'd also want to reheat it all just enough to take the chill off the food (as long as any meat is fully cooked already [obviously]) A good way to get kids to eat their veggies as well, I think. Especially those adverse to leftovers.