I’m going to tell you what this dish is not.  This dish is not Paleo, vegan, vegetarian, low-carb, low-fat, raw, or gluten free.  This dish is not something you should eat every day or even once a week.  In fact, it is probably something you should only eat maybe once a year.

This dish is a 1960’s housewives dream. It’s dripping with convenience foods like: precooked cured meat, shelf-stable cheese product, and canned tomatoes and peppers. It’s considerably fancier than regular mac and cheese because of its ethnic qualities!  It would be perfect for a 1960’s style dinner party. Where men and women smoked indoors and guzzled endless cocktails without guilt!

I grew up on convenience food.  It’s comforting to me.  I don’t eat it every day but I eat it sometimes because I believe it’s OK to eat things like this in moderation.  Trying to keep your children well fed while juggling all other life responsibilities is tough.  Trying to keep it healthy for them is even more difficult.   I totally get why men and women gravitated toward convenience foods when they first came onto the food scene.   Especially, since there wasn’t guilt associated with these foods back then. Advertising made people who used these foods appear to be shrewd and resourceful!

Mac and cheese with hot dogs was one of my favorite meals my mother made for us. I can never leave well enough alone because many times in cooking adding something else does improve it.  I added the Mexican party dip accents.  YUM!