Chili Mac? Sounds good.

My family has always referred to the the casserole I made tonight as the red mac and cheese.  The one I made last week, the more traditional macaroni and cheese, was known as the white one because of its creamy cheese sauce.  My floormate, Brianna, had a more accurate name for it:  chili mac.

The macaroni is mixed with, essentially, chili ingredients:  ground beef, corn, diced onion and green bell pepper, garlic, tomato sauce, and chili powder.  The mixture was put into a 9 by 13 pan and baked with about a pound of cheddar cheese on top.  It could have been a little saucier, but it didn't suffer too much.  This is one of my favorite things to eat because I've eaten it all my life. My grandma made it, my dad makes it, and now I make it.  This may sound weird, but I feel the history behind this dish when I make it even though it's not a really long history, and it's not even an Asian history.  I don't know where my grandma came upon her recipe for this casserole, but I'm sure that I'm never going to stop making it.