This dish originated one night when I was asking my husband what I was going to do with all the okra we got last summer.  He shrugged and said “I don’t know…okra…bacon is good…mac and cheese is good.  How about okra bacon mac and cheese?”  I laughed at the ridiculousness of that suggestion and then thought that it just might be crazy enough to work.  And thus Okra Bacon Mac and Cheese was born.  We love this dish.  It’s a favorite around here, and I even froze some of our okra bounty last year so we could have it again in winter.

Instructions don’t get much simpler.  Make mac and cheese.  Yeah, I use boxed mac and cheese, what of it?  I put extra cheese in at the end because I’m a chef and that’s how you do it when you’ve graduated from culinary school.  You can actually make your own if you wanted to be all gourmet about it.  While the mac and cheese is cooking, fry up about 4 slices of bacon in a pan until they’re crispy.  No microwaves or ovens for this – you have to use a skillet to make the bacon.  Remove the cooked bacon and then add about a cup or two of sliced okra to the hot bacon grease.  Cook the okra until it is tender and golden brown.  Crumble the bacon into the completed mac and cheese and add the okra.  Done and done.  Easy, fast, delicious, and uses up all that okra.