Frozen Comfort Food

Seattlites take their food seriously. The quality, freshness and seasonality. And we're quickly finding out that grocery stores in this Northwest city are no exception.

Here, there is a fabulous small local chain of grocery stores called Metropolitan Market. Daily catch seafood, in house butcher, fresh European style breads and pastries, restaurant quality take out, global cheese selection, wine staff...you get the idea.

Of course fresh is always best. And really; who would argue? So when the Market's monthly promotional postcard came in the mail touting "buy one, get one free" frozen macaroni and cheese, it was tossed aside with the rest of the junk mail. Well, the food gods must have been looking out for our palettes, because the postcard ended up in our car on a grocery trip one afternoon.

It was shopping as usual. Stopping off at the cheese counter first to select a few of creamy stinky and oh so yummy cheeses (Greyson sampling everything she could), we next strolled through produce, the deli, and wines. After checking everything off our list, we made our way to the frozen food aisle to put our postcard to good use. Tossing two boxes into our cart we wrapped up the trip.

This is were fate stepped in.

It had been a long day, and the thought of popping something in the oven was just too convenient to pass up. Turn on the stove, wait for it to preheat, pop it in the oven and voila! Right? Sounds good.

Waiting for the oven timer to sound was the perfect opportunity to pour a glass of wine and study this month's Dean and Deluca catalog. Flipping through the pages, my mouth watering and tummy beginning to rumble, I notice something...

Mac & Cheese*"World's Best" is made with penne pasta and artisan Flagship and Just Jack cheeses. Mariachi is made with penne pasta, Flagship and Just Jack cheeses, plus roasted Anaheim chiles, cauliflower, red onion, corn and red bell pepper. From Beecher's award-winning kitchens. Shipped frozen.

What? Wait a minute! Could it be? Just to make certain, I reached into the waste bin to retrieve the cardboard sleeve. Yep, sure enough, it's the same Mac & Cheese in the beloved catalog. But it's frozen, so really, how does it taste?

When the timer went off, there was much anticipation about pulling it from the oven. The aroma was fantastic...and bite after bite...let's just say it is wine worthy!

Normally, frozen food isn't something found in our freezer, but we'll make an exception! Order a box now - get your hands on some and enjoy some frozen comfort food because unless you live next to Grandma, you're just not going to find better Mac & Cheese.