Beachy Mac & Cheese Bites

Its been a while since I've tried a recipe from Pinterest. Since my fiance's nephew's birthday party was today I decided to be brave and try a combination of pins I have seen. The party was at the beach so I thought I would stick with the theme.

 Here's the recipe I used:
Source: http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/05/21/mac-and-cheese-bites/

Mac and Cheese Bites
12 oz. elbow macaroni noodles
2 cups butter cracker crumbs (such as Ritz)
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 (5.2 oz.) package Boursin garlic herb cheese
2 tbsp. cold unsalted butter
2 large eggs
¾ cup milk
¼ cup sour cream
¼ tsp. salt
Pinch red pepper flakes

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Cook the pasta according to the package directions until just shy of al dente.  Drain well.  Meanwhile, lightly grease standard size muffin pans with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, ½ cup of the shredded cheese, and melted butter and mix with a fork until combined.  Spoon a bit of the mixture into the bottom of each muffin well and tamp down with the flat bottom of a glass or other.
• Once the pasta is cooked and drained, add it to a large mixing bowl with the remaining shredded cheese, the boursin and cold butter.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine the eggs, milk, and sour cream and whisk to combine.  Add the liquid mixture to the bowl with the pasta.  Stir in the salt and red pepper flakes and mix until evenly combined.
• Divide the macaroni mixture between the prepared muffin wells.  Bake until light golden, about 20-25 minutes.  Let cool in the muffin pans at least 10-15 minutes, then carefully remove from the pan and serve warm.

When I made this recipe I doubled the recipe and I ended up with 50 servings. The original recipe says on batch makes 18 servings, it's more like 25 servings. I did swap the elbow macaroni for pasta shells to match the beach theme. Clever right!?! I also made them in foil cupcake liners for easier clean up.

I saw the idea of hotdog octopus on Pinterest but I couldn't really find the instructions on how to make them so this is how I did it...

I bought 2 packs of mini Portuguese sausages from KTA.

The first step is to cut the octopus' legs. For me it was easier to (1) cut the sausage in half  leaving about 1/3 of the sausage connected at the top (2) then cut one of the halves in half (3 & 4) then cut those halves in half. (5) Next, flip the sausage over and repeat the same cuts leaving you with 8 octopus legs! yeh!

Lastly, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the cut sausages for about a minute (or until the legs curl up).

Then all there's left to do is place the sausage octopus onto the mac & cheese bites! Note: I wanted to put eyes on the octopus but I was running late to the party...maybe next time. I think eyes would add that cuteness factor.

It was a perfectly hot day for the beach :)