Oh So Tasty Mac and Cheese Balls

 

I heart Trader Joe's. I really do. When I lived in Hawaii, I would come back to Cali to visit family and friends and would always go grocery shopping at TJ's before returning. You heard me. I would literally pack a bunch of TJ's food in my luggage for a tasty indulgence while on the rock.

TJ's rarely fails me. This is simply another example. As I am sure you can imagine, much to my savory delight, I stumbled across TJ's version of fried mac and cheese balls.  As we have already established, I love fried food and also love mac - if you are doubting my loyalty to the mac, you really haven't read enough of this blog.

Sorry, I don't have a pic of the box. Hubbs thought it would be a brilliant idea to delete half of my photos... So busted.

After a failed attempt to enjoy the balls at Fred62 (remember that blog entry?), I have to admit my standards were not very high when hubbs decided to make this treat. 

Four words sum up this experience:

THESE

LOVE that there are really macaronis stuffed inside the fried goodness. No false advertising here.

BALLS

My mouth is watering. Seriously.

ARE

Obviously we added some hot sauce to spice it up. Try a nice Louisiana style hot sauce. Yum.

DELIGHTFUL.

Mac Daddy and Cheese Balls

My girlfriend suggested Fred62 which is in a really cute part of town.

My expectations were quite high when the menu revealed a dish named “Mac Daddy and Cheese Balls.”  I was pleasantly surprised when the nine beautiful deep fried cheesy balls of goodness were served. 

True, they could have been served in a tower for a more amusing aesthetic, but lets be real, mac and cheese balls served 24/7 probably don’t need to be pleasant on the eye.   

As a preface, I love fried items. Fried chicken, chicken fried steak, french fries, fish and chips, onion rings, fried pickles, fried mochi ice cream, the list can go on forever.  …. However, these balls just were not up to par. The batter was bland and quite thick; it was hollow inside, meaning it did not have enough cheese and honestly, after much excavation, I could not find one macaroni noodle. I ate 2 but could not bring myself to eat anymore.  

 Luckily the peanut butter mocha milkshake made up for the undesirable balls.

Unless you want to avoid reaching any bases this Valentine's Day, I would avoid these balls altogether.