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There is a restaurant that makes AWESOME mac and cheese _ the Clarkston Union in Clarkston, MI and they add ham chunks to the mac.
It makes it a whole meal... then pair with a salad and you are set.

I'm a southern girl..born and raised in Texas.. and my favorite southern style foods are chicken fried steak, biscuits and sausage gravy, real texas chili (no beans) it's gotta be meaty, bbq brisket, cornbread and pintos, hush puppies, ambrosia, pecan pie and I like an occasional crawfish boil :) And I love sweet tea :)

@maemae - oh good - then you might have time after all to make that apple pie! (Use yellow delicious apples...)

Wow, thanks for all of the advice!!! This was so helpful. The dinner didn't end up happening yesterday, but hopefully next weekend. I will let you all know how it goes!

We always had bacon and peas with mac and cheese when I was a kid. Honestly, that Martha recipe is so rich and wonderful and filling that I could make a meal of just it (and it costs $30 to make) but last time I had it with frozen fruit salad and a honeybaked ham.

also, def do a salad or simple broccoli like you've mentioned. keep the salad simple (my boy loves his ceasar). or, with him not being very into vegetables - it says a lot that i've won him over on green beans. i get fresh beans, cut the ends off, blanch them in hot water (do no cook through mushy), and then saute them in olive oil or canola oil with salt pepper and garlic powder (i make fresh garlic oil myself - it's an extra step...just rough chop a lot of garlic and let sit in some warm oil for about 15 min or so. remove the garlic and then saute the green beans until just turning brown. fresh garlic would burn and turn bitter if you were to leave it in the pan with the green beans since you are cooking on a med to med-high heat).

i've won my boy over with my cooking - he's even bought a huge new set of cookware for me to use at his little apartment instead of his cheap stuff he's had before!

good luck!

I'm a little late to the party on this one but I'd vote for ham and some sort of dark green veg.

Most important MaeMae--Tell us how it went!

i've always heard people rave about martha's version, but i've never had it myself.
i find that mac n' cheese generally tends to be pretty salty though, which is why i shy away from pairing it with ham. however, i love the above suggestion for using dijon mustard. you could also go for a honey ham and make a sweet glaze (packed brown sugar/ginger ale or brown sugar/pineapple juice/maraschino cherry juice) to offset the saltiness.
definitely make some greens: the bundles of beans tied with bacon sound too marvelous for words-as does roasted broccoli (that's what i grew up eating w/mn'c)
personally, i like taking boneless chicken, dipping it in some egg, then coating it in a combination of homemade italian style breadcrumbs & panko breadcrumbs (for extra crunch) and just frying it up in a little olive oil. then serve it with lots of fresh lemon squeezed on top.
as for dessert, i wouldn't do something super creamy necessarily, since the mac n' cheese is so heavy on dairy already...maybe you could do an iced coffee granita-it's pretty easy, if you have the time to allow it to freeze-there are tons of recipes online to pick from-just google it. but that might be a nice, light, refreshing way to finish off the meal?
go get him, girl!

I love this thread! Let's hope after all these suggestions your guy isn't a teetotaling vegetarian.

I'd go with a mustard glazed ham slice and salad or corn on the cob. For desert--how's about a chocolate brownie with a scoop of icecream. He can take some of the leftover brownies home and think of you when he has a brownie snack attack.

Dietetically speaking, you'd want to serve it as a side with a vegetables and a lean protein as the main. I mention this because if you do win him over, you will likely be cooking many more meals for him and you can use this opportunity to demonstrate how well-nourished he would be with you. Roasted chicken sounds tasty and nutritious, and the asparagus sounds great for the veggie. Or a tomato salad (chopped fresh grape tomatoes, basil and a dash of olive oil) would compliment the mac and cheese.

Let us know how it turns out!

I too forgot to include desert. How about chocolate pudding, not that instant stuff from a box, but a nice dark chocolate pot o' creme. Serve this in a martini glass or some wonderfully interesting goblet. There must be a big spoonful of whipped cream on the top. YUM!