Mac & cheese
Before I write about the riveting topic of macaroni & cheese, I feel like I should say something about the kids' first few days of school:
1. Jacob is, in his words "killing it in 10th grade." He was referring, of course, to his grades. He showed me his grades on Progress Book yesterday and has 100% in all of his classes. Keep up the good work, Bub! I've no doubt that the assignments are going to get harder than "bring in a binder" but for now the simple assignments are doing wonders for his GPA!
2. Alyssa caught a NASTY cold in school. Ah, the days of wondering if I should take in sore throat sufferers to the doctor for a strep test, wondering which OTC medication will help coughing spells, remembering to always have tissues at home and on hand when the nose running child has to leave the house are baaaaaaaaaaack.
3. Nothing extraordinary has befallen Abby, negative or positive. She has lunch period with two of her good friends. I think that's the highlight for her :) (at least that she's sharing with me :)).
All three kids- lamenting the beginning of the school year and having the ENTIRE school year ahead of them to dread.
Earlier in the week, I made macaroni & cheese as part of dinner. When Abby got up from the table to take her plate to the sink, she said to me, "You need to write down this recipe before you die." That brought an unexpected quiver to my heart- not the dying part but the part about Abby liking something that I made so much that she wants to make sure the recipe gets written down.
The recipe is not written down at all, currently, anyway. The recipe is from a website so every time that I make it, I look it up online. I almost have it memorized but I like to refer to it. I think I'll print off the recipe from the website so I/ Abby will have a hard copy of it. I figured the blog would also be a good way for me to share this recipe and all that I have to say about it.
Growing up, I never had homemade macaroni and cheese. The reason was simple. My mom couldn't stand milk/ cheese/ every other dairy product. I have a strong suspicion that she was either lactose intolerant or had a dairy allergy. She never had blood work done as a child or an adult to identify a reaction to dairy but I would be surprised if she didn't have a physiological reaction to dairy. The result of my mom not liking milk/ cheese/ every dairy product was that my exposure to dairy was limited as a child. My mom bought cheese and milk for my siblings and me so we could get calcium but she didn't make many dishes where cheese, sour cream, or milk were main components. Our refrigerator was bereft of yogurt, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. I didn't try many of these dairy products until I was an adult.
Anyway, the reason I add that about my mom was that I didn't have homemade mac & cheese until I was an adult. I don't remember the first time I had it but it must have made a great impression on me because I tried a number of recipes until I found a recipe that I liked. The kids (especially Abby and Jacob) really like the mac and cheese recipe that I've declared "my mac & cheese recipe."
I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com (LOVE that site!). Here is the link for it:
Our favorite mac & cheese recipe
Here are written out instructions from the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 (12 ounce) package macaroni
1 egg
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Jacob is, in his words "killing it in 10th grade." He was referring, of course, to his grades. He showed me his grades on Progress Book yesterday and has 100% in all of his classes. Keep up the good work, Bub! I've no doubt that the assignments are going to get harder than "bring in a binder" but for now the simple assignments are doing wonders for his GPA!
2. Alyssa caught a NASTY cold in school. Ah, the days of wondering if I should take in sore throat sufferers to the doctor for a strep test, wondering which OTC medication will help coughing spells, remembering to always have tissues at home and on hand when the nose running child has to leave the house are baaaaaaaaaaack.
3. Nothing extraordinary has befallen Abby, negative or positive. She has lunch period with two of her good friends. I think that's the highlight for her :) (at least that she's sharing with me :)).
All three kids- lamenting the beginning of the school year and having the ENTIRE school year ahead of them to dread.
Earlier in the week, I made macaroni & cheese as part of dinner. When Abby got up from the table to take her plate to the sink, she said to me, "You need to write down this recipe before you die." That brought an unexpected quiver to my heart- not the dying part but the part about Abby liking something that I made so much that she wants to make sure the recipe gets written down.
The recipe is not written down at all, currently, anyway. The recipe is from a website so every time that I make it, I look it up online. I almost have it memorized but I like to refer to it. I think I'll print off the recipe from the website so I/ Abby will have a hard copy of it. I figured the blog would also be a good way for me to share this recipe and all that I have to say about it.
Growing up, I never had homemade macaroni and cheese. The reason was simple. My mom couldn't stand milk/ cheese/ every other dairy product. I have a strong suspicion that she was either lactose intolerant or had a dairy allergy. She never had blood work done as a child or an adult to identify a reaction to dairy but I would be surprised if she didn't have a physiological reaction to dairy. The result of my mom not liking milk/ cheese/ every dairy product was that my exposure to dairy was limited as a child. My mom bought cheese and milk for my siblings and me so we could get calcium but she didn't make many dishes where cheese, sour cream, or milk were main components. Our refrigerator was bereft of yogurt, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. I didn't try many of these dairy products until I was an adult.
Anyway, the reason I add that about my mom was that I didn't have homemade mac & cheese until I was an adult. I don't remember the first time I had it but it must have made a great impression on me because I tried a number of recipes until I found a recipe that I liked. The kids (especially Abby and Jacob) really like the mac and cheese recipe that I've declared "my mac & cheese recipe."
I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com (LOVE that site!). Here is the link for it:
Our favorite mac & cheese recipe
Here are written out instructions from the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 (12 ounce) package macaroni
1 egg
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish.
- In a large pot of salted water, lightly boil the macaroni for about 5 minutes until half-cooked.
- Whisk the egg and milk together in a large cup. Add butter and cheese to the egg and milk. Stir well.
- Place the lightly cooked macaroni in the prepared baking dish. Pour the egg and cheese liquid over the macaroni, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stir well. Press the mixture evenly around the baking dish.
- Bake uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is brown
One of the great things about allrecipes.com is that people who try the recipe can make comments on it- they can say what they liked about it, didn't like about, how they changed or tweaked it, etc. I usually read at least some of the comments that people who've tried it make. Based on comments and my own trial and error, I thought I'd add my own thoughts to this recipe and how I make it for us:
* I prefer using larger pasta like mostaccioli or penne rather than elbow macaroni noodles. In fact, I've never made this mac & cheese with elbow noodles.
* I use Colby jack cheese, not cheddar, because it's my kids' favorite kind of cheese to snack on so I always have it on hand. While using a different cheese would impact the flavor, I'm sure it would still be good.
* I read on a food blog to never use packaged shredded cheese when making mac & cheese because shredded cheese has a coating on it to make it not stick together in the package but that coating makes the cheese not melt as good as non shredded cheese when it's in the oven. So, I always use blocks of cheese and grate the cheese to break it down.
* Some people commented that everything got dried out in the oven so they encouraged covering the dish in the oven for at least part of the baking time. So, I cover the casserole dish that I make this in for the first 20 minutes of baking and then it take the cover off after 20 minutes.
* I add more salt and pepper after this comes after the oven. To my portion, I add a few red pepper flakes. I love the hot kick that red pepper gives the mac & cheese.
Of the kids, Alyssa likes this dish the least of the kids. She's not crazy about melted cheese (except for in pizza that she likes). However, when I made this on Tuesday, she loved it and asked for seconds.
Donnie doesn't eat mac & cheese anymore. He recently stopped eating dairy products altogether, not because he has an allergy to dairy but more on the advice of his doctor. His doctor is in the anti- dairy camp and Donnie is on board because he noticed that when he stopped eating dairy, he felt better than when he ate dairy. I know there are numerous health care professionals and lay people who attest to the benefits of not consuming dairy. I joke that when the United Dairy Association comes out with a statement that dairy is unhealthy (i.e. NEVER), I'll stop eating dairy. Until then, I'm making up for lost dairy consumption as a child in the form of eating mac & cheese as an adult :).
I only have picture of this dish and I'm afraid it's not a good one. Its goodness lies not in its appearance but in its taste, trust me!!
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