Macaroni and Cheese for Cousins

Alia, our 7 year old, loves mac and cheese.
She found this recipe in a kids cookbook and wanted to try it.

She loved it so much she wrote out the recipe and took it to school for show and tell.
Our 8 year old, Jono, also loved it. He reckons it is the best macaroni and cheese EVER.



I loved her little write up so posted it on facebook.
Her cousins in the States, Aidan and Jack, liked the look of it too ...



This photo appeared on my sister, Ellie's facebook a few days later !

LOVE IT !!!!

Homemade Mac and Cheese - Unprocessed

This one is the baked one ... won't do that the same way again. It dried it out too much.

We love the homemade mac and cheese that I grew up on. The only problem turning it into an unprocessed meal was the cream of mushroom soup ! After talking to my Mom ... I decided to try making a white sauce with itty bitty mushrooms in it, to replace the c.o.m.soup ... IT WORKED !! It's a tiny bit more effort than throwing in a can of cream of mushrooms soup but it's unprocessed !! Hooray !!

So ... here's what I did.

Chop up a red onion, caramelize in olive oil. This takes a while ... 20 ? 30 minutes. Add 3 finely diced mushrooms. Add 6 TBLS butter. Melt. Slowly add 6 TBLS whole wheat flour. Mix. Very slowly add 3 cups of milk. Mix til desired consistency. Add salt and pepper. Mix. Add cheese. I probably did 1.5 cups cheddar and .5 cup mozarella. Too much. Will change amounts next time. Mix cheese in and keep on heat til melted. Add cooked (whole wheat) pasta to sauce. Stir. Done.

This one is not baked ... it was much better but too cheesy.

Rory was saying we should
try adding some spices ... and then I found
THIS recipe ...
which we will try next time,
and also add cardamon (Rory's suggestion).
Will let you know how that turns out !

Any other suggestions are very welcome !!! This is a work in progress !!

Family Favorite ... Macaroni and Cheese !

A favorite from my childhood ... and still a favorite now !
~~
I chose this photo to show you the yummy crispy bits on the sides !
They're the best bits !
Fights happen to get these bits ...
(ok, not really, but they would be worth a fight !!)

What You'll Need:
Pasta of some description. We like shells. Tonight we used spirals. One bag.
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Milk, enough to fill the soup can
Cheese, grated or you can grate it yourself

Cook the pasta according to package instruction.
Oh, and get that oven fired up. 350 F - 180 C

Have your assistant pour the can of soup into a bowl.

Then fill the can with milk and have her pour that into the bowl as well.

If you haven't bought the cheese pre-grated, your assistant can take care of that for you.
Make sure she eats the bits that fall onto the counter as she grates.

Dump the cheese into the bowl of soup and milk.
Not you, of course, your assistant !

Mix.

And mix some more.
Bring in second assistant if necessary.

Have older assistant put bowl into microwave and turn on for 5 or so minutes.
Just to melt the cheese a bit.

In the meantime, the original assistant can be putting the drained pasta into a casserole dish.

Once the soup, milk, cheese mixture makes it out of the microwave, pour on top of pasta.

It's better if you do this. Scalded assistants are grumpy assistants.

Cover and put into oven.
I didn't take a photo to show you how but you're gonna want to close the oven door !

Bake 1 hour.

I like mine sprinkled with grated rock salt.
Rory adds Tabasco.
The kids, even with the tineey weeney mushroom bits from the soup, love this !
I hear comments like:
"This is really quite good, Mommy !"

Homemade Mac-N-Cheese

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

1 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to directions on package.

Melt butter in large saucepan. Blend in flour. Wisk in milk.

Cook at medium heat until thick.

Add salt and pepper and 2 cups cheese.

Stir to melt.

Pour in cooked pasta. Mix well and serve.

You can make this fairly healthy by using lowfat milk, and lowfat cheese.

Use whole wheat past for an even healthier dish!