A bowl of cheesy goodness

Is there anyone who doesn't love a good bowl of homemade mac and cheese? If you don't, I'm worried about you. This is definitely one of my favorite comfort foods, particularly if it's my mom's recipe.

If you know me at all, you know that I think my mom is the greatest cook/recipe creator in the world. If you've ever had her food, you know that I'm right. She's basically amazing and so is her macaroni and cheese. So, in the interest of bettering humankind and possibly bringing about world peace, I'm going to share this recipe. It's easy and fast, and you probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen already. Whenever I go grocery shopping, I make sure to grab some macaroni noodles so I can make this as soon as I have the craving.

You can make it with any kind of cheese you desire. I'm a strictly cheddar kind of girl, but I have made it with a combination of colby jack and pepper jack, which is pretty tasty if you want something different. A little Gruyere is also a great choice if you're not a poor college student like me. Basically, it's amazing no matter what. So, cook, bake, and enjoy!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:
1 lb box pasta
3 cups water and 1 boullion cube (or 1 3/4 cups chicken stock and 1 1/4 cups water)
½ cup milk
4 Tbs flour (not real Tbs, but the big spoon that you eat soup with – not too rounded) - This is SO important. If you use real Tbs, the cheese sauce won't get thick enough
4 Tbs softened (nearly melted) butter
Salt, pepper to taste
1 to 1 ½ cups cheese

Cook and drain pasta.
Bring water to boil with boullion cube (or bring stock to boil).
Mash flour and softened butter together.

 It should look a bit like this.
If it isn't this thick, add more flour.









Add butter/flour to water and whisk. Bring back to boil, whisking continuously for a minute.
Add milk. Let milk heat up but not boil. 
Turn off burner, remove from heat, add cheese and stir until melted. Add salt as needed and other seasonings (My mom puts a pinch of nutmeg, I personally like parsley).

Mix with pasta and put in baking dish.

Sprinkle on top in order (use any or all of these--just enough to lightly cover casserole):

Parmesan cheese
Parsley flakes
Shredded cheese

It even looks amazing before you bake it!







Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so…until hot and bubbly.


Look at this! Luckily, I made some the other day so I still have leftovers. I think I'll go have some now.