Mac and Cheese that a Mother Could Love!

Mac and Cheese does not sound like a complicated meal, and yet I continue to see cooking shows on Food Network show how it is made.  I have always used the two step method in the past... open the Kraft package, turn on microwave... presto... mac and cheese!  Well this recipe had me making my own cheese sauce.  It has a pretty simple list of ingredients as you can see below.

Since mac and cheese is my daughter's favorite meal, she got involved in the kitchen with me.  She was my photographer for this meal.  The prep is simple, cook noodles in boiling water.

Making the sauce is more involved.  It requires constant whisking for about 10 minutes while it is cooking on the stove.  Different ingredients are added along the way and having the extra help that my daughter provided on this meal was key!  Here I am whisking away for the picture.

Since I had to keep whisking the entire time, and I had not read the recipe thoroughly before had (yes Tina, I will next time!), I had to move everything over next to me by the stove.  I also had to measure up and add one handed from time to time because the attention span of a 9 year old girl is not the greatest.

Once I had the sauce prepped, I got to add the cheese sauce to the noodles!  Libby was very interested in this part because eating comes soon after this part!

You can serve it immediately after adding the sauce, but I wanted to bake it in... so we added it to a baking dish, added a little more cheese to the top, and sprinkled on some paprika for color.  Twenty minutes later we had pipping hot home made macaroni and cheese for the eating!  I can tell you that one little girl at my house (and one adult girl) were very pleased with this dish.  We actually argued over who got to have it first since so many of us were salivating to try it!

Next up are Maple Scones...looking forward to "eating" with you again soon!

Mark