Cooking with Mama: Mac N Cheese

I'm at my parents house, and tonight's dinner was awesome, if I - the sous chef and pâtissier - do say so myself.

So in a quick-as-lighting update, here's a recipe we pulled out of the air.

Well, Mom looked around and gave me a ratio for cheese to macaroni. Then she told me what kinds of cheeses she had. Then she told me to use 5 cups of macaroni. Then she told me to mop the floors, polish the silver and dust the chandaliers.

Ok, ok. Not really on the mopping, polishing and dusting. And she boiled the macaroni for me, and preheated the oven. And gave me beer. And cooked the rest of dinner. And not only bought me Diet Mt Dew, but also had it chilled beside the beer.

Hmm..Maybe I should go get the dust rag.





Nothing-Fancy But Oh-So-Yummy Macaroni & Cheese

5 cups macaroni, uncooked
2 tbsp margerine
About 4 1/2 cups shredded cheeses (see notes); divided
About 1/4-1/2 cup milk
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp paprika

Call your mom, and have her boil your macaroni. Or boil it yourself.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Spray a 4 quart casserole with non-stick spray.

Drain macarni.

Stir in margerine and 1/4 cup milk until margerine is melted.

Stir in 2 cups of shredded cheese thoroughly. It'll probably melt immediately.
Stir in 2 more cups of cheese and pour in casserole.

Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Put into oven, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. If you like the browned-top look, turn on your broiler for the last 5 minutes.

Notes:
We had several different kinds of cheese to choose from. For the first two cups, I used mozzarella, because I knew it would melt, and it melts pretty smoothly. For the second two cups, I chose cheddar to give it some bite. My mom also had a little chipotle cheddar - a very little, around 1/4 cup - that I mixed in with the cheddar. The extra 1/2 cup on top was all cheddar.