Meal Idea: Homemade Mac N Cheese

I LOVE macaroni and cheese. Well, I love pretty much anything with cheese. It's heaven in my mouth.

So you can imagine my horror when I dared to look at the nutrition info and ingredients of a box of mac n cheese from the store one day. YIKES. I knew I loved mac n cheese too much to give it up... and yet I wanted to eat something healthier. Even the organic boxes didn't seem healthy enough.

So one day, I decided to make my own!

It's actually not that difficult. I followed a basic cheese sauce recipe and added it the the noodles. I start boiling the water for the pasta (medium-high, covered) before I begin the cheese sauce. I prefer using mini shells, but all sorts of noodles work just fine!

The following amounts are enough for about 12 oz of pasta.

2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour (basically, just keep equal portions of each if you increase or decrease the amount you make)
1 cup milk

1 cup cheese (I find sharp cheddar is the most flavorful without having to add salt. It's also fun to add different kinds of cheeses. Mix it up!)

First melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Then mix in the flour until it's thoroughly combined. Gradually add the milk, about 1/4 cup at a time. Once all

the milk is in, stir continually until the mixture boils.

Once the water for the pasta has boiled, take a quick break from stirring (or wrangle a helper!) and add the pasta.

When it just starts to boil, remove from the heat and stir in the cheese! (a note: you can add more cheese if you like, it just increases the thickness. It does NOT increase the flavor to add more cheese.)

If your pasta is ready, go ahead and drain/strain it. Then add it to the cheese sauce. YUM!

My favorite pairing of side dishes with mac n cheese is broccoli and sausage. I like smoked kielbasa, although most recently we tried a new apple-flavored natural sausage that was DELICIOUS. This meal is sure to be a hit with

kids--it was my favorite growing up! :)