Monday, December 8, 2008

Macaroni & Cheese

I finally found a good baked macaroni and cheese that is still very creamy. You know how some baked macaroni recipes get all clumpy and weird, this is not like that! I'm sure it is not good for you to eat very often due to the amount of cheese, but for an occasional thing, I think its ok!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

8 Tbsp butter
6 slices bread (crust off and torn into 1/4" pieces)
5 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmet
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 lb grated sharp/medium cheddar
1/2 lb grated Gouda

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray. Place bread in a medium bowl and put 2 tbsp melted butter in and toss (you could also replace this step with breadcrumbs). Set bread aside. Heat milk in a saucepan. Melt 6 tbsp butter in another saucepan over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour and whisk for 1 minute. Slowly add heated milk whisking with each addition until all added and thickened. Remove from heat and add in salt, nutmeg, pepper, cayenne (I didn't measure nutmeg, pepper, or cayenne and probably put less than the recommended amount and it wasn't spicey at all), 3/4 of cheddar cheese and gouda, reserving the rest. Stir until all cheese is melted. Cook macaroni for 2-3 minutes less than called for, drain well and stir into cheese mixture. Then place into casserole dish and cover with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake about 30 minutes until brown on top.

Another blog?

I know, I can't even seen to keep up with the one I have! I want a place to keep recipes and perhaps I will open this up to other family member also to share recipes, we'll see. That may be complicated with the two sides of the family that may want to be involved. I also want to go through my grandmother's recipes and Luke's grandmother's recipes and put them out there on the web so we can all have them all. We will see how that goes!