Home made Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese is a classic American favorite. From the elbow macaroni to the cheese sauce, it's like a big ole hug from your Mom or Grandma. I'm going to show you my recipe on this classic dish that will leave you licking your spoon and wanting seconds! I never had homemade macaroni and cheese until I was an adult and then I was hooked! That's what happens when you have a mother who is German (as in came from Germany) and a Grandmother who hates dairy products (no joke my Grammy hated dairy products). Me on the other hand loved all things dairy even though I've very lactose intolerant. Obviously I've got a handle on my lactose intolerance now and cheese is my BFF!

You're going to see my break this down and what once seemed like it would take hours to make is truly a simple come home and fix it kind of dish.

Now for your shopping list...

*1lb box of elbow macaroni (I use Barilla)

*1 pkg of pre cooked bacon (I like the precooked kind makes for a mess free process in cooking- trust me on this).

*3 shallots chopped fine

*1 teaspoon dry mustard 

*1 teaspoon thyme

*1 teaspoon black pepper

Now for the cheese and there's quite a bit of it!

*1-8 ounce pkg of shredded cheese such as cheddar or even mexi-blend (I've used both in the past and as long as the base cheese in cheddar it makes little difference). Now you can buy a block of cheese and grate it yourself but why? I like to save myself time in the kitchen and just buy the packaged shredded cheese.

*2 ounces of Fontina Cheese. Just dice this up no shredding needed

*1 cup of roughly grated Parmesan cheese

*3½ cups of milk (I use 2%)

*¼ cup of flour

*4 Tablespoons butter (I use salt free butter in all of my recipes) 

My brands of choice- Barilla pasta is my go to pasta brand! Coleman's Mustard and Spice Island Thyme. Cook pasta in a pot of simmering water for 7  to 8 minutes- the "Al Dente" time on the box, mushy pasta is yucky firm pasta is GOOD.

I use 2% milk  lactose free milk because it's what "I" drink at home but you can use regular milk and even whole milk it that's what you have at home. I can't guarantee how this will taste with anything below 2%. Now here's a trick...take that refrigerator cold milk and heat it up in the mircowave for a couple of minutes. It'll make the thickening process go so much faster and there's the added benefit of NO LUMPS! Adding cold milk into your pot will only prolong the stirring process. So heat up your milk!

Shallots- I chop mine up fine and saute them in a little butter until golden. I also take that package of ore-cooked bacon and cut it all up small with a pair of cooking shears. Don't ahve that tool? Use a pair of scissors and cut up your bacon. Toss it in the pan with the shallots to warm it through and set aside in a bowl.

Melt 4 Tablespoons of butter and the ¼ cup of flour. Stir and stir and stir some more not letting it burn. Once kind of golden looking and bubbling like the picture (takes about 3 to 4 minutes) slowly add in your warm milk.

Here's what it looks like after you add the warm milk. Now stir! For as long as it takes!

See, this is me stirring. Okay so I had to grab the camera and snap a picture but I was stirring! Stir until it thickens! Trust me it will go quicker if you heated up your milk! You will be able to notice the difference in the consistency. Do you see the plastic bowl in the previous picture? That's all of my cheese! Now slowly add that in...

Stir in that cheese until it melts!

Here I've added the sauteed shallots and the chopped up bacon.

Here I've added in the spices. I know that I did this a little backwards. You can certainly add in the spices before you add the cheese but there's a method to my madness. Spices are heavier and they tend to sink to the bottom of any liquid. Having the sauce now seriously thickened by the cheese tends to let the other ingredients like the shallots and bacon along with the spices to  be suspended in the sauce, so one bite tastes lile all the others.

Add in those al dente cooked elbow macaronis (you should have used the entire box because that's what the recipe calls for) and serve this in lovely little bowls! Of course there's always MORE you can do to this recipe.  Say you're having a dinner party and what to fancy this up a bit- put it in a 9x13 baking dish, put some bread crumbs on top (I use panko bread crumbs because of the flakiness factor not to mention it's pretty and yummy). Bake at 375º until golden brown- maybe 15 to 20 minutes.