So I asked my readers on Facebook if they would rather me try the "World's Best Macaroni and Cheese or Chocolate Chip Cookie?" I was secretly hoping for the cookie because I have a major sweet tooth, but instead these crazy people chose Macaroni and Cheese! Just kidding. I love my readers (no matter how insane they are). So, I had pinned two pins with the title BEST Macaroni and Cheese in them and decided which one to try. I am going to be completely honest, I chose the easy one from blogs.baggle.com. The one with one kind of cheese and the one I could pronounce. The other one looked divine but I would have to go to the specialty cheese part of the grocery store and find cheese I couldn't pronounce. I'm simple. I'm a mom. I'm busy...get over it and go find your own Gruyere Cheese or whatever it's called!
Ingredients:
1 (8-ounce) package elbow macaroni, cooked and drained *This is the only change I made. I used 16 oz. or a whole box*
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
Directions:
Let me take a minute to tell you how mad I get when people don't explain processes of things in order. The directions for this dish were mostly great except when I got to the part of, add your cooked pasta. I paused and under a few harsh words spoken silently in my head, I muttered, "They never told me to cook the pasta." Is that common sense? I don't think so. But then again I thought part of the Star Spangled Banner was "donzerly light" (dawn's early light)...and I won't tell you at what age I realized it but my 6th grade teacher thought I was sure funny!
So, let me first start by saying:
1. Cook Your Pasta!!!
2. Then follow the rest of the directions following the link above. The rest is easy to understand and explained well!
Verdict:
This is my first time making Homemade Macaroni and Cheese. I'm usually a box kind-of-gal. However, it really wasn't that hard. Had I cooked the noodles before I'd started, it would have been much easier! The kids verdict was that they didn't like it and that the box kind was better. My husband and I both agreed it needed MORE cheese. I had looked at the comments for the recipe and most of them said it was way too cheesy even when they used 16 oz. of noodles. That they only used 5 cups of cheese because they couldn't imagine more. Well...I think next time I will use 8 oz. of noodles and perhaps the same amount of cheese. Or if I do use 16 oz., I would at least use 8 cups of cheese. Holy Cheese Batman, but I don't want a dry noodle at all! I want them swimming in a river of cheese. Isn't that the point...gooey, cheesy, yumminess?!
So, would I dub this the BEST Macaroni and Cheese...NO! But I'm not going to make that fancy recipe with the gruyere cheese or however you say and spell it! So, this will go in my recipe file and I'll put it out from time to time. Now, how about we research those cookies!
Here are pictures of the process:
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| Cooking the Garlic |
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| Halfway Through Making the Cheese Sauce |
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| Out of the Oven |
