the Chef

A Fanciful Macaroni and Cheese Dish
(The recipe that was born because the pantry was bare and the fridge empty, except for a few trinket items...)

Start by boiling a large pot of water and adding whatever pasta noodles you have on hand.
In a smaller pot melt a stick of butter. Add to that roughly 4tbsp flour. Stir around until bubbly and then add enough milk to make it into a sauce texture - not too thick, but not runny. Add to this bits of cheese ~ whatever is on hand ~ (for us this happened to be half of a stick of cream cheese, a nub of Parmesan, a lump of Blarney Castle (left over from a party - not the standard fare), and the last crumbs of Kraft shredded Mexican blend). When that has melted in nicely and has the texture of gloop, dash some garlic powder (or garlic salt if the cheese you use isn't the salty kind), pepper, ground nutmeg, and turmeric for color ~ to taste ~ until well blended.
When the cheese sauce is nicely cheesy, turn off the heat. Drain the noodles and combined them with the cheese stuff in an oven dish. Cover with more shredded cheese ~ of whatever variety you have on hand ~ and bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until cheese is all melty. For a nice crisp top, try putting it under the broiler at this point - but don't close the oven door or leave it in there for too long!

Now, a good Mommy would serve this with steamed veggies or something healthy... but we enjoy ours all by itself or with bread of some kind... yep. Nice and fanciful and one of our favorites!