I’ve decided to re-blog some of my archived articles from years past, since I’m coming up to my five year anniversary of being published. This first “From the Archives” feature is from the inaugural Cooking for the Kitchen Illiterate column that I had in the Cheeky Changeling ezine back in 2007!

So, what’s in it for you? My first “From the Archives” post is about my mom’s world famous (or family famous) Mac and Cheese casserole. This is my absolute favourite recipe. The perfect comfort food that reminds me of home every time I make it.

If you share with me your favourite recipe, I’ll randomly draw one name to receive a copy of the Changeling Family Cookbook. So, comment below and let me know what your favourite recipe is!

Mac and Cheese Casserole

2 ½ cups macaroni

2 cups cheddar cheese

Sauce

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dry mustard

2 ½ cups milk

Hookay… I thought about just giving you the recipe and yelling “go atter!” but I guess I should do a little bit more than that. So, for the steps…

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Put the macaroni in boiling water (yeah, duh, right? I’ll get better at this whole step thing, I promise!) and cook according to the package instructions. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and set it aside. (Or you can be special and make this all at the same time, but I’m not that good at multi-tasking in the kitchen).
3. Grate cheese (Yes, I’m a genius. I swear, my report cards were always above average! I was on the honour roll throughout high school!).

Making the Sauce

1. Put the butter in a large sauce pan and melt it over medium heat (you’ll want to make sure there’s enough room later for the milk to go in ~ trust me on this! I had to switch pans once because I didn’t think ahead and that just resulted in more dishes to wash at the end of the night. And a few inventive swear words.).
2. Mix in the flour, salt and dry mustard (It will form a little paste).
3. Take it off the element and whisk in the milk.
4. Put the sauce pan back on the element over medium heat and stir frequently until it starts to thicken (The time for this will vary depending on how hot you have the element. Just for kicks, I like to turn it up to 9, but I don’t recommend that for everyone)

Preparing the Casserole

Once the sauce is bubbling slightly you can remove everything and start setting about making the casserole.

1. Set your three ingredients in front of you and take out a casserole dish. I like my corningware, but you can just use whatever you have in your kitchen.
2. Place about a 1/3 of the macaroni in the dish, follow up with about a 1/3 of the cheese and pour a 1/3 of the sauce over it all.
3. Repeat with a 1/3 of the macaroni, 1/3 cheese and 1/3 sauce.
4. Layer the rest of the macaroni on the top, pour the last of the sauce over it and finish it up with the rest of the cheese. I like having the cheese on the top because it will melt and become nice and crispy.
5. Place the dish in the preheated oven for roughly 20 minutes or until the cheese melts and bubbles on top.
6. When the cheese is all melted and gooey bubbly, you can remove it from the oven, and place it on the table to serve. If you’re anything like my family, you hopefully won’t have many leftovers the next day, although it is fantastic heated up in the microwave later!

So, there you have it. A nice and simple recipe that even I can make. And if a not-so-great chef can perfect a dish like this, you’ll have no problems J

Happy reading, and safe cooking!

Jade