Macaroni and Cheese

 

This recipe is a must for anyone with kids.  We don't have it often, since we don't eat pasta often, but it is a special treat that the boys love.  (We don't eat pasta often because it does not have much nutritional value and is a processed food.) 

 

The boys are the ones who make it now.  So much better to eat homemade macaroni and cheese, then packaged, even the organic packaged varieties.  We use organic pasta that I buy at Costco.  Make sure you use a pasta that does not contain 'enriched' flour.  This one has one ingredient on the list - organic durum wheat semolina.  You can use whole wheat pasta or a gluten-free pasta too, just get a good quality one.  We find the whole wheat pastas to be grainy; this one from Costco tastes good and is reasonably priced.



Ingredients:

 

1 bag pasta noodles (ours is 17.6 ounce size)

1 cup milk, try to find non-homogenized (we use our raw milk)

1/4 stick unsalted organic butter (we use our homemade butter)

1 1/2 Tbl unenriched flour

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (shred it yourself)

Sea salt and pepper, to taste (we don't add either)

 

Place butter in a saucepan (don't use a pot with a nonstick coating).  We use my medium-sized glass pot and heat on the lowest setting.  As it starts to melt, add the flour and stir.  Next add the milk, stirring continuously.  After all is melted and warmed, add shredded cheese and raise the heat to medium, but be sure to keep stirring continuously or it will burn.  While still stirring, bring to a boil and it will begin to thicken.  At this point, turn off heat and stir occasionally until pasta noodles are ready.

 

In a separate large pot (again don't use nonstick), begin water boiling for the pasta.  We start the water heating in my large glass soup pot just before starting the cheese sauce.  When it comes to a boil, add the pasta noodles and stir.  Stir a few more time at the beginning to prevent noodles from sticking to the pot.  Stir occasionally, and boil gently until cooked (taste test) which is about 10 - 12 minutes for this pasta. 

 

Drain the pasta and place back in large pot.  Pour the cheese sauce over and mix thoroughly.  Eat immediately.  (We reheat leftovers in a covered glass pan in the oven.)