Shana's Famous Mac & Cheese

If you've ever met me you know I love to cook! If you've known me for a long time, though, you also know it hasn't always been that way. My sister always says, "you didn't know how to cook when I met you". Which in "our time" means when we started living together. She's my older sister; I obviously didn't know how to cook when she actually first met me. ;-) And when I started cooking real dishes (aka not boxed or frozen meals) my best friend started calling me Betty Fucking Crocker! She still calls me that sometimes and we crack up!

A little history about me and food. I was technically raised as an only child because my siblings were grown and out of the house by the time I started elementary school. I fully embraced the only child mentality. I was a spoiled, rotten, brat. There's really no other way to put it. My first example I'll share with you about that is how meals happened at my house. My mom cooked dinner every night but it didn't matter what it was she was cooking, I ate Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Ok, there were a few exceptions to the rule: 1. Kielbasa Cabbage Soup (I didn't eat the soup, though, just the kielbasa which was on the side of my mac & cheese). 2. Spaghetti (it always fascinated me that she added sugar to the sauce, yum!) and 3. Pasta Salad (which we had in the summer and ate it outside on the deck). I rarely ate at my friends houses because there's just no way to explain this level of food insanity. I mean, can you even call it being a picky eater? I took it to a weird level. I figured out the food I was willing to eat and that's what I decided would be dinner. Who's in charge here? If it was dinner time and my mom realized we were out of Kraft mac & cheese, she would go to the store and buy some. You think I'm joking, right? I'm dead serious. I guess if that's what your kid will eat and you don't want them to starve you go with it.

As a teenager my relationship with food changed in a couple ways. One of which I'll go into at a later date, if I feel like it. The other was staying the weekend with my sister and her husband. I loved spending the weekends with them! They had gardens, chickens, apple trees, berries and corn on the cobb. So many fun things! Best of all, was my niece, though. Her and I were close from the day she was born and we always had a blast! She would sneak out of her room at night to cuddle up with me on the couch even though she'd get in trouble for it in the morning! Ok, back to the food thing, though. There was a rule at their house that I had to try everything they cooked. Whatever it was they were having for dinner, I had to have at least a bite of it. It was traumatizing. I mean, no one had ever made me try different foods before, who were these people?! I'm sure my niece endured this same torture but at the time I thought it was aimed specifically at me. I kept going back and suffering through this awful rule until one day I tried something I liked. Caesar salad! I don't even think I had ever eaten lettuce before this! This deliciousness was enough to open my mind (and stomach) to new things and I started to discover that there was more to life than Kraft Macaroni & Cheese! Thanks, sis!

Skip a few years ahead and I was an adult raising a child. Back to Kraft (oh and Kids Cuisine) and the occasional bagged Caesar salad, because you know, single mom life. Then my sister and I became roommates and she started teaching me how to cook. This woman can cook!! She can have a dish at a restaurant and duplicate it. And I'll be honest, her "duplications" are often even better! She doesn't measure or follow recipes. She's just an organic entity in the kitchen; a natural. So I learned from the best! Then I took it to a different level and started finding dishes I was good at. It started with cupcakes. I became famous for my cupcake creations at work and people would put in their flavor requests for their birthdays. I even made some for a baby shower once and Guiness cupcakes for a 21st birthday. Pretty fancy! From cupcakes I expanded into baking in general. Apple cakes, mini donuts, breads, cobblers, etc. I started cooking dinners when I was dating my husband. I didn't see him very often because he's a fisherman. So when I would get to see him I would cook dinner for him and conquered some pretty fantastic dishes if I don't say so myself! One year my niece put together a cookbook of all these recipes I had made for him as a Christmas gift! She did an amazing job and I still get that cookbook out all the time! Eventually the time came for me to make an adult mac & cheese. I tried multiple recipes and fed each version to all my family and friends to get their reaction until the day came when I finally perfected it. Until this day if you had asked me, I would tell you that Kraft is the best macaroni and cheese in the world. Not anymore! This ooey, gooey, cheesy goodness is heavenly. And what's even better? It's very basic and allows for lots of variations. Here's the rundown and then I'll write out the actual recipe below. Grab a box of elbow macaroni noodles. To be honest, I now prefer shells. They hold the cheese way better and you get a burst of cheese sauce in each bite! Butter, the real stuff. Flour in equal measurement to the butter to make your roux. Some freshly ground pepper, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, equal parts half & half and whole milk, a dash of paprika, red pepper flakes, salt and cheese. Like a LOT of cheese. I have tried all kinds of different cheeses but the best combo, hands down, is Cougar Gold and Monterey Jack. Medium cheddar with sharp cheddar on top makes a great one too! But really you can use any cheeses that sound appealing to you. I usually do 2 different kinds, but that is definitely not necessary. I actually don't measure the cheese anymore, I just add enough so the sauce doesn't taste like flour and I get enough cheesy flavor for my taste buds. Want to kick it up a notch? Throw in some green chilies! It's my favorite addition and I always add them if I have some on hand! The good kind, from Costco, not the canned stuff. I've also added crab (mix it in because it dries out if you try to get all fancy and put it on top), pulled pork and ground beef (not my favorite, I say skip it). Bake it for about a half hour and finish it off with about 5 minutes under the broiler then let it sit for 10-15 minutes before serving. We served it with steak and crab on NYE which was amazing but it pairs well with almost anything! It's the best and that's how I became famous for my Mac & Cheese! Let me know what you think if you make it!!

Shana's Famous Mac & Cheese Recipe:

1 box elbow macaroni (or noodle of your choice)

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup flour

Ground pepper

1 TB Worcestershire Sauce

2 cups half & half

2 cups whole milk

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp salt (less if using a salty cheese)

More pepper to taste

4 cups grated cheese (plus 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup green chilies (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 13x9 baking dish. Cook noodles to just al dente - do NOT overcook or they will get mushy after baking. Melt butter over medium heat in a large pan. Add flour and pepper. Whisk to make a rue. Add half the milk, mix well. Add the rest of the milk, Worcestershire, paprika, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Whisk until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of cheese. Mix until melted. Add 1 more cup of cheese, mix until melted. Add 1 more cup of cheese, mix until melted. Add cheese sauce to cooked noodles and mix well. Add half of this mixture to your baking dish and spread evenly. Add the last cup of cheese on top. Add remaining noodle mixture and top with the extra 1/2 cup of cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and then broil for 3-5 minutes until bubbly and golden brown. Let sit for 10-15 minutes if you can wait that long. ;-)