Mommy's Macaroni and Cheese

If you ever ask my boys what their favorite thing is that I make for dinner, most likely they will answer "Mommy's macaroni and cheese". Why "Mommy's"? Well, that is to make the difference between mac and cheese from a box and mac and cheese home made by Mommy. Basically it's a cheese sauce with a different shaped noodle. We like to use the penne noodles because the sauce gets into the tubes and then when you bite into it, the cheese sauce squishes out into your mouth.

Click here for printable recipe. 

The Ingredients:
1/4 c butter
1/4 c flour
salt to taste
3 c milk (or more to desired thickness)
16 oz shredded cheddar cheese
package noodles of choice

(These are the amounts to serve a family of 5, and leaves leftovers. If you need more or less, just make sure that you have equal parts flour and butter and add or decrease the amount of milk as needed)

The Directions:

First thing to do is get your pot of water on the stove to get ready for the pasta. Turn on high so it reaches a boil for your pasta.

For Cheese sauce:
This is basically how you make any kind of white sauce. Your white sauce can turn into an Alfredo or Bechamel (cheese) sauce or even the beginnings of a great crab dip. First take equal parts butter and flour. Melt the butter in a non stick skillet.
Sprinkle the flour onto the melted butter. Let it cook together a little bit so as to get some of the flour taste out.Whisk the butter and flour together. I personally like these nonstick whisks because I know that I'm not going to scrape the bottom of my pan. When you have a bubbly mass, then add one cup of the milk. Turn up the heat to almost high. Whisk and whisk until you get a paste. (it reminds me of the white paste that smells like mint)Add another cup of milk and keep whisking. Make sure you try to get out the lumps.
Add more milk until you get the desired thickness of the sauce. For this cheese sauce you'll want it a little more runny because the cheese will help thicken it more.Add about half the shredded cheese and whisk until it's melted and smooth.Add more cheese and keep stirring until it's all melted in.Voilà...cheese sauce. This is great over potatoes, broccoli, or nachos. But today we're adding pasta. Add your cooked pasta and stir it in. Serve quickly.I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does. If you have leftovers, refer to Alton Brown's recipe for deep fried mac and cheese. It will only work with homemade mac & cheese, not the box stuff. Trust me, try it. Deep fried mac and cheese tastes as good as it sounds!
Enjoy!