The quest for macaroni and cheese!

Let me be honest with you.

I have only enjoyed eating ONE mac 'n cheese.
The kind prepared by my aunts for Sunday dinner was the end all, be all to macaroni and cheese for me.

I once tried to eat Easy Mac. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say the bathroom floor got painted yellow ;)

Being away from home, and so away from my grandmother's house, I needed a mac n cheese fix.
So, I scoured the internet for recipes, and tried to use what little knowledge I had of what went into the fabled mac 'n cheese.

The first try...was horrible.
The cheese sauce separated 5 seconds after I scooped it out of the pan, it was grainy...It was SAD.

So I returned to the drawing board and discovered the ultimate recipe for creamy, delicious mac 'n cheese.

...yeah, but I'm showing you pictures of the other one because, by the time I made the perfect kind, I was mad and too tired to take pictures XD.


My roux...the heat was a little high here.

Sharp white cheddar and sharp cheddar


Part of the reason for the icky texture was too much of the liquid bubbled out. Be careful not to overfill dishes XD

Looks nice, doesn't it?
DIDN'T TASTE THAT WAY!
DX

Haha



Kiara's PERFECTLY CREAMY Mac 'N Cheese:
2 tbs butter.
1-2 tbs flour (start with one, add more if you need it)
1 1/2 cup of milk
2 oz of cream cheese
3 oz of your desired cheese(s). I used Velveeta with a bit of sharp cheddar. So sue me...it melts like heaven. XD
1 cup of pasta (dry!)
salt to taste

Cook your pasta according to the directions on the package.
When it's almost halfway done, melt the butter in a separate pot, over medium heat.
When the butter's melted, whisk in the flour to make a roux. It's used to thicken the sauce, so if it looks a little thin, add more flour, a little bit at a time.
Once that's done, add in the milk, and stir. You can turn up the heat, so that the mixture boils faster.
Once the sauce starts to boil (it should look fairly thick), add in the cream cheese and stir until it's completely melted.
Then, add whatever other cheese(s) you chose and stir until melted.
Add in the cooked pasta, and stir together.
Salt to taste.
I guess you could pepper it too. I hate pepper, though, haha.

Now, you can either eat it like this (which I do), or stick it in a casserole dish, top it with more cheese (or breadcrumbs, but I think that's gross XD ) and bake it in the oven...350-400 should do it, until the top layer of cheese is bubbly and has little happy dark spots. XD

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My current favorite breakfast.

As of late, I've been staying up until 6 or 7 AM, and then passing out. Since I generally only eat when my dad brings/makes dinner when he gets home from work, I'm STARVING. But of course, I'm also dead tired. So I've taken to making something incredibly simple, but incredibly tasty.

Orzo.

Oh my, how I love orzo.


This is such a simple recipe.









Kiara's Gosh Darn Good (lol) Orzo:
1/2 cup of orzo
2 garlic cloves
1 shallot
1 tsp salt


Set a small pot of water on the stove to boil, with the salt.
Smash the garlic cloves (take your chef's knife, place it flat against the garlic and give it a good whack with your hand), and cut the shallot in half . (I suppose I should mention to peel the skin and all off of both, eh? :P ).
Plop those in the pot.
When the water comes to a boil, add the orzo.
Cook for 10 minutes.
Strain and pick out (or don't pick out, it's all a matter of personal taste) the pieces of shallot and garlic.

Oh so simple and oh so good.

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