Macaroni and Cheese

Debbie's Mac and Cheese

Yesterday was a wonderful day...if you read my previous post, you'll see that I was just on the verge of making macaroni and cheese. On the verge, but the day was just not long enough to get all the pictures downloaded and posted....so that brings us to today...and...
Homemade macaroni and cheese.
I don't make it often enough.

I have noticed, as you might have, that everyone is making it lately. You can search the blogs and find it all over the place, which intrigues me. The fact that bloggers from all over the country are thinking the same thing......autumn comfort food.
I'm sure there are a lot of great recipes out there, and I looked thru about....3, to be truthful. I found Noe's/Nancy's and I got stuck on it. I couldn't look any further!
I have always liked my recipe, but when I came across this blog post at
http://noe847.blogspot.com/2008/11/mac-n-cheese-for-masses.html

I thought, oh my gosh, this is Nancy's "signature" recipe. I want a signature recipe too! I can steal it and make it mine. But of course, I had to fess up and tell you that it was her's. I took about 95% of her recipe and added only a couple of things from my old one. I like my crunchy old fashioned topping, so I couldn't give that up, but that's about as far as the changes go.

Here it is, in all it's glory....and YES, I can see why Nancy from "The Dog Eats the Crumbs" gets requests for this all the time.

Macaroni and Cheese

1 lb. pasta (elbow macaroni, or sea shell) cooked approximately 10 minutes.
4 T. corn starch
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
dash nutmeg
dash cayenne pepper
dash paprika
5 cups milk ( 1 can evaporated milk, with 2% to make 5 cups)
4 T. butter
2 eggs
16 oz (4 cups) shredded cheeses (gruyere, sharp white cheddar, mild cheddar, jack, etc.)
1 oz grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese
saltine crackers
dab of butter

1. In large saucepan, combine dry ingredients.
2. Stir in milk and whisk until smooth.
3. Add butter.
4. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly to avoid scorching.
5. Boil sauce 1 minute, then remove from heat.
6. Reserve 1/2 cup cheese for topping and stir in remaining cheese into sauce until melted. Add beaten eggs.
7. Add pasta to cheese sauce and turn into a greased 3-quart casserole.
8. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and crushed saltine crackers and extra parmesan.
9. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly and crusty on top.

You can use a combination of any of the cheeses

All ready to go in the oven

Just out and piping hot

Autumn comfort food

mmmm.....mmmmm.......good. "My" siginature recipe!