Macaroni & Cheese

There was a full moon hanging low over the mountains tonight. I couldn't get a clear picture of it, but I still wanted to share. Tonight dinner needed to be something fairly easy (a busy day ending with my daughter and I heading over to help at the Food Bank with my sister). I've been on this forever-quest looking for the perfect Mac & Cheese and now that I seem to have found it I need to seriously lighten it up. I'm glad that I have a starting point to work from.

Macaroni? Check. All the way from Italy. Aren't the bubbles pretty?

Key ingredients, yellow mustard (not the dry kind - that's too bland), ground pepper, and Lawry's.

Okay you've already guessed it. It's a roux, with 2 cheeses... (Yes, this is the reason why I've got to lighten the recipe up!)

I love how the light catches in the baking dish--all green and glowy.

This recipe is the result of me running the other direction from the usual "custard" mac and cheese made with eggs. Jumping over tall buildings in a single bound to choose homemade over boxed. What about cottage cheese mac? Not so much either. So, calories? Yes. I need to work on chilling out the fat in this recipe. I'm sure it can be done.

Macaroni & Cheese
4 C cooked macaroni (about 1/2 small bag cooked)
2 T butter
2 T light sour cream
3-4 T flour (unbleached)
1/2-1 C milk

1 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 C cheddar cheese grated
Black pepper (to taste)
1 Pinch Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1-2 T yellow mustard

Cook 1/2 bag (small bag) of macaroni to al dente while preparing the sauce. In a sauce pan melt the butter, crack some pepper over it and brown the butter. Remove the butter from the heat. Add the flour to the butter to make a paste. Put the pan back on low-med heat. Add milk and water (from the pasta) to thin this into a sauce. Add cheddar cheese, cream cheese, mustard (to your taste), sour cream, Lawry's salt and combine. Drain pasta and put back into the pan you cooked it in. Pour sauce over noodles and combine. Pour into a casserole dish and top with grated cheddar. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm from the oven.

Take care,

Suz