{"id":995,"date":"2014-05-07T08:18:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T15:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/?p=995"},"modified":"2014-05-07T00:19:19","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T07:19:19","slug":"mac-and-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/?p=995","title":{"rendered":"Mac and Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another day and another comfort food.   Macaroni and Cheese is the ultimate in comfort foods.   Pasta and creamy cheese sauce is always a winner, especially if you are a 10 year old girl who lives in my household.   I hear loud cheers every time I make Mac and Cheese. <\/p>\n

\"Mac<\/a><\/p>\n

My five year was not so sure about Mac and Cheese.   Normally this is the age where they live on this type of food but he’s a bit picky at the moment.    It had been a few months since I last made this for dinner, but it turns out that he had Mac and Cheese at a friends house for lunch recently.   He looked at it and declared “It’s not yellow.   I don’t like it.”    Groan.   Why do children do this?   I have to reassure myself that my older two went through this stage too, and now they eat nearly everything.   We had to go through the whole process of “You’re a big kid now that you are 5!   Big kids are brave and always try a bite”.    He finally ate it and asked “Mum, aren’t you proud of me for eating my dinner?”.    It would be cute if it didn’t happen so often.<\/p>\n

\"Mac<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a reason why my Mac and Cheese is not yellow. I love white cheddar cheese. To be honest, I think it’s mainly due to the fact that I associate cheese with this color. I remember making a lasagna a few days after arriving in America, and calling my mother saying “the cheese is nuclear orange!”. <\/p>\n

\"Mac<\/a><\/p>\n

I had never seen yellow cheddar, and suddenly all my cheese dishes were bright yellow instead of a creamy white color. I’ve become used to yellow cheese, but a few years ago I noticed cheesemakers coming out with cheese without annatto. It didn’t take me long to go back to the white cheddar. <\/p>\n

\"Mac<\/a><\/p>\n

The yellow color on top of this mac and cheese is not from the cheese, but the paprika! Now there is a spice that I adore. Paprika and cheese make a great pair – I often use it on any dish that has a melted cheese top. Have you tried fries with paprika sprinkled on them? There’s another great combination. <\/p>\n

\"Mac<\/a><\/p>\n

Round out this meal with a salad and a beer (for the adults, of course!) and it’s a perfect for warmer weather. It’s probably not obvious from my photos, but this whole meal is gluten free. I have used brown rice pasta and the beer is Omission<\/a>. My love swears this is the best gluten free beer ever.<\/p>\n

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Macaroni and Cheese<\/div>\t
2014-05-06 23:47:36<\/div>\t
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Save Recipe<\/a><\/div>\t\t
Print<\/div>\t<\/div>\t
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Ingredients<\/div>\t\t\t
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  1. 2 cups dry elbow macaroni<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  2. 2 tablespoons cornstarch<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  3. 1 teaspoon salt<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  4. 1\/2 teaspoon dry mustard<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  5. 1\/4 teaspoon black pepper<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  6. 2 cups milk<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  7. 2 tablespoons butter<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  8. 3\/4 cup ham, chopped<\/li>\t\t\t\t
  9. 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese<\/li>\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t
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    Topping<\/div>\t\t\t
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    1. 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese<\/li>\t\t\t\t
    2. 1 teaspoon paprika<\/li>\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t
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      Instructions<\/div>\t\t\t
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      1. Preheat the oven to 375\u00b0 F and grease a large casserole dish.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      2. Cook the macaroni according the directions on the packet. Drain and pour into the prepared casserole dish.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      3. In a medium sized saucepan, combine the cornstarch, salt, mustard and pepper. Add 2-3 tablespoons of milk, taken from the 2 cups of milk. Stir to form a paste. Slowly add the remaining milk and the butter.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      4. Over a medium heat, stir the milk constantly until it comes to a boil. Continue to stir the boiling milk for another minute.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      5. Remove the boiled milk from the heat and add the ham and cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      6. Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni and mix well.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      7. Top the macaroni and cheese sauce with 1 cup of cheddar cheese. Sprinkle the paprika over the cheese.<\/li>\t\t\t\t
      8. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.<\/li>\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t<\/div>
        Cookies or Biscuits? http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Another day and another comfort food.   Macaroni and Cheese is the ultimate in comfort foods.   Pasta and creamy cheese sauce is always a winner, especially if you are a 10 year old girl who lives in my household.   I hear loud cheers every time I make Mac and Cheese.  My five year was… <\/p>\n

        Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[26,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main-meals","8":"tag-gluten-free-adaptable","9":"tag-ham-leftovers","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=995"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1007,"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions\/1007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cookiesorbiscuits.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}