Welcome to Mountaintop Quilting Studio

This is where you find me exploring a variety of creative adventures mostly about but not limited to quilting. I'm a firm believer that one increases their creativity by being open to and playing with a variety of cretative endeavors ... at least that my excuse for today. Enjoy your sourjourn through my studio playroom. May you find encouragement and inspiration, and on occassion, a little pin-prick that may be thought-provoking or spark your imagination. Thank you for stopping by.

You can find this dish listed in nearly every posting of the top ten comfort foods and almost as many variations in preparation. Strangely enough this is a dish that was not served in our household as I was growing up. I was introduced to macaroni and cheese with hot lunch as school. It was served every Wednesday mixed with sliced hotdogs. Jamie Oliver is probably rolling his eyes heavenward and shaking his head. But it must have been an all-time favorite with me and my classmates for the cooks to decide to served it every week.

In the interest of easy and quick prep the blue box was always on the pantry shelf in my home and greeted with a chant, "macaroni and cheese, bawk, bawk," from my kids as they eagerly anticipated a questionably tasty but quick meal. Neither would eat it now, at least from the famed blue box, but maybe, just maybe ... a home-made version?

So, as the weather begins to get a chill in the night air, I've been thinking it is time I found a decent recipe for home-made macaroni and cheese and give it whirl liberating myself from the infamous blue box. The internet search for recipes begins with a visit to one of my favorite on-line recipe sites All Recipes where I found a  recipe to try ... Chuck's Favorite Mac and Cheese. I was intrigued with this recipe because of the easy of preparation ... no roux to stir up, just mix the ingredients in a small bowl, stir in the cooked macaroni, top with bread crumbs and bake. Simple enough.

The taste test results:

• looks fantastic (love the addition of bread crumb topping - no fancy toppings on the school lunch version)
• tasty but a little dry ... not as creamy as others I've seen
• cheese is melty and I like the texture ... not mushy

Some thoughts: I wonder if the brand of sharp cheddar used makes a difference. We've had an ongoing battle here on the East Coast (this is Andrea and me) getting our all-time favorite cheddar cheese. All of you from the PNW know which brand I'm talking about ... is there any other cheddar cheese worth mentioning when we all know there's only one ... Tillamook Cheddar Cheese. Never do we see it stocked in the dairy section or even with the specialty cheese. On occassion we can special-order it by the case from Whole Foods but you never know. It might be there or they might break open the case they ordered for you and stock the shelves thinking no one would ever order a whole case of cheese.

Tillamook melts into the most wonderful smooth creamy goodness like no other cheese I've tasted. I will be trying this recipe again using Tillamook Cheddar. In the meantime you might want to tune into the food network later this month for Alton Brown's take on Americans and their favorite comfort food and comfort food spots ... Sept 20-23 at 9:00 PM ET.

PS: Note to self: must remember to add a pinch of nutmeg to the recipe next time I fix macaroni and cheese. Eryn says it really brings out the cheesy flavor and is a fun unexpected delight to the taste buds.

Other Good Cookin' posts:

• GOOD COOKIN' 7 (gazpacho)
• GOOD COOKIN' 6 (zucchini)
• GARDEN GOODNESS
• GOOD COKIN' 5 (shrimp civiche)
• GARLIC HERBED CHICKEN GOODNESS
• GOOD COOKIN' 3 (cheesy spinach sausage casserole)
• GOOD COOKIN' 2 (apple slump)
• GOOD COOKIN' (Eryn's Mussels)
• CHOCOLATE YUM

Comments

• I'll have it all ready whenever you get here! Just glad to have the company :)
  by Kay on 11 September 2010 at 3:13 p.m.
• What time is supper I'll be over. ann
  by e. Ann Beeman on 11 September 2010 at 2:58 p.m.