This week, my family is visiting the cabin and eating all the delicious food you know my mom prepares. On Sunday, she made one of my favorite recipes from my childhood ... it's the one she made for me when I was 40+ weeks pregnant and she came to visit in Los Angeles (I went into labor that night). And she made it at the end of another pregnancy (which one, I forget). When she proposed having it for dinner on Sunday, I wondered how many people actually know how to make homemade macaroni and cheese. I grabbed my camera and said, "Hey, Mom, let's blog this Pioneer Woman-style!" She agreed, but only if I would be a "guest poster".
But before we start, a picture of my handsome dad for all you female readers:
Once your heartrate has slowed and you can tear yourself away, we'll get started. Don't worry, we'll wait.
OK? Here we go ...
Gather your cast of characters:
We forgot to put a stick of butter in that picture, but make note - you'll need some!
You'll need:
1 lb. macaroni
1 lb. Velveeta cheese (this is 2 lbs, but we're only going to use 1/2)
1/4 lb. cubed ham, or one small can of ham
milk
salt
pepper
butter
Put your water on to boil (according to package directions). Add a pinch of salt. While we were cooking, we had a discussion about whether adding the salt raises or lowers the boiling point of water. I assumed that, since it lowers the freezing point (like adding salt to ice on the sidewalk to melt it), it would lower the boiling point. What do you think? To find the answer, click here.
Once your water is boiling, add the whole bag of noodles.
Now, don't go turn on the TV. While your noodles are boiling (again, according to package directions) get out a 9x13 dish and butter it. Tidy up in the kitchen while you have a few minutes. Turn the oven on to 350°.
Grab your Velveeta cheese.
If you're using a 2 lb. "brick", like us, cut it in half. If you bought a 1 lb. brick, open the whole thing up. (Is it weird to refer to food as a brick? And what exactly is Velveeta? Ponder.)
Slice, then cube, the Velveeta. Notice my mom is using a butter knife? I always use a sharp kitchen knife at home and I hate this part. The Velveeta never cooperates. It's very sticky. She made it look so easy. I wonder if it was because of the butter knife?
Once the noodles are cooked, drain them in a colander in the sink. Have a steam facial while you're at it.
Pour the noodles back into the pot.
Toss about 2 tablespoons of butter in the pot.
Stir it around "real good". See how the macaroni is getting glossy? It's getting coated with butter, and therefore, not sticking together.
Toss the Velveeta cubes in with the macaroni and butter.
Stir, stir, stir.
Now, don't be hatin'.
Add some milk. No, I don't know how much. Just pour a splash in. This is one of those recipes. I'm sorry. Don't pour too much - you can always add more.
Add salt and pepper - as much or as little as you'd like. Please note the salt granules in mid-air. I took these pictures with my new Nikon D5000.
Next, stir in your cubed ham. We forgot to add our ham, so we had to do it after the macaroni was in the pan. That's okay, too. This is a pretty forgiving dish.
See? No ham.
Voila! Ham!
Notice there are still Velveeta chunks in the pan. That's okay. They're going to melt in the oven.
Into the oven we go!
It's going to take about 30 minutes to melt. After about 15 minutes, open up the oven and give 'er a stir. If it's looking too dry, add a bit of milk.
Here it comes out of the oven! Disregard that 8x8 pan in the back. We actually made more, but I gave you the quantities for one 9x13 dish.
Mmmmmm. I like the crispy parts on top and that are stuck to the sides best. How about you?
Serve with a tossed salad and maybe something chocolate for dessert ...
(Would you like another recipe post? She's talking about cream scones ... and it'll have measurements! Yum.)
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