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axelrod posting in

I am looking for an easy, made-from-scratch mac&cheese recipe.

I'm also open to more complicated recipes with more than the bare minimum of ingredients, but the priority is something that is dead easy, for those times when everything seems overwhelming and just too complicated - not that physical tiredness isn't a problem for me sometimes, but it's the mental-level stuff that really becomes the obstacle, you know?

I strongly prefer something made from scratch, because that works out to be cheaper and I want to make mac&cheese one of my staples, but if there's a mix that you adore feel free to toss that out (I like Annie's, myself) since sometimes it is a choice between something premade and just not eating an actual meal.

I do not like cheddar cheese-based mac&cheese. Monterey jack cheese is already one of my staples but I am all about the dairy products and am not opposed to regularly buying another kind of cheese as well.

Ways of adding animal protein which don't make the recipe much more complicated would be awesome too. I don't think of mac&cheese as something you put meat in, but I'm willing to experiment.

I'm also interested in different ways of seasoning mac&cheese - I've used nutmeg and paprika in the past.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

ETA: I, personally, do not eat pork, though including recipes and variations which do for the sake of other members of the comm is fine with me.

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From:

katarik

The macaroni-and-cheese I was raised on appears to be like nobody else's on *the entire internet*, but it literally could not be easier as long as you have access to pre-grated cheese and can handle lifting a pasta pot and mixing cheese + pasta:

Boil pasta, as much as you think you want. Add garlic to the water! It is tasty. Take cheese (my preferred mix is cheddar, romano, mozzarella, and a dash of parmesan) and *as soon as* the pasta has been drained, pour in cheese. Stir the hell out of it.

If two cups pasta, go for one cup total cheese -- 1/4 c mozz, 1/8 c romano, 1/8 c parm, 1/2 c cheddar is my usual ratio, but if you don't like cheddar obviously feel free to mess around with that. If one cup pasta, 1/2 c cheese, so on and so forth.

The heat of the pasta will melt the cheese pretty fast as long as it's grated fine enough, and then it is delicious and hot and cheesy and easy as hell. Eat!

From:

colorwheel

oh, wow. i don't have any answers but i am going to glomph all over what people tell you. i need animal protein too.

From:

azurelunatic

A trick that applies to some recipes is to swap out any water in the recipe (that won't be drained) with chicken stock, or some such.

From:

rydra_wong

I bet bacon would work well, if you have the spoons to cook the bacon while the pasta boils, and feel like pushing the recipe in a carbonara direction.

I Googled and here's a proper carbonara recipe, which has eggs too (extra protein!):

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/2008/01/buona_sera_spaghetti_carbonara.html

More complicated again, but it's still very limited in terms of ingredients; depending on how your brain functions, you might be able to do it on autopilot if you practiced it a few times when you're not tired.

From:

axelrod

Uuurgh forgot to mention I don't eat pork. And I have mixed feelings about turkey bacon. (Raised Jewish, and funny how some taboos stick with you. I would also feel uncomfortable if a kippah or copy of the Hebrew Bible were on the floor.)

From:

axelrod

Yeah, standing is fine, it's getting started that's the problem. Lately I've been doing this thing where I'm hungry and there's food and I just ... don't get up and prepare it. I have depression and ADD and my executive function suxx0rs. So yeah, I'd definitely be interested in that recipe.

I forgot to mention that I don't eat pork. Pre-cooked chicken would work. I might give beef a try once I get a cast-iron pan to cook it in - good for days I can go beyond one-pot meals.

Edited Date: 2011-03-31 07:25 am (UTC)

From:

colorwheel

oh, ta very much!

From:

automaticdoor

That sounds AMAZING.

From:

rydra_wong

Ah, sorry! I agree with your comment that pre-cooked chicken might work well instead, though. I may have to try that ...

From:

axelrod

Oh, cool, that is really easy! Not the same texture as more conventional mac&cheese but the idea here is to make sure I actually put some macronutrients in my face. I think I'll get some pre-grated parm and romano ...

Garlic in the order is nifty, never heard of that before - and fuck knows I love garlic : )

From:

axelrod

It's like, I'd *like* to. Sometimes pork smells really good! And prosciutto would be an awesome way to get more meat in my diet. But. I just. Can't. And at this point I'm a stone-cold atheist who doesn't like celebrating Jewish holidays at all. Well, maybe Purim, with the right group of people. And then turkey bacon is too ... bacon-y.

From:

axelrod

Yeah, but how much protein does that have? It has lots of nutrients, of course. But lately, my problem is just getting macronutrients in my body in a timely manner.

From:

rydra_wong

Thinking out loud: if you had the spoons, you could try adding a dollop of pesto and some pine nuts with the cheese? Bonus protein from the nuts.

From:

colorwheel

is there a way we could find that out, whether chicken broth has protein in it, and how much? that would be wicked useful (to me, at least).

From:

rydra_wong

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/soups-sauces-and-gravies/1235/2
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/soups-sauces-and-gravies/7221/2
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/soups-sauces-and-gravies/1197/2

Fairly minimal, because it's mostly water.

From:

lilacsigil

I also have problems getting enough animal protein (and I just don't eat enough of other kinds of protein to make up for it) so I find having some sausages in the freezer to be good. If I'm planning on cooking, say, pasta in the next few days, I can cook the sausages, leave them in the fridge for up to a week, then chop them up and throw them in. Lamb sausages are very popular where I live, but beef, beef/kangaroo mix and chicken are available too.

From:

highlyeccentric

You could try acquiring pre-diced chicken pieces, the sort that sandwitch bars put in sandwitches? Alternatively, slice your own chicken fillets, grill or fry them all in one batch, freeze them. Then defrost and chuck them in cheesy pasta as needed! (Only thing is you can't freeze them more than once after the first cooking, or badness happens.)

From:

axelrod

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/soups-sauces-and-gravies/7217/2

So apparently chicken broth does have protein!

Beef jerky is a very handy (if not terribly cheap) way of getting meat in your diet. Assuming you can chew it, of course.

From:

axelrod

Ok so I really don't like unsolicited advice. Like, really really really I don't like it. At all. And your particular unsolicited advice here hits some buttons, not that you could have known, but it's simpler for me if I just ignore the first part of your comment.

***

That seems like a great recipe, very versatile, and the sort of thing that'll go down easy even on days when I'm feeling picky (um. that's most of them). Do you have recommended amounts for pasta, potatoes, meat, etc.?

From:

axelrod

I shop at Trader Joe's, and they do sell pre-cooked pre-sliced chicken. But that's not the most economical way for me to buy chicken there. I didn't realize you could freeze cooked chicken with no bad effects. The texture is fine, after the first thawing? I guess my issue there would be planning ahead (not my greatest strength), though I guess sliced or cubed chicken would thaw pretty quickly in a hot oven.

From:

axelrod

I mean, I eat a lot of dairy and eggs - but I find that I have more trouble with fatigue if I don't eat meat a few times a week.

Sausage is a good suggestion, but cuts of chicken are more economical for me. That said, I'd love to try kangaroo sausage ...

From:

axelrod

Hmm, worth considering. Those aren't staples currently, but maybe pine nuts should be.

From:

lilacsigil

Yes, I prefer other kinds of proteins but my thyroid issues have finally taught me that if I don't eat at least a small amount of meat a few times a week I'm going to pay for it in fatigue.

Chicken is much more expensive than sausage where I live! Kangaroo is supposed to be similar to deer in tast, but it's usually mixed with beef or pork in sausage because it can get very dry.

From:

highlyeccentric

I freeze meat all the time! You shouldn't thaw and re-freeze it repatedly, but a sequence of:

-buy meat
- freeze meat
- defrost meat
- cook meat
- freeze meat
- defrost meat
- reheat meat

is fine :D. And sliced chicken would defrost in a couple of minutes in a microwave, and maybe five or ten in an oven. Long enough for you to have cooked the pasta to eat it with, basically.

Edited Date: 2011-03-31 09:18 am (UTC)

From:

melannen

Regarding animal protein: I make my mac'n'cheese out of a box (store brand, dirt-cheap six-packs, probably unhealthy as all hell) but I have been known to stir in a can of tuna (and, if I'm feeling really ambitious, some microve-steamed frozen broccoli or peas) and call it Tuna Surprise.

It comes out more-or-less like a moister version of the classic American Tuna Surprise/Tuna Casserole, so if you had bad experiences with that as a child, you probably won't much like it, but it works for me.

From:

fred_mouse

A friend used to put cubes of polony or other processed meat in his macaroni cheese, because it didn't require cooking, so didn't require a second pot. Pretty sure he used to boil the pasta til nearly done, drain, put the pasta back in the pot, add milk to nearly cover it, add the meat, and leave it to heat. When it looked like the milk was hot, he would mix cornflour (two tbsp, I think - I watched him make it a lot, but it was a long time ago) and cold milk or water, and then pour it in - it needed to be stirred pretty thoroughly, as it would thicken really fast. Then he would turn off the heat and mix in the cheese that he had grated while waiting for the pasta to boil.

$mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)$

From:

mdlbear

Yup. I usually add butter (before the cheese) and cream or milk (after), but it depends on how much butterfat one is willing to tolerate. The butter-and-cream version gives you the classic fettuccini Alfredo if you use Parmesan cheese; it would work with any dry, hard cheese.

From:

kate

Oh, I do that with box macaroni and cheese too! I love just dumping a can of tuna in.

From:

kate

Our mac and cheese is fairly easy, but heavy on the cheddar; I'm thinking it could be just as easily switched out for monterey jack, though.

Pretty much we cook pasta (I like the curlique ones, gf likes elbows) while we make a cheese sauce starting with a roux (3 tbs flour and 3 tbs butter), add a cup of milk, and then as much grated cheese as you want. (I grate the cheese and usually end up doing heaps and heaps.) The nice thing is you don't really make more sauce if you put more cheese in, you just make it cheesier.

Dump it over the cooked pasta, spoon it into bowls, and you are done! We usually top with panko bread crumbs and throw it into the toaster over to brown them up a bit, but that's not necessary if you don't like that sort of thing.

We've used bacon to great effect, but since you don't do eat bacon, I'm betting chicken breat pieces would be tasty, or maybe canned tuna if you like it (the gf doesn't so it's right out for us). It's thicker than the box sauces, though, so maybe not tuna. :|

From:

katarik

It is SO GOOD OMG.

From:

katarik

It would, I think, also work well with some pre-cooked chicken! Just stir in your protein alongside the cheese, if the chicken is also hot.

I find the garlic adds a little more complexity, and also basically om nom nom garlic.

From:

katarik

... I am totally stealing this tip jsyk.

From:

azurelunatic

I tend to do this with rice. Grated cheese over rice, since I have a rice cooker and it is one of the simplest hot starches for me to make. And rice is one of the things that I have successfully cooked with, say, chicken broth, instead of water, for the bit of extra protein.

From:

katarik

Oooh, I like cheesy rice, so that would probably be tasty! And easy to add protein to, as well -- can of cooked chicken dumped in would be solid.

From:

shimmoril

Not the healthiest or fanciest of options, but it's one pot and quick, and could definately be adapted to some of the suggestions above.

Put water and hotdogs (2-4 depending on size) into a pot. Boil water, add macaroni. Boil/simmer until pasta is soft, drain water. Remove hot dogs (or not, if you don't mind them uncut). Cut up hotdogs and dump them back into the pasta. Add milk/butter and package of 'cheese' powder. Stir. Add random grated cheese that you have on hand. Eat out of pot with cooking spoon for minimal dish washing.

I've kept this in the fridge for almost a week, with no yuckiness. I also really like eating it cold, so clearly I'm a weirdo.

From:

jesse_the_k

Somebody else makes "Mom's Style" mac'n'cheese! Those cheese mixes sound great (or grate moan). One could up the protein some more with cottage cheese.

From:

jesse_the_k

I made a first try at non-spicy non-smoky tofu jerky. Recipe needs adjustment, but this would be a very portable, palatable protein much cheaper than bars or commercial jerky.

From:

jesse_the_k

I have a broiled chicken breast every AM for my protein base layer. I buy boneless chicken breasts $9 for a 2.5 lb package. I trim 'em so they're pretty much all 112g (1/4 lb). Squash 'em together to fill a broiler pan, broil 'em for 6 minutes a side (a little underdone), transfer to a cookie sheet and freeze for four hours. After I nap, they go in a big zipper bag in the freezer.

Every morning I take one out and put it to thaw for tomorrow. I use a sharp knife to cube the thawed one from yesterday & stir into breakfast for 35g of protein. (I can also defrost it with 75 secs in the nuke at 30% power.)

If I couldn't handle the knife, it's also quite doable to just nibble on a chicken breast -- they have enough internal structure that they don't fall apart in my hand.

From:

axelrod

Tofu does not do for me what meat does. Not even copious amounts of dairy and eggs do *shrug*

From:

azurelunatic

Ooo, thanks for looking that up!

From:

alumiere

http://alumiere.livejournal.com/352511.html

382 cals/serving, 21.9g fat, 9.4g "unprotected" carbs, 21g protein

3 eggs
8 oz light cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
8 oz 2% milk
3 c kraft 2% 4 cheese mexican
2 c part skim mozzerella
2 oz grated romano cheese
1 box Dreamfields brand low carb elbow macaroni

pre-cook pasta for 10 minutes following directions on box (this will leave the pasta firm; it will cook more during the baking)

while pasta cooks thoroughly blend butter, milk, cream cheese, eggs and romano cheese (in blender or food processor)

drain pasta, return to pot, mix in blended ingredients above, then stir in 2c each mexican and mozzerella cheeses and mix to distribute cheese

in non-stick baking pan (10x12 or 11x14) pour the pasta and cheese mixture, cover with foil

bake at 325* for ~25 mins (until cheeses all start to melt together); remove foil, top with remaining cup of mexican cheese, return to oven for ~10 minutes until cheese on top is melted and golden brown around the edges

cut into 12 equal pieces and serve

* to increase protein, try mixing in 1-2 lbs pre-cooked chicken or turkey breast cut into bite size chunks (you'll probably need to add another cup of milk if you do this, and you'll want to use the 11x14 pan or it won't all fit)

* to cut the fat and calories further, replace butter with the margarine etc of your choice

* i serve this as a main course, with or without the added protein, usually with a salad or simple steamed vegetable on the side

* this can also be made with regular pasta, quinoa pasta, whatever your choice... the quinoa pasta i use tastes just like wheat pasta, and my body likes it better. but make sure you cook the pasta al dente

From:

alumiere

P.S. Like the others, you can swap cheeses - the mexican has cheddar, jack, asadio and queso quesadilla cheeses.

This is a bit more labor intensive but also a lot creamier with a nice solid crust. I like the fact that I can eat it with a fork or even pick it up by hand on bad days.

And when I bake the whole 11 x 14 pan, I slice it into 12 even size squares and wrap each square individually then freeze in a large ziplock. Dinner the first night, plus 11 more single servings.