Insanely Cheesy And Creamy Mac & Cheese

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Insanely Cheesy And Creamy Mac & Cheese Once upon a time, I made atrocious mac and cheese. It tasted ok, but the texture was kind of grainy and gritty. Every once in a while, I would hit it and it would be good but those times were few and far between.

For years, I had seen recipes for it that used eggs to make a sort of cheesy custard but something about using eggs in mac and cheese just seemed weird to me, not to mention that, even to ME, it was like “whoaaaaa… like mac and cheese isn’t fattening enough as is without adding a bunch of eggs to it?” But I kept running into recipes with them in it and the photos I saw always looked good so I broke down and tried it.

I’m sorry I waited so long.

And looking back and thinking in a logical cooking way, it makes sense. Make an egg custard and put cheese in it and you’re going to have something delicious. I do it when I make Pastitsio (the love child of Greek mac and cheese and Greek lasagna) so I don’t know why I hesitated in this. Adding the eggs to the milk and cheese one might normally use to make a white sauce for M&C simply gives you a smoother, richer, better textured final product. If you’ve never used a custard base for pasta, don’t be nervous. If you remember to temper your eggs, you’ll be fine. All that means is to beat a little of the hot milk/cheese mixture into the eggs to heat the eggs up. That way they don’t immediately scramble when you add them to the milk. After that, it’s a breeze. You’ve got this!  For the life of me, I don’t recall where I got the un-changed up recipe originally. I had it hand written on a piece of paper with no info.

You know the drill… in this case, it’s go make some outrageously cheesy and creamy mac and cheese!

(I have updated this over the years, because it simply didn’t reheat well due to the sauce getting soaked up. When you first make this, you will think it’s too much sauce. It’s not. it works when first made, and helps the mac and cheese stay creamy when reheated. )

Insanely Cheesy And Creamy Mac & Cheese

  • 2 lbs macaroni
  • 30 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated (don’t use the preshredded)
  • 30 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, freshly grated (don’t use the preshredded)
  • 3 lbs Velveeta, cubed
  • 3 1/4 cups milk (use whole for this or 2%. There is really no use using skim or 1%. I mean… really… with all the cheese?)
  • 5 eggs, well beaten
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Cook your pasta, drain well and set aside.
  2. While it’s cooking, combine your cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses in a large bowl. Set aside.
  3. Pour your milk into a medium, preferably non stick, pot. Over medium heat, bring the milk to a simmer.
  4. Add in the Velveeta cheese and stir constantly until smooth and completely melted.
  5. Take about 1/2 cup of the hot milk/cheese mixture and SLOWLY drizzle it into the bowl of beaten eggs, whisking with a fork constantly. When you have it all tempered, slowly pour the egg mixture back into the milk mixture, again stirring constantly.
  6. Butter a 4 to 6 quart baking dish ( I use one of those deep dish foil lasagna pans for this) and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Don’t use a smaller one… this makes a LOT of mac and cheese. Pour half of the pasta into the dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and layer the sliced butter all over the top.
  7. Sprinkle half of the cheddar/jack cheese mixture over the top of the pasta, then pour half of the hot milk/cheese mixture over the top. Repeat this layering one more time.
  8. Bake at 350 until mac and cheese is bubbly and lightly browned, about 30 to 45 minutes.

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When I Was A Kid, It Was All “Noodles”

I don’t know if I have ever mentioned my love for noodles aka “noodoos” when you’ve raised as many kids as I have. I have mentioned Twinkies and Cheetos, I have mentioned chocolate and panini sandwiches. I have mentioned citrus in any way shape or form. But noodoos??? I mean noodles? Nope, I forgot all about those slippery bits of tasty goodness. When I was a kid, noodles meant…well… any of it. For some reason it was all noodles. It wasn’t called “pasta” back then; at least not in my home on the South Side of Chicago. It was noodles darn it! Spaghetti for dinner? Noodles. Lasagna? Ok, that was still lasagna. My main noodle memory though is my mom making egg noodles that she tossed with onions that had been sauteed in butter. So simple but so good. I still love that. Mac & Cheese? Noodles. From a box… gritty…soupy…ick  *shudders and moves on*

As I got older, my love for noodoos increased as my foodie experience grew as I aged. Not that I have aged much… twenty nine and holding here. Ignore the fact that my oldest child is 25. I started early ok!!?

Erhmmm…. moving on. Again. Noodoos.

I got to try so many other types of noodles as I expanded my eating experiences (and my waistline). But my favorite, even today, as I age…very gracefully and wrinkle free I might add… is any sort of Asian noodoos…noodles. Lo Mein, Cellophane noodles, Udon, Pad Thai, even ramen (if fixed correctly which IS possible). Add some sort of meat in there because I am a rabid carnivore (maybe the rabid part isn’t a good thing to say. Would it help if I say I’ve had all my shots?) and I’m in noodoo Heaven. So today I wanted noodles. I wanted spice, I wanted an excuse to make the Shrimp I splurged on, I wanted sriracha, I wanted veggies. Strange I know… me saying I wanted veggies instead of Twinkies. I’ll have those later. But for now, I have noodles… and veggies… and a tangy spicy sweet sauce. And Shrimp. Did I mention the Shrimp? So if all of that sounds good to you, try this.

Hokkien Noodles In A

Spicy Teriyaki Sauce With Stir Fry Veggies And Sriracha!

  • 1 pound raw shrimp
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 14.2 ounce packages hokkien noodles (found in the Asian aisle of most grocery stores)
  • 1 15 ounce bottle of Kona Coast Pineapple Paradise Teriyaki Sauce (sub your favorite if you can’t find this one. I just happen to like it)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lime zest
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 1 lb bag frozen stir fry veggies
  • 1 12 ounce bag frozen snow peas
  • 3 green onions, sliced into 4 pieces
  1. In a medium bowl (you can use a large or extra large. I won’t tell. Or a small but you may end up with a mess. You could even use a plate but I don’t recommend it) mix together the teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, lime zest, lime juice and sriracha  mix well.  Break up the noodles and set aside.
  2. Over high heat, in a large pan, saute the shrimp in the oil until cooked and a nice purty pink; about 4 minutes. When they are almost done, toss the shrimp with 1/4 cup of the sauce.  Set aside.
  3. Add the veggies to the same pan and stir fry for five minutes or until crisp tender. Add the noodles and the rest of the sauce to the pan. Toss to coat well and cover the pan. Cook for about 90 seconds.
  4. Put noodles in bowl and cover with a few gazillion shrimp. Add more sriracha because it isn’t spicy enough and you don’t like having taste buds. Scream in pain then eat more. Rinse and repeat.