Monday's Macaroni and Cheese

Since we are watching Ethan for part of the time while Val and Jason are taking Emma to Sea World, I decided that my classic baked Macaroni and cheese would be the perfect Meatless Monday entree and I think Ethan agreed.

I have been making this for over 35 years and the only person so far who doesn't like it is Emma (she is too obsessed with Amy's frozen Mac and Cheese). It starts with elbow macaroni that are just barely cooked. While the pasta cooked, the sauce was started by melting butter in a saucepan, stirring in an equal amount of flour, with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. The flour-butter mixture was cooked until smooth and bubbling, before having hot milk stirred in and cooked until simmering and thickened. Freshly shredded Cheddar cheese went into the sauce next along with the just cooked elbows. Everything was stirred until combined and poured into a casserole dish, topped with more shredded Cheddar and baked in a 375 oven for 15 minutes until bubbling and golden brown.

Our side dish was some frozen peas that I cooked.

Ethan loved both parts of our dinner and Gerry and I also enjoyed our meatless entree.