Comfort can be found in homemade macaroni and cheese. Lots of cheese equals lots of comfort. My mother made the most fantastic macaroni and cheese. Not the kind in a box or from the freezer, homemade, bubbling with browned, wonderful cheese on top. No bread crumbs or anything exotic. Just four ingredients — macaroni, milk, cheese and butter. Put together just so, it makes magic.
Magic that soothes aches and pains — not physical ones, just those deep, scarring emotional ones.
My own children used to love macaroni and cheese — but not my homemade kind. The frozen kind — ugh. They stopped liking it that “yesterday, it was my favorite; today, it’s disgusting” way that kids have — note that this only happens the day after you make a trip to Costco so that you’ll never run out again! I hope that someday, they’ll like my homemade macaroni and cheese. Comfort food that gets handed down through generations.
In the meantime, try it yourself. It’s amazing!
Mimi’s Macaroni and Cheese
1 lb macaroni
1 T butter
20 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup of milkPreheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13×9 pan. Cook macaroni in boiling water in large pot for least amount of time on the directions (very al dente). Drain. Return to pot and toss with butter. Mix in 1/2 the cheese. Turn into prepared dish. Top with remaining cheese. Pour milk over. Cover with foil. Bake 25 minutes.
Note: Do not make mistake of covering with casserole lid — the cheese can act like the most amazing glue and you may never get that lid off that casserole dish! Seriously!
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Liza Lee Miller 
I wish I remembered this. Isn’t that funny?
Thanks for the recipe.
That drives us crazy, too, when our kids love something one day and then, not the next. My wife and I periodically go on “dinner strike” but the kids ignore us. (One of us usually cops out and feeds them anyway).
Kevin
Yum- thanks for the recipe. I’ll be trying it soon!
Damn, I’m on a diet. Too bad my mom didn’t have this recipe. She could not make magic in the kitchen, but she was a whiz at math and passionate about reading. All good.
Bonnie
I’m holding onto the recipe for my man.
My son only loves Kraft Mac and Cheese. My daughter loves any mac and cheese. I will make her this one. My hubby will love this recipe. I cannot eat cheese, but you have tempted my brain to ignore my stomachache. Mmmmm yummy comfort food we can all relate to. http://www.debrennersmith.com
I copied this one down- thanks! Rich loves homemade mac n’ cheese while I prefer Kraft with the orange powder. He’ll be happy happy when I make this for him. For me, it’s potato soup that’s comfort to the soul.
I love the way your page looks these days.
That sounds almost exactly like MY Mom’s!
Yummy!
Glad you guys like the recipe! It’s a no miss one. My sister is that top comment wherein she laments that she can’t remember this recipe. I have to confess that I don’t remember it from our childhood either. I think our mother was too dang busy to cook food like this for us for most of our childhood. She gave me this recipe when I called her one day in my 20’s longing for some comfort food. I made it and man-oh-man is it comfortable! 🙂 So, that’s why!
Oh, and for the record, I love me some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese — they are like too different things. Like you can love a really awesome hamburger cooked on the grill at home with a magnificent bun and all the fixins including avocado *and* you can love a MacDonald’s Cheese burger too. Totally different beasts with only a vague resemblance to one another but still . . .
This is so funny because just a week ago I was wishing for a great homemade macaroni and cheese recipe. Rachel’s class was having their end of year picnic and she requested that I make/bring macaroni and cheese. i ended up baking the Stoufer’s kind and boy was it a hit. I’m afraid my girl’s like the frozen kind better than the homeade stuff, too.
Mmm … I started making my own mac and cheese three or four years ago, and I was shocked at the difference in the taste. Before that, I’d only ever had the Kraft or the frozen Stouffer’s! Your recipe is very different from mine, much less labor intensive. I might give it a try … with a few tweaks (mine includes minced onions, a bay leaf and a dash of paprika …). I love that you use so much cheese! I have to agree that the more cheese, the better. Some recipes only call for four ounces! What kind of mac and cheese is that?!
Thanks for this excellent comfort food memory. I’m sure your kids will get wise to your fabulous dish sooner rather than later.
–Stacie
This made me hungry. But what am I eating right now? Canteloupe.