I know there is nothing too exciting about mac and cheese it is American comfort food after all. I mean at least that’s what a lot of people call it. However, I found out that nothing could be further from the truth for my husband. I can vividly remember one evening, about nineteen years, being in a rush to meet a group of friends. I was only twenty-three years old and newly married. I was in a hurry to make a quick dinner so that I wasn’t late for my meeting. Honestly, I cannot remember if I made boxed mac or if I made it fresh with real cheese. If you asked my husband I wouldn’t be surprised if he remembered. Here we were getting ready to have dinner, and I put a plate of mac and cheese in front of him. It was the only dish served.
After I served him, I saw a look of disgust on his face. I was puzzled considering this guy was never picky about food, and he usually could care less about making his food flavorful. This is the guy that could live happily on hot dogs and ramen, and would not even bother to put condiments on his sandwiches! Yes, he would eat them dry! Anyhow, back to that memorable day… I noticed that he was not digging in and we were in a hurry. Finally, I said, “what’s the matter?” He said, “mac and cheese? This is not a meal; it’s a side dish!” I understood that it wasn’t gourmet but how could this hot dog and ramen eating guy get so upset about mac and cheese? I was perplexed! Not only was he refusing to eat it, but he was downright angry about it. I knew something was up and I thought it probably had to do more than with food. So, I asked him if there was any connections or any other reason he could be upset. Finally, he told me that he was raised on boxed mac when he was a kid, and it brought back bad really bad childhood memories.
By now you may have guessed why this was worth a post… I was breaking a house rule making this dish today! One part of me just wants to laugh about it! No, my husband was not home, and I am in a major simplification mode. Coming into this year, I am fiercely focused on redeeming the time. So, for the first week, all we did was PURGE and PURGE. I had one statement that I kept repeating to myself and my kids over and over again…. “If you don’t love it, get rid of it!” We got rid of huge 30-gallon bags worth of STUFF, stuff, and ugh more stuff.
The second week of the year I focused on making very detailed schedules for our whole family. I used www.keep.google.com I plan to do a full post or video on this fabulous scheduling tool shortly. Stay tuned! Right now we are just coming to the end of week two, and I am in such a frame of mind to stay on track that I didn’t want to put too much time and effort into cooking because it could put us behind. As I was going through my pantry, I found two boxes of GF Pasta. I didn’t have a plan I just knew I would use the pasta. I started to boil water, and then I started looking for ingredients to turn it into a meal. I wasn’t finding anything to add to it, but I did see some vegan cheese looking back at me when I opened up the refrigerator. Hmmm… I pondered, mac and cheese? Should I do it? It was almost like sacrilege. I mean my daughter who is eighteen and chef in her right and also main pastry chef in our GF Bakery, not to mention the girl can cook the house down. However, she has never made mac and cheese her whole 18 years of life! I honestly could not tell you the last time I made it. I think I tried to do it again at some point and I am sure my husband met it with the same resistance so why torture the guy, right?
Back to my mac chronicles… I gave in for the sake of saving time and because I was in simple mode and it was too SIMPLE to pass up! So, I admit I did it. I made mac and cheese (head hung down in momentary shame, no not really! I just wanted to add some drama.) What really happened is that my kids looked in the pot and said, “mac and cheese?” They looked interested and surprised! I served, and they did eat and then enjoyed it! Gasp! What to do if they should ever get a craving and daddy is home? We will all have to remember the fellow that is not so pleased with and just pass until he is away from home.
For now, if you are wondering how I made it, it was indeed super simple and a perfect minimal meal.
Just a short note to those who are new to gluten-free cooking. The quickest way to run GF pasta is to put in a pot of water while the water is still cold. It is imperative for the water to be at a full rolling boil before adding the pasta. Make sure to salt the water. GF noodles are pretty starchy and will provide a perfect base for mac and cheese without the need to drain them if you only put enough water to cover them when you set them to boil. I also added two types of pasta: rice/quinoa shells and corn/rice fusilli corkscrew pasta. By adding two types of pasta, this improves the quality of texture in the final dish.
I added ¾ bag of Daiya Mozzarella cheese, olive oil, about ½ TB of prepared mustard, 1 crushed clove of garlic and salt/pepper to taste. I like deeper flavor profiles when I eat so I topped it with Salsa Verde and I was pleasantly satisfied. Combine and serve.
How do you simplify mealtime?
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