Homemade Mac & Cheese

This is one of the husband's favorite meals.  Seriously- he can't get enough of this stuff.

The original recipe came from the husband's Grandma.  They were in town visiting one Christmas and I asked her to show me how to make this favorite dish.  It was good folks- no, beyond good, it was awesome.  But the original recipe had WAY too much cheese, grease, fat etc and there was NO WAY that I could feed this to my family with a clear conscience.  I'm not even kidding- there was 2 pounds of cheddar and 2 packages of bacon and a full stick of butter!  Ack!  So over the years, I've lightened it up a bit and adjusted the ingredients to fit our organic, non GMO lifestyle.

The results....pretty darn awesome.

Homeschooled Housewife's Homemade Mac & Cheese

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese
4 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
6-8 slices turkey bacon
16 oz penne pasta
salt & pepper to taste
pinch of nutmeg
heavy cream


The ingredients are simple.  The process is easy.  Start by boiling your water for the pasta, the husband likes this with penne pasta but you could use whatever you like.  Then put your bacon in the oven, 375 for 8-10 minutes.  We use Applegate organic turkey bacon and yeah- I cook bacon in the oven.

Once you start the water boiling- begin on your sauce.  Super easy.  If you know how to do a bechamel sauce, the process is identical.  And folks- this is one skill you simply must have.  Making a good homemade bechamel sauce will come in handy more times then you can count- so trust me & learn how to do this!

For the sauce- melt your butter & then add the flour to it.  Cook on very, very low heat for just a minute.  You're basically cooking off the flour taste.  Then slowly add in your milk- 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time.  You want it to slowly thicken with the flour/butter mixture.  Continue adding all your milk, making sure to stir often so you don't scald it.  Once you've added your milk- time to dump in the cheese.  Use a good quality cheese that melts.  We use Organic Valley sharp cheddar- just cut it up into small chunks and slowly add to the milk.  Don't put it in all once!

By this point, your pasta should be done cooking.  Don't forget to check your bacon- better yet, set a timer!  Drain your pasta and set aside.  Cut up your bacon and add to the sauce.

Finish your sauce by adding salt and fresh ground black pepper.  Go easy on the salt since there's already salt from the cheese and bacon!  You can also add a little bit of heavy cream at the end to give your sauce a richer flavor.  It's not needed and if you're trying to lighten up this dish- then skip it.  But when we want to indulge, you know I add at least a 1/4 cup of heavy cream!  A pinch of nutmeg and you're done!

Combine your pasta and sauce and put into a large cassarole dish.  Now- you can totally cook this a little in the oven or just eat it as is.  We do both.  The husband likes it cooked a bit, 375 for about 20 minutes while I like it fresh from the stove top.  As with any recipe, I urge you to use only organic ingredients.  You can also get fancy and use a combination of different cheeses or fun shaped pastas.  Trust me when I say that using quality ingredients just makes your food taste better!

Enjoy!

A Typical Week's Organic Groceries- Week 1

We eat roughly 80-90% organic, mostly vegetarian and a non processed, non GMO diet.  Whenever we can't find something that meets our needs we always do our best to find an alternative.  Take cheese for example....my local grocery store does NOT carry organic cheese yet.  Bummer!  So I always buy Tillamook cheese.  It's fairly local for us- the Tillamook factory is just one state away.  It's tasty and it doesn't have any added chemicals or junk.  So I know I'm making the best choice possible given the options available to me.

I spend about $200 per week.  I pretty much make all our meals from scratch and I recently started making our beloved Lucky Dog & Buddy Boy their meals too.  Commercial dog food is SO bad for your pups!

To give you an idea of what a typical week looks like, I put all my groceries on the counter after my weekly trip to the grocery store.  Here it is- this is $175 worth of food.  I'll break it down for you starting from left to right.

• One bunch organic bananas
• 1 bag Alexia organic hashbrowns
• 1 lb Tillamook cheddar cheese
• 1 box O Organics Green Tea bags
• 2 packages Applegate roasted turkey lunch meat
• 1 package Applegate ham lunch meat
• 1 container O Organics half & half 
• 1 box Applegate frozen turkey sausages
• 1 lb organic coffee
• 2 containers O Organic sour cream
• 2 loaves Dave's Killer Bread- organic
• 4 cans organic vegetarian refried beans
• 2 organic apples
• 2 organic kiwi's
• 1 red, 1 yellow & 2 green organic bell peppers
• 1 large container O Organics plain yogurt
• Arrowhead Mills flax seed
• Arrowhead Mills pearl barley
• 1 bag Alexia fries
• 1 bag BoomChickaPop popcorn (big yellow bag)
• International Delight Cinnabon creamer- I know...I know...
• 2 packages O Organic romaine lettuce
• 2 bunches organic green onions
• 1 bunch organic cilantro
• 1 bag organic carrots
• 1 jar organic mayonnaise
• 1 box Annie's cheddar crackers
• 1 container Tillamook ice cream
• 2 boxes Morningstar Farms Chik N Nuggets (vegetarian)
• 1 jar O Organics ranch dressing
• 1 box organic frozen yogurt bars
• 1 bag organic green grapes
• 1 container organic blackberries
• 1 container organic raspberries
• 2 organic plums
• 4 organic white peaches

Obviously I don't buy every single thing I need each week.  I stock up just like you probably do when things are on sale.  In my fridge I still have corn on the cob, broccoli, tortillas, milk, eggs, butter, kale, cucumbers, celery, onions and tomatoes.  We also have some organic orange juice and organic lemonade still sitting in the fridge.  My pantry has a nice supply of quinoa, rice, canned beans, canned tomatoes, pasta, oatmeal and granola.  My freezer has 4 black bean & quinoa burgers that I made last week.  There's also a whole organic chicken, 4 organic grass fed steaks, a package of Applegate hot dogs, homemade blueberry muffins, one loaf of banana chocolate bread, frozen organic veggies, frozen organic berries, a pan of homemade macaroni & cheese and homemade black bean chili.  Tip- make a double batch of something and freeze half!

From this weekly grocery trip and my fridge and pantry, I will make 6 dinners, 7 lunches and 7 breakfast's for 4 people and 2 dogs.  You may notice that I do have some processed foods- mainly the Morningstar Farms Chik N Nuggets and the International Delight coffee creamer.  These 2 items are probably the worst offenders in my weekly shopping cart.  However, I have found that I need to have 1 or 2 quick frozen meals that I can just open and pop in the oven.  Doesn't every busy Mom on the go- need something quick and easy? So instead of the standard factory farmed chicken nuggets (Tyson anyone?) and cheap GMO filled frozen french fries or trip to McDonald's drive thru, I have opted for a slightly healthier version.  Thus the Morningstar Farms Chik N Nuggets (these contain NO real chicken) and Alexia brand french fries.

And well...what can I say about the International Delight coffee creamer.  It's my weakness.  I'm working on it.

Every meal is served with fruit or veggies, sometimes both.  Since my son usually goes grocery shopping with me, I always let him pick out one new food to try.  Last week it was radishes this week it was the Annie's cheddar crackers, go figure!  Tip- this is a super easy way to get your kids excited about trying something new.  

You may also notice that there's no soda.  I stopped buying it about a year ago.  My dad gets it free from his work, so we usually have a nice supply for guests and my husband sometimes gets a can of soda in his lunch.  Now, you may wonder why I pack him a can of soda....well, let me just tell you that a year ago, he was drinking 3-4 cans per day.  He's slowly weaning off the soda- these changes take time, so give yourself a break.  I'm super proud of him!!

We mainly drink lemon water and my husband likes to mix a little lemonade in with his water.  In addition, every morning my boys have a cup of organic orange juice with breakfast.  I also make lots of kale/green smoothies and yogurt/berry smoothies.  And my favorite drink of choice- cold iced green tea with lemon.  Brew a big pot, stick in the fridge with some lemons and drink it just like iced tea.  Yummy and SO good for you!  Well, that and coffee are my most favorite things to drink....

So there you have it.  One weeks worth of organic groceries.  I'm thinking this should be a monthly segment so I will do my best to post next weeks groceries.  Stay tuned!

Want to see what Week #2 looks like?  Click here.