Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

My Mac And Cheese Jones

5/23/2014

1 Comment

 
     I'm not someone who normally has anything to do with meals that come in a box off the supermarket shelf, I know they belong to the unhealthy processed food group,  just so much
salt, sugar, modified corn starch, hydrolyzed yeast extract, sodium phosphate
and artificial flavor and dye.  
    And it’s not like there’s any reason why I would have to eat that sort of thing; I know how to cook healthy food from fresh ingredients, so why would I eat processed food from a kit, least of all
macaroni and cheese from a kit? 
    It’s not that I don’t like macaroni and cheese;  I love mac and cheese just the same as every other member of the human race  though I seldom indulge in it; I figure
it’s probably one of the most calorific entities you can put into your mouth.
 But if I must have mac and cheese I can whip up a delicious batch of
 home made  in the crockpot, where the calories at least come from real milk, real
margarine, real cheddar cheese and real – well, sort of real – velveeta. *
     But here’s the thing: I also love the Noodles & Company macaroni and cheese, which is how this story  beings.
    Last week  I picked up Tommy at the airport after a business trip and as it was on the late side of dinner time we both agreed that some Noodles & Company would be good.
    Tommy got the penne rosa, and I got what I always get, the
macaroni and cheese.  And it was, indeed good, with a light but creamy sauce and topped with finely grated cheddar.
     So  good, in fact,  that the next night after work when I was on my own for dinner all I could think
of was another round of Noodles & Company mac and cheese.
    I headed for the restaurant, but the traffic was bad on Hamilton
Road, and there was no other route.
    While I sat in traffic trying to decide how badly I wanted Noodles & Company mac and cheese, the thought popped into my mind of zipping into the Krogers just up ahead and seeing if I could rustle up the ingredients to whip together a Noodles & Company knock-off. 
I pulled into the Krogers parking lot.
    But by the time I dragged into the store I’d lost my mojo for cooking or driving, I just wanted to eat.  
That’s when I thought of  the mac and cheese in a box. 
     I headed for the boxed-food aisle and checked out the wares. Oh, well, why not just this once? What harm could one fake-food dinner do? Along side the
standard-issue neon orange mac and cheese there was a white variety with a photo
on the box of pipe-shaped pasta that looked just like the Noodles & Company
mac and cheese.
    I grabbed the white stuff.  The white looked more wholesome than
th orange, though I held no illusions that there was really any difference
between the  two, except for the neon orange dye.  
     So I went home and cooked up my fake white macaroni and cheese
according to instructions:  1/3 cup of milk, ¼  cup of  butter – actually I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.  It tasted salty even for me, a saltaholic.  So I upped the milk to ½ cup and the ICBINB to 1/3 cup and tried it again.  OMG.  It was smooth;  it was light; it was tasty!  I scooped some into a bowl and topped  it with finely shredded sharp cheddar; it was
ICan’t Believe It’s Not Noodles &
Company!

    I scarfed down half the batch then finished the rest of  it for lunch the next day. 
That night Tom arrived home and for dinner I fixed fish with my boxed mac
and cheese surreptitiously prepared with the extra milk and ICBINB and topped
with shredded cheddar. I served it up in a blue glass bowl. 
Tom didn’t suspect that her’d been served a mac and cheese
knock-off.
    The next day we ate the left-over mac and cheese for lunch and
the following day Theresa and Phill arrived for a visit.      
  “How about some mac and cheese for lunch!”  I cried.
    “More mac and cheese?”  Tom asked as I once again set the blue glass bowl full of shredded-topped pasta on the table.
    His question hit me like a wake-up call. I’d been eating
macaroni and cheese for the past four days.  And I felt like I wanted to keep eating
it.  But not any macaroni and cheese.  I only wanted my Noodles
& Company knock-off, full of  starch and yeast and 
preservatives and whatever addictive additives they put in it that was
giving me this  macaroni and cheese Jones.
    The next day I read about the study on carbs and processed food
and fat cells.  I went upstairs and stepped on my bathroom scale.  It
read 132.6 pounds, 2.6 pounds over my fighting weight. 
I had  to face that I had a mac and cheese Jones, and that I’d taken a hit by the Fat Cell
Mob.
    That was 4 days ago and I haven’t eaten any macaroni and cheese
since. I think I’ve been scared straight.

*If you’d like a really good and easy crock-pot macaroni and
cheese recipe:

1pound of macaroni, cooked, drained, and
rinsed

1stick of butter or margarine

3 ½ cups of milk

 1 block of velveeta cheese, (the smaller block of the two
possible blocks)  cut into cubes 

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
cheese
Put all ingredients into a crock pot,  cook on high for about 3 hours. Enjoy! 8)

1 Comment
Claire
5/23/2014 09:29:59 am

OMG I LOVE mac and cheese too! Mac and cheese for four days straight sounds amazing. I found a great mac and cheese crock pot recipe on the internet, and since Miguel doesn't like it, I get to have the whole thing all to myself :) (Reading this post makes me want to make it now.)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact