Comfort Food: Mac & Cheese

Nobody makes mac and cheese better than my momma. Not even me. Especially me -- and I can cook my butt off.

I don't really know very many black folk who wouldn't co-sign that statement, probably because of the emotional connectedness we feel towards the foods we love. One bite of something delicious brings us back to a beautiful childhood memory and into the arms of the person who turned a slice of cake or a piece of chicken into a celebration of life and all the goodness that the world could hold. For some of us, eating those things brings us right back to those moments. No wonder we've got weight/body issues.

So of course, it is with all of that in mind that I post the absolute best mac and cheese recipe I could possibly find, anywhere, ever. Do I eat mac and cheese?  Rarely.  It's not a dietary staple for me. It's a treat -- and I believe that if you're going to have a treat, you should really do it up.

How many people does this serve? I dunno. Technically, 8 to 10 but hey -- once I put it on the table, it's gone and only 4 or 5 people got some, so...

Ingredients:

3 cups of large elbow macaroni noodles

3 cups of shredded mild Cheddar cheese

2 cups of shredded Moneterrey Jack cheese

1 8 oz. block of Colby Cheese

1 8 oz. block of Monterrey Jack cheese

2 cups of milk

1 jumbo egg beaten

2 tsps of ground white pepper

1 dash of black pepper

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Boil the noodles for 15 minutes or until tender, then drain. Then put noodles in a bowl and add the milk, 2 cups of the mild Cheddar cheese, the shredded Moneterrey Jack, the white pepper and the jumbo egg. Mix thoroughly. Dice the block cheeses into 1 inch cubes and add them. Mix again, put in a 4 quart baking pan and place into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with  the remaining cup of Cheddar cheese on the top and the black pepper. Place the dish back in the oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until top layer of cheese is starting to brown. Remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes and serve.