Pepper Jack Mac & Cheese

Hot dogs and mac & cheese on Halloween night is a tradition from my childhood. Ever since I was old enough to eat solids and probably long before that, my mom made this halloween meal. I passed this ritual on to my own family. Mom was right. Hot dogs with mac & cheese is something fast and simple to make while trying to lasso kids into costumes, paint faces, curl hair and do anything else that pops up amidst the Halloween chaos. 

Even though my baby is too old to trick or treat I still decided to make the traditional Anderson Halloween meal. Only I made a more classy mature recipe to reflect passing into a new era of no trick or treaters in the home.

I probably will never buy boxed mac & cheese again.

        Pepper Jack Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

~3 cups elbow macaroni

~6 Tbsp. butter

~4 Tbsp. flour

~1/2 tsp. garlic powder

~1 tsp. salt

~1/2 tsp. ground pepper

~1 cup sour cream

~2 1/2 cups 2% milk

~3 cups shredded Pepper Jack Cheese

~1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350*F

Boil elbow macaroni to al dente. I have no clue what al dente is suppose to taste like. I just cook the pasta until it doesn't taste raw when I take a noodle out of the boiling water to test it. So cook the noodles until they are done to your liking.

Once your noodles are done, drain them and set them aside. 

In the hot pot you cooked you noodles in (no need to dirty more pots than necessary) melt the butter and sprinkle in the garlic powder. Once this aroma hit the air I felt like some fancy cook. It smelled so yummy.

Next add the flour and salt & pepper and whisk until smooth. This takes a good minute. According to my mother this mixture is called a Roux. According to google.com a Roux is a mixture of a fat, usually butter and flour. It is used as the base for most sauces. Good to know.

After you have a nice buttery Roux add the milk and sour cream while whisking. Keep whisking until it thickens. I would love to tell you how long this takes but I am an idiot and missed this step while cooking. I had to go back and add it after I added my cheese. It did take a good 3-4 minutes for everything to melt and thicken after I had all the right ingredients in the pot. Hey, what can I say? I am learning as I go.

After you have a thick milky concoction add 2 cups of the Pepper Jack cheese and 1 cup of the Sharp Cheddar. Keep stirring until this mixture is a smooth cheesy mixture. Now would be a great time to insert a picture of what that cheesy sauce should have looked like but, I was so excited that it was turning out how actual homemade mac & cheese should that I just dumped the noodles in and forgot to take a picture:( Sorry. 

Which brings us to the next step. Dump your noodles in and stir it up. Mix it really well. Make sure all your noodles get coated. I took time during this step to add smoke sausage that I had cut into cubes. You could add any type of meat here if you wanted. Or just leave it meatless. Who cares! It is your mac & cheese!

Now transfer your pot of peppery cheesy love into a baking dish. I used an 11X13 dish. It makes a nice big healing dish full.

Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of Pepper Jack cheese over the top. I also added some Sharp Cheddar to this step too. Can you have too much cheese? Um, NO! 

Bake for 20-25 minutes. And voilà! Homemade mac & cheese!

Look at those smoked sausage chunks! Yum!!

This is a basic macaroni and cheese recipe. You can change the cheeses to any kind that your family likes. The Pepper Jack gave it a nice little kick that we loved. The sausage was also a nice addition. But again you can tailor this recipes to your family's likes and dislikes. Hopefully, this will take the place of boxed mac & cheese in my home. 

And that is what is for dinner!