Comfort food

There are many foods I think of when I hear "comfort foods", but some of my favorites are homemade macaroni and cheese and baked beans! Believe it or not, these two comfort foods taste delicious together! Throw in some sauteed green leafy vegetables and it's really a delicious and somewhat nutritious meal!

I was inspired to make homemade macaroni and cheese after our annual African American History meal at work. This year, instead of using a pre-made macaroni and cheese product that comes frozen and with loads of preservatives and sodium amongst other things, we need it from scratch! I made it from scratch at one of my schools actually, because my cook called out sick that day. Turns out, making it for 300 kids isn't all that different than making it from me and Rob at home!

Homemade mac and cheese goodness:
For 6 large servings I used
3/4 pound of whole wheat macaroni (look for the package with the fewest ingredients!)
shredded cheddar
shredded parmesan cheese
milk
I also used some pepper jack cheese for good measure
salt and pepper to taste

Boil your macaroni in salted water, drain, pour into baking dish you will be using. Add milk until you can see it through the macaroni at the bottom of the pan, add as much shredded cheese as your stomach can handle, stir, cover and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove from oven, stir again, top with even more shredded cheddar and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Mom's baked bean recipe:
1 small onion, diced
1/2 tablespoon butter *or use diced bacon and omit the butter
1 14 oz can red kidney beans, undrained (or use dried beans and cook them 1st)
ketchup
mustard
brown sugar
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco
salt and pepper
garlic and onion powder

Saute the diced onion in butter (or bacon fat, yum!)
Combine baked beans with cooked onions in a small baking dish
Add remaining ingredients, stir well, cover and bake for about 30 minutes
Amounts for the bbq sauce ingredients vary, if you like saucy beans (who doesn't like saucy beans?) add more or less ketchup, the remaining ingredients are just add more flavor to the sauce. Feel free to taste as you add the seasonings to figure out what you like. Add some cayenne pepper for a little more spice too!