Mac 'n' Cheese

A co-worker of mine gave me her mac and cheese recipe - hers has been the only homemade version that I have ever liked in my life. My rendition turned out pretty close to hers so I consider it a success.

Start by cooking your macaroni - I used half of a 900g package (only part of which is pictured below).  Salt it well. Shred a variety of cheese - probably about 2 cups (I used regular and sharp cheddars, while my co-worker used pepper jack and cheddar).  

In a 4-cup measuring cup, melt 1/4 cup butter or margarine and add 3-4 tsp of flour to make a thick slurry.  Add 1 1/4 cup of milk, and either cube 1 1/2 cups of Velveeta or add about 1 1.2 cups of cheese whiz. Melt the mixture in the microwave and stir every minute or so.  Add more cheese whiz or flour if it's too thin, or milk if it's too thick.  It should be just thin enough to pour onto the macaroni. 

Grease the casserole dish very well (Pam or margarine or whatever you prefer) and add half of the macaroni. Sprinkle half of the cheese on top, then layer with the next half of cooked macaroni. Pour the cheese whiz mixture over the entire dish evenly, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Add salt and pepper and paprika for colour. 

Bake at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes - until the cheese on top is thickly crusted and nearly burnt.  Serve with more carbs if desired (I can't resist carbs so I paired it with cornbread).  Enjoy! 

Cinnamon Snails

A friend gave me this recipe back when we were in high school and didn't really use the world wide web for much. I have no idea where it came from but had a craving the other day and asked my mother to search her house for it. It is quick and easy and they are tasty!

Dough:

• 1.5 cups flour 
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
• Dash of salt (approx 1/2 tsp)
• 3/8 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup milk with 1 egg beaten into it (only use about half in the dough)

Filling:

• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the dry ingredients together. I melted the margarine and mixed it in, then added just enough of the milk/egg mixture to allow the dough to pull together into a mass that was able to be rolled with a rolling pin.  I used just under 1/2 of the mixture, and I ended up with some leftover milk/egg at the end of the recipe so you may wish to just mix the egg with 1/3 or 1/4 cup milk.

Roll the dough into a long rectangle, at least three times as long as it is wide.  I made mine about 18" x 6", and the swirls seemed too small at first but they puffed up while baking.

Spread some of the milk and egg mixture onto the dough and sprinkle liberally and evenly with the topping. Roll into a tight, long log (roll starting from the long side). Cut with a very sharp knife in approximately 3/4" widths. I found that my dough crumbled if I used the dough scraper or even dental floss - I used a filet knife to get a sharp cut. Bake at 350 degrees on parchment paper for about 14 minutes until they have risen and browned - they will harden a bit further after they are removed from the oven and they should be crumbly when eaten.

Enjoy!