Cooking with Autumn - Baked Mac and Cheese

For this installment of life skills camp, Autumn and I made baked Mac n cheese (which happens to be my favorite dish)! Autumn has a healthy fear of the stove/oven situation, so she was my master stirrer this time. I’m officially on the hunt for some no-bake recipes that will let her be more involved.

We kicked things off by preheating the oven to 350 and setting up water to boil. While I waited for it to boil, I had Autumn whisk one egg and set aside a tablespoon of unsalted butter. Once the water came to a boil, I cooked 2 cups of pasta and drained the water before stirring in the egg and butter. The egg should start to cook in the heat of the pasta.

Next, I lightly greased the baking dish with extra virgin olive oil (if you’re too heavy handed here, your dish is gonna have a layer of grease on the bottom). Next, I combined 1 tsp of dry mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg with 1 cup of milk.

Autumn stirred the mixture and poured it into pot with the pasta, egg, and butter.

Next, Autumn poured in and stirred 2 1/2 cups of sharp cheddar. If I could go back, I probably would’ve used at least 1/2 cup less cheese [insert gasp and clutching of pearls here]. Ultimately, the decision is up to your taste.

Then, I added another half cup of shredded sharp cheddar on top (without mixing it in) and sprinkled nutmeg on top. After that, I popped it in the oven for 35 minutes.

Finally, it was time to eat! :)