Gramma-Tamara Mac-N-Cheese

This is my grandmother's recipe with a serious Tamara twist. (I have this strange inability to follow a recipe exactly.) My dad always said mac-n-cheese was kind of bland, so I worked and worked until I came up with this tasty concoction. Enjoy!

Gather up...

1 pkg. elbow macaroni (or any shape that suits your fancy!)

6 Tb. butter

6 Tb. all purpose flour (or GF all purpose flour!!)

2 cloves garlic

1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp onion salt

3 c. milk

handful of fresh-grated romano or parmesan cheese (the saltier the cheese, the better. If you want to use only cheddar, I'd suggest adding 1/2 tsp. salt to your sauce.)

2 generous handfuls of grated cheddar cheese (I use sharp for extra flavor)

handful of potato chips (yes, that's right. Potato chips in your macaroni.)

(In case you're bad at math, the ratio for the sauce is 

2 Tb butter : 2 Tb flour : 1 c. milk. 

Now you can make however much you want!)

Cook up your pasta. Drain and let it sit there while you make the sauce. Don't worry, it will be ok.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over med-high heat. Add the flour, the seasonings and the garlic. (smoosh the garlic through your garlic press so it's not chunky. If you don't have one, try to chop it as tiny as you can.) Stir until it starts to bubble. This takes about 5 seconds. Remove from the heat and add the milk gradually, whisking until it is smooth. Return to the heat and bring to a boil stirring often. Once it boils and thickens, remove from the heat and add the fistful of romano/parmesan and one handful of cheddar. Stir until the cheese melts and is smooth. Now comes the assembly.

In a baking dish, layer 1/3 of the pasta, cheddar, and sauce. Repeat with the remaining ingredients, ending with the cheddar on the top. (If you like yours extra-saucey, you can use all the sauce, but I always have a little too much sauce and discard the extra.) Hang on to those potato chips just a little while longer.

Bake the macaroni at 350 for 15 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese is melted. Grab those chips and crunch them up. Sprinkle them on top and pop the dish under the broiler for just a minute to get them nice and crispy, and a little golden-colored. This makes for a fun and tasty crunch on top. (Before my gluten free days I liked to use crunched-up Cheez-its as well.) 

Enjoy!!!

p.s... when I make this for us I like to boost its nutritional value a little by boiling broccoli in with the noodles, and adding some flax meal to the sauce before assembly. Add some diced up ham, or hot dogs if you wish, and it makes for a yummy casserole!

Gluten-free note: the Kroger on Timberlake has the best selection of GF noodles I've seen in town. It has the best GF selection for everything, actually. The brand "Tinkyada" is my favorite, and they have lots of shaped noodles to choose from, including elbow- macaroni. But of course, any pasta in any shape will do!