Helpful Hobbit: Upping Your Mac and Cheese Game

Welcome to the new series here at Bilbo's Hobbit Hole called "HELPFUL HOBBIT".  This series may or may not be helpful.  Some may be very sarcastic.  If you want to sound like a moron, call this series, "LIFE HACKS".  Either way, enjoy...

The one food I can't give up

I didn't set out to write about food on this blog. I would point you toward my buddy, Richard for that. His food blog is tasty. But, since I enjoy food and drink so much, people rave about my Kalua pork, and my family seems to love what I cook, here it is. A good recipe is always worth sharing.

Macaroni and Cheese is my favorite food.  Let me just say that.  It's awesome and amazing and comforting and perfect.  Personally, a good old-fashioned box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is my favorite.  It's simple and classic and is your childhood.  Occasionally, I like to fancy it up a bit by sauteing bacon and jalapenos before mixing them into the blue box ingredients.  For the record, one box is NOT 3 servings.  Obviously, the people at Kraft have never tried their product.  You should not be made to feel bad about eating an entire box in one sitting.

Now, every now and then,  I make a homemade Macaroni and cheese casserole.  It is simple, filling, and not nearly as high in sodium as the boxed stuff.  I thought I would share it with you here.

Cook some macaroni noodles according to the package directions except knock 5 minutes off the time. Cook however many noodles you need to make two to three layers in whatever casserole dish you're going to do the rest of the cooking in. While this is happening, get the casserole dish out.  You can grease it but I don't.  Also, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Once the noodles are done to their slightly under-cooked consistency, add a layer to the bottom of the casserole dish.  Then take a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom condensed soup and dump it over the noodles.  Do not add the water!  If you want to destroy the recipe, you can use any other cream based soup.  Spread it lightly over the noodles.  Then you will add a layer of shredded cheese.  You can shred your own if you're pretentious or you could just buy the bagged stuff.  Just make sure it's real cheese and not cheese product.

Repeat the steps in the previous paragraph as many times as you need to fill the casserole dish to within a quarter inch of the top.  DO NOT PRE-MIX THE SOUP AND NOODLES.  This is a layered casserole, not a mush pot.  Trust me!

Once you have filled your casserole dish with layers of awesome, throw it in the oven, uncovered, and bake, untouched, for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, pull it out and sprinkle the top with a layer of cornflakes.  Yes, cornflakes.  Throw it back in the oven as close to the top broiler as you can get it for 5 minutes.

Pull it out and let it set for 5 minutes before cutting it up and serving it.  Remember, this is a filling dish so serve a little as it goes a long way.  Wrap the dish in foil and store in the fridge for a week, if it even lasts.  We eat ours pretty quickly.  This is my wife's favorite thing that I cook.

I hope you enjoy it and please, don't try to make this comfort food healthy by shoving vegetables in it.  First, the water in the vegetables will destroy the dish's consistency and second, it's comfort food, not health food.  Suck it up and walk an extra mile the next morning!

Hopefully this Hobbit has Helped you today!