This is me and The Nester. She's Emily's sister, and I feel like I met a celebrity. Not because she was a diva and demanding a Diet Coke with dinner. Chilled. With a straw. It was more because she just oozes cool. Chick is awesome. I wish she lived closer to me. Anyway, she was visiting her sister, and I took them dinner - a pan of homemade mac and cheese. Let's just say they were very excited, so I thought I'd let you guys be excited about it too by giving you the recipe. Sorry for those of you who wandered over to my place from The Nester and couldn't find the recipe. It's not because you couldn't find it; it's because it wasn't there. I know. I'm sorry. And slow. BUT HERE IT IS!!!

Kendra's Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. elbow macaroni
• 4 tbsp. butter (yes, use butter)
• 4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. milk (skim is fine, but a little fat in it helps)
• 4 c. shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, manchego, colby jack, or whatever you like!)
• salt, black pepper, and fresh nutmeg
• a box of frozen pureed squash

Okay, I'm not a recipe girl, so I'll try and make this as recipe-friendly as I can. Cook the pasta in boiling, WELL SALTED water like the box says, probably eight or nine minutes. Add the salt once the water is boiling. Stir it a couple of times so the pasta doesn't stick together. While it cooks, make the cheese sauce. Heat the milk up in the microwave for about a minute just to take the chill off. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the flour, and stir it with a whisk. This is called a roux (not a rue like previously spelled... yes, I have an English degree!). It's essentially equal parts of flour and butter cooked to make this awesome, nutty thickener. So whisk that together until you can't see the flour anymore and it gets golden; the flour taste/smell should no longer be there. Add the heated milk, and whisk like crazy. You need to whisk it so the sauce comes together and so your milk doesn't burn. That's just gross. Raise the heat to bring the mixture to a simmer (little bubbles along the outside of the pan). Once it's at a simmer, lower the heat and season the sauce with a couple of good pinches of salt (probably about 1/2 tsp.) and a few grinds of freshly cracked pepper. And if you have a Microplane and fresh nutmeg, put a few grinds in the sauce. TRUST ME. UH-MAZING. Okay, now it's time to add the cheese. I like equal parts cheddar, mozzarella, and manchego, but you can do straight cheddar or colby jack or whatever you like. Just stir the cheese in until it melts. Taste the sauce to see if it tastes good, and it should! Add the defrosted squash to the mixture and make sure it's all well mixed. The squash is only there to add a hint of sweetness and to easily sneak in some veggies on your kids. Then add the cooked, drained pasta to the sauce in a large bowl or the pot you cooked the pasta in. Stir it together, and pour it into a casserole dish. Bake it for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees until it's a little brown on top. It helps the cheese sauce come together with the pasta to make it gooey and oh-so-yummy.

I hope you like it! Let me know when you try it, and feel free to post/email questions about this recipe or anything else you want to learn! And if you live in the Greensboro area, you can take a class that help explain this stuff even further. Thanks, Nester! And Emily! I hope you had fun eating together, and hopefully there was some mac and cheese left for your kids!