Macaroni and Cheese

Very, very easy mac and cheese, here! It's one of my favorite dishes and I make it fairly often. Justin requests it pretty frequently, so it's not like I'm foisting my cheese obsession on him. Well, it's not much like I'm foisting my cheese obsession. Just a little foisting, I'm sure you understand. It's much better than anything pre-made and it's at least as easy. The best part, you can add in anything you like. It's delicious with chicken and broccoli, or a bit of sausage, or even just some peas. The ingredients are simple:

2c macaroni noodles
2c (packed) shredded cheddar cheese--the sharper, the better!
1/4-1/3c milk (use more if you're using something creamier, like half and half)
2T butter
1t corn starch
1/2t lemon juice
salt
pepper

Your cast of characters, minus the butter, salt, and pepper. Why did I not photograph those particular ingredients? Because I suck, that's why.

I grate my cheese by hand. It's just better that way and it seriously takes, like, a minute. Add a teaspoon of corn starch to your cheese and mix it up. The corn starch help the cheese from getting stringy. Squeeze a little lemon juice in your teaspoon measure, so it's about half full (this is how I measure. Don't judge me!) to give even more help to the Not Stringy Cheese Movement.

Cook your pasta. Water, salt, boiling, pasta, profit. Go ahead and do al dente here--this isn't really a baking recipe, so don't worry about undercooking so that you can finish it off later. This is going to be creamy and delicious!

Like that. That's how creamy and delicious it's going to be. So drain your pasta and stick the butter in. Stir it around a couple of times until it's about half melted. Add your cheese, milk, and lemon juice. Fold it all together until the cheese is melted. Add some pepper (if you want, but if you don't you're a heathen. Just saying) and enjoy! It takes about 10 minutes total and is a breeze to make.

Also, Justin just called me "bloggah." I gave him a Look.