Peter Metzler

Brendon Fuller

Hannah Benisch

Corey Trochil

How to Cook Macaroni & Cheese

Have you ever been hungry while you were home alone? Well if you’re like us, we aren’t professional chefs who can cook extravagant food, and an easy food that can be made in fifteen minutes is macaroni and cheese. It is a cheap and delicious meal that doesn’t take much skill to make, and it can fill you up. This is a step-by-step guide for you to use to make mac and cheese the right way so you won’t starve.

Gathering Supplies:

The first step to making this delicious meal is gathering the supplies. Get a box of mac and cheese from where you keep it, get a non-stick deep spoon which is a big wooden or white plastic spoon from your utensil drawer along with a butter knife to cut the butter, get a strainer big enough to fit all the noodles. After you’ve done these steps go to the pantry and get a three-quart sauce pan which is a small to medium sized pot and a one-third liquid measuring cup. The last step for preparation is going to the fridge to get a gallon of milk and an eight-tablespoon stick of butter. Once you gather all these elements, you’ll be ready to start making macaroni and cheese.

Preparation:

After gathering all the supplies, you need to make the mac and cheese you will need to start preparing the food and get one step closer to being done so you can enjoy.  First of all, you will need to put 4 cups of water in the 3-quart saucepan and place it on the stove burner at high heat.  You will have to wait for the water to boil to do anything else.  A trick I like to do is put 2 pinches of salt and a splash of olive oil in the water and put a cover on the saucepan to make it boil faster.  While you are waiting for the water to boil you can fill the 1/3 liquid measuring cup full of milk.  Also while the water is boiling you can cut the 8 tablespoon stick of butter in half so you will have 4 tablespoons of butter.  Another thing you can do while you are waiting for the water to boil is that you can open the box of mac and cheese and take out the cheese packet from the box of uncooked noodles.  These steps will just get you one step closer to enjoying the cheesy goodness of mac and cheese.

Cooking:

1.       Take the box of noodles and pour them into the boiling water and stir with a non-stick deep spoon.

2.       Cook the noodles until they boil up to the surface of the water and test them yourself to see if they are soft. Be careful because they will be super-hot.

3.       Once the noodles are soft enough turn the stove burner off.  You do not need to cook anything anymore but you will need the stove to be warm from cooking for the butter.

4.       Retrieve the strainer and put it into an empty sink with the drain open so that the water can run out of the strainer and then out of the sink.

5.       Pour all of noodles and the water into the strainer in the empty sink and keep the saucepan with you. Be careful for the steam from the noodles and water because it will be hot.

6.       Take the 3 quart saucepan and place it back on the stove burner you used to cook the noodles.  As mentioned before it will still be warm from cooking so be careful.

7.       Add the half stick of butter (4 Tablespoons) to the saucepan and let the butter melt.  If it doesn’t melt completely do not worry.  When you re-add the noodles they will melt the excess butter.

8.       Once the butter is melted add the 1/3 liquid measuring cup of milk, that was prepared earlier, into the saucepan along with the cheese sauce packet that was removed from the box of noodles.

9.       Stir the melted butter, cheese sauce packet, 1/3 cup of milk together thoroughly in the 3 quart saucepan with the non-stick deep spoon.

10.   Add the noodles from the strainer in the sink to the 3 quart saucepan with the butter, cheese, and milk.

11.   Stir with the non-stick deep spoon until the cheese sauce is spread completely over all of the noodles evenly in the 3 quart sauce pan. Also until the butter has fully melted if it had not fully melted earlier.

12.   You are ready to enjoy your Macaroni and Cheese.

Clean-Up:

If there are any leftovers put the noodles into a container with a lid then stick it into the fridge in case you want to reheat it and enjoy later.  If there is no leftovers or you do not want to save the leftovers just throw them away and skip the container step.  After this put the milk and what is left of the butter back in the fridge to keep them fresh. Gather all the dishes; the strainer, 3 quart sauce pan, 1/3 liquid measuring cup, non-stick deep spoon, and the knife and put them in the sink to clean. Wash all thoroughly with soap and hot water and dry. Throw away or recycle the Macaroni & Cheese box(es). Toss the empty cheese packs away into the garbage. Make sure to clean off the stove and counter with a wet rag, and dry them off for the next person. Now you’re done and ready for the next time you want to make Macaroni & Cheese.