Lunch today was very tasty

I was feeling domestic today, so I made homemade mac and cheese for lunch. I actually used mostaccioli instead of macaroni, because I have several boxes of the former that I picked up on clearance at Kroger. Anyway, here's the recipe, from The Southern Living Cookbook: From the Foods Staff of Southern Living Magazine (Southern Living)

1 (8-ounce) packaged elbow macaroni
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten
Paprika

Cook macaroni, drain, and set aside.

Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat. Add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute & stir constantly. Gradually add milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in salt and cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Gradually stir about one-fourth of hot mixture into egg; add to remaining hot mixture, stirring constantly.

Stir cheese sauce into macaroni and pour mixture into lightly greased baking dish. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

That's the version from the cookbook, abbreviated slightly because I found the directions a little wordy. Anyway, I made a few modifications: changed the pasta type, used colby instead of cheddar because it was on hand. Plus I thought the bit about mixing a quarter of the hot stuff with the egg and then adding that back to the rest of the hot stuff sounded a bit excessive, so I just added the egg directly to the pot and stirred quickly.

I think next time I'll want to use an actual measuring spoon for the salt, instead of guestimating, because it could use a bit more salt. Next time I'll also want to start this earlier, because the kids were hungry and filled up on other stuff (fruit and cheese cubes, which they had to have after seeing me shred cheese for the recipe) before this was done, so they didn't eat much. But hey, more for me.

I liked it, and I think they liked it - baby boy said, "mmm, cheee" so I take that as a compliment. Big girl has been full of love this morning, telling me regularly that she loves me too (she always adds the "too" even if I haven't said it first), so some of the lunchtime love may have been food-related as well.