macaroni fail

I don't generally use recipes in my cooking.

Oh, I bake with recipes, and I'm known to use a recipe as a starting point with cooking (in fact, I love using recipes as starting points .... I just don't actually follow them), or for inspiration. But I'm not the most recipe friendly.

Most of my go to meals are rather more a collection of flavours and starting points. For example, quiche is made with a well paired cheese and other filling, layered in a pie shell till full. Beat some eggs with some milk or cream (depending on how fattening you feel like being) and pour over, until you think you haven't got quite enough. That's essentially how I make quiche - with a general outline but no real recipe.

Sometimes, this does not work out as intended. As evidenced by the sham of mac and cheese I made tonight. It wasn't bad, by any means. It was better than KD, or what I've been served at some pretty terrible diners.

What it wasn't, though, was my mac and cheese. It wasn't creamy and decadent, feeling like a gooey, chewy yumminess in my mouth. I messed up a few places. First, I don't actually use macaroni in my mac and cheese - I use miniature shells; this time, though I was out, and so macaroni it was. Usually, I also make a 1.5 quart container of our favourite oozy goodness. But today, I made a 2 quart container. Usually, I use fresh grated cheddar. Today, I had a bag of pre-grated cheddar in the freezer and I was lazy.

At the end of the day, what came out of the oven was not ooey gooey delicious. It was more ... barely coated noodles. Not super dry, but barely cheesey.

A solid C. Not so happy.

Now? I'm going to think about turning the zucchini in my fridge into muffins, and then go snuggle with my Bunny.