Panera Mac and Cheese

As I said, I was feeling Panera pretty bad, but there isn't a Panera closer than an hour away, so I had to make do with my own cooking. It wasn't quite as good, but it wasn't bad either. Close enough, anyway. Although, just be safe, make sure no one has made fish sticks in your house before you start. I figured out, when I was doing the dishes, that the reason I thought it smelled a little unlike Panera mac and cheese was because my kitchen, even after chocolate chip cookies and mac and cheese, still smelled like the fish sticks my mom had eaten earlier.

With this one, there isn't a lot of time for pictures, so we'll have to make do.

Ingredients:
1 16-oz. box of pasta
1 cup shredded Vermont sharp cheddar
6 slices American cheese, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2-1/2 cups cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

Cook the pasta, stirring occasionally. It took the entire time I was making the sauce to boil the water and cook the large macaroni shells, just to give you an idea. Then deal with the cheeses.

Melt the butter over low heat and then whisk in the flour. Then, raise the heat to medium and slowly whisk in the cream. Continue until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Remove from heat and add the cheeses (and make sure to pull the chopped American cheese pieces back apart, or they'll take longer to melt), the mustard, the salt, and the hot sauce. 

 Drain the noodles and add the sauce. It sort of looks like Panera mac and cheese. My sauce is just sticking to the noodles more and I couldn't find medium shells, so I had to use large ones. Please eat while hot, because it's so delicious you won't be able to wait for it to cool.

To make you feel less guilty about eating cookies and pasta, chop up some fruit and make a fruit salad! I used raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. Oh, and don't forget to do the dishes--the pans for this get gross if you wait much more than an hour.

So, there it was, my first real cooking adventure of being home. It wasn't the most adventurous, but that'll come in time. I'm thinking of learning to make a souffle this summer, and with how well my final products always turn out, that'll be interesting.

To the summer!

This recipe comes from the Panera website.