comfort food & Emerson

Yesterday was really a mixed bag.
The miners were out!
But I didn't get to watch any of the coverage because I happen to be a mother with typical kids.
One nagging challenge solved in a most perfect way.
Followed by the phone call that precluded watching the miners.

So what to do with a day like that?  I'm too old and wise for things I may have once sought.  So first I re-read this little nugget of wisdom from Ralph Waldo Emerson (how can you not love that name?!)
I have this little poem of his on a magnet on my refrigerator.  It reminds me not to kill anyone when they are doing something really idiotic.  Including me.

finish each day and be done
with it.  you have done what you
could.  some blunders and
absurdities have crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
tomorrow is a new day.  you shall
begin it serenely and with too
high a spirit to be encumbered
with your old nonsense.
-emerson

Then, with my mom hat on, I spun two of my plates into one and fulfilled my dinner making obligations by feeding the familia my favorite comfort food!

This is a practically perfect Mac N Cheese recipe.  Perfection has alluded me, but I've got time.  Until then, after a gnarly day, I'll make this one out of one of Trisha Yearwood's cookbooks.

8 oz. elbow macaroni, cooked BTW I hardly ever us elbow, I usually pick some that looks more fun just to entertain myself.
1 12oz. can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs, beaten (particularly a good ingredient when your mad...)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted (please use regular old salted butter, nothing fancy, it's mac n cheese for Pete's sake)
1 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 10oz. bricks, sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (about 5 cups)  okay, it's a really good thing she included that little tip about it being 5 cups, because out here in Cali, they don't sell 10 oz bricks of cheese at the local grocery)
Dash of paprika I was in a hurry last night and didn't use any paprika.  I don't think anybody suffered expect maybe the paprika farmer.

Her directions call for making this in a crockpot, but so far all crock'd mac and cheeses have a weird texture and I didn't think I could handle any more disappointment last night, so I baked it! 

Here's how...Preheat your oven to 350F, mix all the ingredients EXCEPT the paprika and 1/2 cup of the cheese in a large bowl (I used the pot I boiled the macaroni in - less dishes).  Pour it all into a greased 9x13 pan, sprinkle the 1/2 cup cheese across the top, get in a rush, forget to sprinkle on the paprika and bake at 350 for 50 minutes.  Pull it out of the oven when the timer beeps and carb out.  Your troubles will melt away.

If you want to crock it, A-let me know if it has that weird lumpy cheese texture, and B-here's how to do that...do all the same things except pour it into your crockpot (I'd probably grease mine, because I'm lazy that way), sprinkle the 1/2 cup cheese across the top, cover and cook on low for 3 hours and 15 minutes.  Turn off the crockpot, stir and serve.


Doing my best to remain unencumbered with nonsense today...
xoxoxo
~S