. . . when there are only two of you to eat it?
A box of Kraft hit my buggy at the store. It sat in the cupboard for a couple of weeks. Till one night, on her night to prepare the evening meal, my housemate decided to prepare it.
Good eating, perfect creaminess, delicious. With collard greens/pepper sauce and a bowl of fruits and cherry tomatoes, a great meal.
The next night was my turn; can't remember what I prepped, but the following night, we ate mac-'n-cheese and collard greens again. Even with four meals gone, there was still a gob of leftover m-'n-c.
When it was my turn, I Googled, or Bing-ed, "how to dress up leftover mac and-cheese." Many recipes flew to the screen. The one I selected contained everything I had on hand: oleo (butter), paprika, breadcrumbs, an egg, and shredded cheese.
Since I learned that m-n-c doesn't mix well when cold, I'd set the dish out on the counter earlier. Gathering all ingredients except the egg and oleo, I waited till nearly time.
Here's the recipe I used: "Leftover Mac and Cheese Cups from kitchenathoskins.com
3 cups m-a-c. (I didn't measure but decided it was close enough.); 1 egg (lightly beaten); 1/2 cup shredded cheese; add tablespoons (not succinct) breadcrumbs; 1/2 tablespoon melted butter; 1 pinch paprika.
Directions: Add m-a-c to a bowl. (I chose to use a bowl larger than the one it was in.) Separately, I mixed the cheese and egg before adding to the pasta. Pack into WELL GREASED muffin pan. (Apparently, pasta with cheese is very hard to remove from either paper cups or the metal tins.) Stir breadcrumbs, melted butter the paprika together, and sprinkle over tops of muffins I spooned rather than sprinkled--it was messy. It made 6 muffins, just as the recipe said, so I guessed correctly, didn't I?
But here's the conundrum: Bake at 425 degrees until tops are golden. Gee, the crumb mixture was golden, so I set the timer for 5 minutes, leaving the oven light on so I could judge. I couldn't tell a difference, so I set the timer for 5 more minutes. Still, not sure, so one more 5-minute stint. Surely the egg would be cooked with the prolonged heat.
Getting the muffins out of the pan intact--or as intact as possible--and looking like muffins was good enough for me. AM ate two and I ate one, so we STILL HAVE LEFTOVERS!!!
c 2023 Pat Laster dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA
