You know some days I just feel like grabbing a Big Mac or two and calling it good. That wouldn’t give me much to write about though. I know I only have to come up with one meal every other week for this column but before I started writing for the Standard Journal I had already handed over the reigns to the kitchen to my wife. The first few years we were married I didn’t dare let her in the kitchen unsupervised. But over the years she has become rather handy in there and the smoke alarm doesn’t go off nearly as often. During the early years the smoke alarm was like the dinner bell. When it would go off I knew it was time to wash up.
Actually before I began writing for the paper I only had a handful of recipes that I called my own. Most of them were of the easy and quick to make variety from my bachelor days. I actually got pretty good at just throwing something together using prepared foods from the store. I was never a Hamburger Helper guy but with a box of macaroni and cheese I could get quite creative.
I don’t know how many of you turn your noses up at the thought of making something using a cheap box of macaroni as a base but when I was young and single it was a life saver. Not only can you make a whole slew of different dishes with the macaroni and cheese mix but it is so cheap. I use to get ten boxes, or something like that, for a dollar. I don’t know what they are now but I know if you watch the ads they are still a good value. Now hold it. I know what you’re thinking. Who cares, right?
Even if you are not on a strict budget or you are some kind of whiz in the kitchen you shouldn’t turn your nose up to what I’m about to share with you.
Let’s say you come home from a hard day of shopping and you got to get something on the table before the gang gets home and they realize that you’ve been dogging it. Grab a couple of boxes of macaroni and cheese follow the quick and easy directions and then add a can of chili. There you have it, a nice chili mac casserole. Throw a little cheese on top open up and heat a can of corn and if you have time mix up one of those jiffy corn meal mixes and throw that in the oven and the family will think you’ve been hard at it all day.
Another of my favorite dishes with the macaroni and cheese base is what I call beef mac with broccoli. Just whip up a couple of the macaroni boxes and set to one side, cut some cheap beef (rump roast on sale) into very thin strips and steam some small broccoli heads. Take the cheap beef strips and fry very quickly in a hot pan and then fold into the macaroni and cheese and then very carefully fold in the tender broccoli. You can grate a little cheddar cheese on top for show and there you have it a cheap and easy dish.
You can make a poor man’s beef stroganoff with the macaroni and cheese as a base that is actually pretty good. Just brown off some hamburger and add to your macaroni and cheese with a can of mushroom soup and a dollop or two of sour cream. It will look like hamburger helper but I like it a lot better.
There is just no end to what a person can do with a box of macaroni and cheese and a little imagination. I remember one time I went to a church singles potluck and I saw so many different variations of macaroni and cheese casseroles that I thought it was some kind of contest. The old standard “tuna mac” where you throw a can of tuna into the mac and cheese with a can of mushroom soup, grate some cheddar cheese on top with crushed potato chips was well represented. You can’t beat that one. Every young husband needs to have a tuna mac casserole sittin on the table when he gets home from a hard day at work once in a while. That way he will appreciate the good years that follow, once his sweet wife has mastered the art of smoke free cooking. I know that I do.