Macaroni and Cheese

Mmmmm, I love me some Mac and Cheese. This recipe is one of my favorites, and quite easy to make. Courtesy of my favorite Food Network Chef, Alton Brown.

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

I mommied up this recipe by stirring in a large jar of butternut squash baby food, sneaking in some veggie goodness for the kids. Didn't change the flavor a bit. Served it with baked breaded chicken fingers and zucchini sticks, with ranch of course.

My public blog message to my sister.

So help me, if this baby is waiting until your arrival, I will kill you!

Sebastian was born the day after you arrived, 2 weeks overdue.

Elisha was born while you and Micah were in the car driving here, 1 week overdue.

This trend is beginning to frighten me at the moment and if this baby is waiting for his aunt, I will have no choice but to either kill or disown you so as to avoid this predicament in the future.

The run through.

Yesterday we did a fun little run through of filling up the birth tub, which was quite... interesting. We worked out the kinks but I found myself thinking that if I had gone into labor before we did a run through, things would have gone terribly.

First we got the pool out and examined it for any flaws, holes, etc. Then Jeremy proceeded to attempt to pump it up with his soccer ball pump.... hehehehehe. Tape and a soccer ball pump are no where near as efficient as an electric pump, I'd wager. But, alas, my husband is cheap and was determined to make it work. He worked on it with the ball pump for a while, then tried just blowing it up with his mouth, then tried reversing the hose on the vacuum cleaner(which didn't work). Finally, after I don't know how long, he filled it up and then announced that we would be leaving it inflated until D-Day.

So, with the pool pumped up, it was off to figure out how to affix the hose to the bathtub faucet. Nearly half a roll of duct tape later it was sufficiently secured and ready to go.

The tub filled up quickly enough and we got the water to a decent temp of about 110F. So nothing left to do but hop in and see how comfy it was.

Oh, it felt good and I sat in the tub praying I would just go into labor then and there. But no....

So with that taken care of, it was time to siphon the water out, right? But wait.... the hose is securely attached to the faucet and we are not going to go all through that trouble again with the duct tape. So Jeremy takes my stock pot and begins hauling the water to the bath tub... what a guy!

$55 for inflatable pool

$13 for RV Hose

$3 for floating pond thermometer

$1.50 for duct tape

Not bad compared to the $250 rental pool. Yeah, it doesn't have all the flashy features like the rental pool... but it gets the job done!

Eviction notice issued... and ignored.

So tomorrow is my due date...

Yeah, my boys like to bake a little longer. And I never really did mind it in the previous pregnancies.... but right now I would like nothing more than to go into labor. I am busying myself with organizing and reorganizing the birth supplies, writing and rewriting an emergency transfer plan, and trying to think of anything I may have forgotten. Today we are going to set up the birth pool and do a run-through of filling it up, timing how long it takes, etc. (Something we should have done a while ago)

Hey, maybe doing so will send labor vibes to the baby and let him know we are ready to go.....maybe.....*sigh*