Macaroni Fail

So one of the side effects of this sickness I've been battling is my ridiculous loss of appetite. I'm ordinarily a grazer - I will eat all day, every day if the opportunity strikes. Right now, I'm sustaining mostly on popsicles (made with real fruit so I'm at least getting some nutrients!) and Saltine crackers. Even when I feel hungry, I'll eat a couple bites and feel like I'm going to throw up. It's super fun.

I'm pretty much at the mercy of my cravings right now. You know when you're sick and only one food in the whole world sounds good, so it's all you want to eat? That's been me for the past two weeks. A coworker mentioned mac and cheese earlier, and my brain was like ding ding ding, there's your dinner! So I'm like, okay brain, but I'm not making an entire pot of pasta for myself when I'll probably eat less than five bites.

I remember seeing this delicious-looking thing on Pinterest:

Macaroni in a mug. Sounds perfect. It won't take as much time and effort as making a whole pot of macaroni and if I can't eat much of it, I won't feel as bad tossing it out. So I googled the recipe and it seemed simple enough. Macaroni, shredded colby jack cheese, water, milk. Cool.

The recipe called for a large mug or small bowl in case it overflows. I used this pretty large soup bowl and it still overflowed in my microwave. Luckily, it's just water, but still was annoying to clean up. I don't know how to fix this overflowing problem, so I can't help you there.

You put 1/3 cup of uncooked macaroni noodles in your mug {bowl} along with 1/4 cup + 1/3 cup water, then microwave it for 6 minutes, stirring at 4 minutes, 2 minutes, and 1 minute. When it's finished, you should have fully cooked pasta in a small pool of water. First problem: the water all soaked into the pasta before it was done cooking, which left me with a bowl of sticky, semi-crunchy noodles. {This could've been because I used regular macaroni noodles instead of whole grain noodles, which is what the recipe actually calls for.} I added another 1/4 cup of water and microwaved it for another minute, which made it done enough for me. 

Next, you add 1/3 heaping cup of shredded colby jack cheese, then microwave another 30-45 seconds. The only cheese I could find was colby jack + monterrey cheese, which I thought was good enough. I added the cheese and stirred it up a bit, then microwaved for 45 seconds. When it came out, the cheese was pretty well melted, but stuck to the macaroni like crazy, which made it super thick, and once it cooled, it kind of congealed into one superball of macaroni.

Okay, last step is to add a "splash" of milk. I added probably 1/4 cup and stirred, which did help to break up the cheeseball I now had on my hands, but after a couple of bites, I realized the milk had all absorbed into the pasta and it wasn't enough, so I added another 1/2 cup. That was definitely too much, but I swirled the pasta around for a good 30 seconds to try to dissolve the cheese more. 

The verdict? Not tasty. It was way too cheesy, but not creamy at all. It was like cooking pasta noodles, rolling them around in shredded cheese, and dousing the whole thing in water. Second of all, I thought this would make one cute little mug just for me. Nope, this practically filled up the entire bowl. 1/3 cup of pasta would in no way fit into a standard mug. It was dry and chewy, and I only managed about three bites before I dumped it down the disposal. 

I would recommend this method if you are cooking pasta for one, but I would play around with the recipe a bit more. Colby jack + monterrey was not good. I like a softer cheesy taste with my macaroni and this cheese was too sharp for my taste. If you're planning on cooking macaroni for more than one person, don't bother doing individual mugs. Just make a pot.

As a redemption, here is the recipe my mom has used since I was a baby, and it's still the best mac and cheese I've ever had. {sorry, Panera.} 

• Cook macaroni completely in a pot of boiling water.
• Add just enough milk to where the pasta absorbs it and you don't have any remaining in the pot. It's pretty easy to eyeball it if you stir as you pour.
• Add in as much or as little Velveeta cheese as you want, then add a spoonful of butter. I usually do three parts cheese to one part butter, but again, eyeballing it is usually best.
• Stir till it all melts.

Seriously, the best comfort food ever. Cheesy, creamy, and not too overpowering. I think I will be using my tried-and-true homecooked recipe from now on.