Mac and Cheez-Its

“Please do this,” is the message Dia sent me today accompanying an Instagram screenshot reading “Put Cheez-Its on top of our Mac and cheese tonight.”

Well. Say no more. The text came at 5:56, and by the time I was done with work for the day at 6:15, I was ready to put some freaking Cheez-Its (technically, Ritz Cheese Nips) on mac and cheese. 

Mac and cheese for one, please 

Here’s the thing. I’m one person. Thankfully the internet exists and after clicking a few recipes and wondering why on earth everyone is measuring macaroni noodles in tablespoons, I settled on a recipe that… measured macaroni in tablespoons. Except I used 4 tablespoons as a different recipe said not 3 like my current recipe… and that was 1/3 of a cup… I would’ve dropped far fewer dry noodles on the floor had they measured in cups not tablespoons.

Now I somehow managed to make cheese sauce and make noodles at the same time. 

Or, I almost did. It turns out the back burner was on very low and thus it didn’t actually boil the water and I didn’t realize until the cheese sauce was basically done. That’s what I get for thinking I can do two things at once and trying to: I still can’t. 

Anyways. The cheese sauce was a process of slightly measuring things but only if they were tablespoon sizes and not butter—which look if you over butter your and cheese… you’re probably supposed to. Actually I only really measured the flour. Made the roux. Salt, maybe pepper I don’t know if it actually got out of the mill but I don’t love pepper so who cares, shredded the cheese in to approximately 1/3 cup, again, like butter if there was extra oh well, and then the recipe called for onion powder.

If you recall from the snack mix post, I swapped out onion powder for smoked paprika. As I said to Dia, I don’t believe this is a universal swap. However, it was that or I had to get up on a step stool and dig for onion powder so… no thanks. So I sprinkled some smoked paprika in.

Actually, I sprinkled too much in, so I just scooped some out. 

It was around here where I realized my noodles had not been boiling. 

So eventually I got the noodles cooked to very al dente and combined them in the cheese sauce, which I had to add more milk to prior to combining with the pasta but then it was perfect. 

It’s Cheez-It Time

I mean, its Ritz Cheese Nips time. Just doesn’t grace the same ring. 

I just crushed the crackers by hand into a table spoon, I ain’t got patience for a ziploc and a rolling pin, such a waste. 

Crackers

Mozzarella. 

Melt in the oven.

Now, it says in the recipe to melt the cheese and ensure pasta is heated through. Excuse me? Did I not just COOK THE PASTA and combine with HOT CHEESE SAUCE then PUT IN THE OVEN?

There is no need to bake for 6 minutes unless you want the top more golden than I. And in that case, maybe broil it. I gave it four minutes, yelled about the absurdity to dia by phone, and took it out to cool slightly so as to not burn my mouth as I do most times when having mac and cheese.

Y’all. It was INCREDIBLE. Six stars out of five for the recipe I only half followed: the sauce was smooth and cheesy and the smoked paprika was an A+ addition. 

Just don’t tell my mom I didn’t follow the recipe in its entirety because I’m always telling her to follow them but that’s because her stuff always comes out different because she’s trying to make things more than once not following the recipe.

Plus I have ADHD, what’s her excuse? 😉 

Look at this magic y’all.

The cheese crackers do add a bit of zip to it, too. Super good would use again for sure!

Another A+ to a random recipe from AllRecipes. Nearly magical. 1000% recommend this one. But don’t measure stuff right and use probably extra butter and probably extra cheese and smoked paprika instead of onion powder. 

Or do whatever you want and let me know in the comments how it goes. This is half an ADHD site after all. 

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