I’ve become so disgusted with the entire food industry lately that I just want to scratch someone’s eyes out. And then I want to stick a fork in my left eye for falling for their lies. I mean, I knew in my heart processed food was nothing but crap but until I really started to think about it and did a little research did I really understand how the entire low – fat food industry boom (along with subsidies from our government and a food pyramid that is built on lies) has poisoned us all.
I’ll get off my soapbox now but I will tell you that after I read The Perfect 10 Diet and Nourishing Traditions I completely restructured how my family eats. They fussed for a day or two about the absence of granola bars, rice crispy treats and chips but they got used the fresh fruit, nuts and seeds quicker than I thought. The result is that my kid is calmer at night and the hubs has lost a few pounds of course.
The most missed thing our new cleaner eating regime is boxed mac and cheese. I have made a promise to myself that I will never again feed my child something so full of dye that every time he eats it his eczema flares up. True story.
Here is how we do it in our house now. It’s no longer a convenience food but it is something my entire family looks forward to every few weeks.
Easy Homemade Mac and Cheese
- 8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
- 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese or whatever else I have in the fridge
- 3 cups milk
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Cook the pasta and set aside
Melt the butter in a pan, mix in the flour slowly to make a rue. Add the milk in slowly and stir until you have a thick sauce. Add shredded cheeses in slowly. Stir over medium heat until you have the most delicious looking cheese sauce that you really want to stick your head in a take a big slurp.
Pour the finished sauce over the pasta in a baking pan. 350 for 30 minutes and viola! Your family thinks you are freakin’ Betty Crocker.
You can also add extra cheese and breadcrumbs on top if you like but my picky kid needs it to be as close to the crap box stuff as possible to enjoy. Again…my fault. Wishing I had never introduced him to that non-food like substance that is crack in a blue box to a five year old.
This is what happens when you let your five year old go grocery shopping with you.
Please know that I offer to make my kids homemade mac and cheese all the time. But my very picky five year old boy only likes the cheap, orange dyed Kraft crap.
I have a pang of guilt every time I pour that orange powder into the cooked macaroni ..wondering just what kind of poison I’m feeding my kid. On the other hand…I’ve got stuff to do and this stuff is QUICK. My mom fed me this junk and I turned out relatively healthy…so I figure it won’t kill him.
I usually at least try to buy the good box crap…you know the fancy Shells and Cheese that comes with the crappy velveeta-like spread to mix in the pasta. But when the boy saw the pumpkins on this box he got booty blinded.
And he loved it. My biggest complaint to the good folks at Kraft is that they never put enough pasta in the box when the noodles are shaped any other way than elbow. I mean, seriously….should a five year old and 14 month old be able to scarf down an entire box of Mac and Cheese in less than four minutes?
I’m going with the opinion that there is less pasta in the special edition boxes and that my kids are little piggies.
So yesterday was one of those days that left me with zero time to write and work. You know those days when one kid is on your hip and the other one is following you around the house asking for the toy off the highest shelf or to go turn on Bubble Guppies on the DVR ..but not just once ….like ALL DAY LONG.
It went something like this: “Mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy xbox juice mommy mommy mommy snack mommy mommy xbox mommy mommy bubble guppies mommy mommy mommy button my pants please mommy mommy mommy i’m out of juice mommy mommy mommy. I want daddy!”
Add to that yesterday was the family monthly trip to our local BJ’s to stock up on groceries, diapers and formula. Not only does the shopping and unloading take several hours, breaking down the meat and putting away all the food strategically in my pantry-less kitchen is a huge time suck.
So… I didn’t cook dinner last night. I know, I know. It’s ok to skip cooking for your family when life gets in the way..but I always feel bad when I serve my kid Spongebob Squarepants mac and cheese for dinner. Which I did. And he ate the entire box because he was so hungry. Mommy guilt anyone?
If my kid and hubs didn’t get a hot meal then I certainly didn’t have time (or material) to post here.
So while I’m off trying to manage my time better and get you a real mom recipe for later today..please visit this other cool mom recipe site I found.
Busy Moms Recipes – I especially like that recipe for no bake oatmeal cookies. That may be a good project for me the boy this weekend.
The delicious and nutritious dinner I served my child last night. He strategically picked out all the Gary shapes first to eat. Only a four year old could distinguish these shapes into four different characters.
