355 Days: Macaroni and Tomatoes and Cheese

Oh comfort food how I love thee.

My mom is not what you would call a good cook. She's forever burning, undercooking, forgetting ingredients, and she doesn't believe in recipes. Mom grew up really poor and was the youngest of six girls. A lot of her favorite dishes from childhood include ingredients like government cheese and are based on feeding a huge family on a very small budget. (My Granny was the queen of making a dollar stretch!) That all being said she has one thing that, all of us love, and I insist she make it every time I visit. Mom's Macaroni, tomato & cheese. I like to call it macaroni and tomatoes and cheese, cuz I'm silly :-)

So here is my version of Mom's most famous comfort food.

It's super simple with 4 main ingredients

1 can of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp of butter

1 inch (2.5cm) of cheese
Box of Pasta
Salt and pepper to taste

One inch of cheese means to cut about an inch of cheese from the block. Mom used boxed Kraft cheese (the closest to government cheese) but I prefer Monterey Jack. You can use any melt cheese you like. I've used Colby as well and it turns out nicely.

Me showing how much cheese I used.
Don't mind my green thumb I was dying a shirt earlier.

In a big pot start boiling water for your pasta. I use this gluten free pasta in Australia but in the US I love quinoa pasta.

While it boils get the sauce started on your sauce. Add can of tomatoes, butter and cheese to a sauce pot over low heat. You should cut the cheese up into smaller pieces so it will melt easily. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir it frequently so it doesn't stick or burn.