Cheese

Hello. I'm Donna, and I'm a cheese addict.

I always tell people my favorite food is pizza, but that's mainly because of the amount of cheese on top of it.

I also love macaroni and cheese, made from scratch, baked in the oven; unfortunately, Kraft has created an entire generation of kids that prefer the kind from a box, with fake cheese. I'll admit I like that kind too, but I really loved the old-fashioned kind.

I am not, however, a cheese snob. I'm American cheese all the way, with perhaps some medium cheddar to nibble on as a snack. If I'm feeling really daring, I'll have a few bites of pepper jack.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of looking at Pioneer Woman's cooking section the other day. I seldom look at that portion of her blog because it tends to make my arteries clog shut and my blood pressure climb... and that's just looking at the pictures!

I saw this recipe called "Fancy Macaroni". I've been able to think of nothing else for days.

Ree says, "Choose whatever four cheeses you'd like - sometimes it's fun to play around."

Then she goes on to say she is using Gruyere, Fontina, and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Folks, not only am I unable to pronounce those, I've never even heard of two of them.

Sam's Club has a huge selection of cheeses, so I decided while I was there to look for those exotic-sounding cheeses. Indeed, I found three of the four; the cost for each of them was about five dollars an ounce. Seriously! I did buy some real Parmesan (as opposed to the dry kind in the green box) because the price wasn't so bad on that, and we'll use it on spaghetti later on. Who knows, I might even let my daughter use some for lasagna if she agrees to invite us over to help eat it. And just to show I'm not afraid, I bought some Feta cheese (it wasn't so expensive).

I'm using Ree's recipe as a guideline for a supper dish tonight to go along with our meat loaf, but I'll be calling it "Not-So-Fancy Macaroni", because I'm using Feta, cheddar, and Parmesan cheeses. I'm also cutting the recipe in half; it makes far too much for me, Cliff and his sister. However, if it's good, I might make it at a later date for company.

I'll let you know how it turns out.