Double Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese

If you have to turn 40(!) it’s best to do it with some style – for me that means good friends, happy dogs, a well-stocked fridge, wine, wine, and more wine, and some spectacular scenery, which is how I rang in the new decade of my life this past weekend. For three days I snuggled up in a beautiful house perched high on Cold Mountain in North Carolina with Steve, Feynman, my best friend, my best friend’s husband, and their little cutie dog, Lucy. We laughed, we drank wine, we took incredibly short walks just to say we got out and “hiked”, and we ate lots and lots of processed food based on our belief that the high altitude and incredibly fresh air would cancel out the thousands of calories we consumed. For me weekends away mean Totino’s pizza rolls, Krispy Creme doughnuts, and lots and lots of potato chips. And wine. Always wine.

Oh, and we learned things! Like, four corporate-type people who spend their days in front of a computer can, in fact, collect firewood, arrange it in the fireplace and actually get it lit while also managing to not burn the house down. Those same people can also figure out that baking soda, salt, and a small amount of dish soap is an amazing substitute for dishwasher detergent saving themselves the 30 minute drive to the nearest grocery store. One of us taught the others how to react if confronted by a bear (hint: don’t run!) and made sure to have the mace AND bear spray on her person at all times while we spent time outside the house (thanks for keeping us safe, Kristen!). Finally, we all learned that there’s no better cure for busy lives than a quick birthday get-away to a remote location with good friends and lots of booze. The best part? Steve organized it all (thank you, thank you, thank you!) and all I had to do was show up.

 It was the best birthday.

I would like to say that we whipped up this incredibly rich and creamy double cheddar macaroni and cheese while we were away this weekend (dressed in our cozy sweaters, red wine in hand, and jazzy music playing in the background), but I think I’ve already given away that we didn’t really do any kind of  real cooking (and, for the record, I spent most of the weekend in pajama pants listening to Rolling Stone Magazine 500 Greatest Songs of All Time). No, I pulled this one together before the big weekend, although  it totally would have gone with our mountain-y get-away weekend.

We’re calling on our old friend bechamel sauce for this one and turning it into the creamiest cheese sauce made with not one, but two types of cheddar cheese It bakes up with the macaroni until it’s piping hot and the top gets nice and melt-y. This time of year there’s nothing better than a hot and cheesy pasta dish and this double cheddar macaroni and cheese is definitely one of my favorites.

I hope you give this one a try! Have a great week, everyone.

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