Incidentally, I just re-watched Food, Inc. last week, and I'm always struck by the brilliance of Micheal Pollan, who luckily, is given ample screen time in the documentary. Pollan's been vocal about all the reasons Americans don't eat healthier, but rather than just lament the problem, he also gives reasonable, easy solutions. I just finished reading Pollan's Food Rules: an eater's manifesto. This slim pocket volume is a series of adages that are quippy, easy to remember, and incredible wise, which if followed, would improve the average American's diet by leaps and bounds. Pollan divides these 64 rules into three categories: What should I eat? (Eat Food); What kind of food should I eat? (Mostly plants.); and How should I eat? (Not too much.)
These rules are easy to apply and remember, but for my mac and cheese musings, I just want to focus on the first category. Eat food. Sounds obvious, right? But so much of what is on supermarket shelves is what Pollan has described as "edible, food-like substances." You can tell you have an edible food-like substance on your hands if you follow the rules. For instance, rule 2 states, "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." Would Nanna believe that Easy Mac is something you can eat after only adding water and nuking it in the microwave? Or, consider Rule 3: "Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry." I don't know about you, but I don't keep my kitchen stocked with phosphate, lactic acid, or yellow 5 and yellow 6, all of which are ingredients in Kraft Mac and Cheese. And finally, if you're still in doubt about the food in question, refer to Rule 7: "Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce." My guess is an average third grader would have problems with sodium tripolyphosphate, also found in commercial mac and cheese.
So, now that I know Kraft Mac and Cheese is an edible, food-like substance, the alternative is to make my own, from scratch. One of the most common excuses people make for not eating better is that it's too time consuming and too complicated. But I was able to whip up this from dish in about 15 minutes, and it took ten minutes just to cook the pasta--the same amount of time that it would have taken to cook macaroni from the box. While this still isn't health food by any means, I do feel better about eating it, because I know exactly what's in it.
Scratch Mac
1 cup elbow macaroni
1/4 cup butter (preferably organic and from grass-fed cows)
2 T. flour
1 cup milk (preferably organic and from grass-fed cows)1 cup grated cheddar cheese (preferably organic and from grass-fed cows)
salt and pepper to taste
I cooked the pasta in a large pot of bowling water. While it cooked, I grated the cheddar cheese. When the macaroni was finished cooking, I drained it in a colander. Then, I melted the butter in the empty pot, and added the flour--forming a thick paste. I cooked it for a minute or two, over medium heat, stirring constantly, and then slowly whisked the milk in. Once the milk was incorporated, I cooked it until it thickened nicely, another couple of minutes. Then I dumped in the cheese, stirred it in until melted and added the drained pasta. A quick shake of salt and pepper and that's it. Easy!
(I also was inspired by the rosemary plant sitting on my kitchen table, and decided to add about a 1/2 t. of fresh, minced rosemary to the mac and cheese. It was delicious, but completely optional.)
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