Macaroni and Cheese _ Easy Recipe _ No Eggs _ Thanksgiving Series 2020 _ Video #5

Everybody .

Welcome back to my kitchen .

Happy Thanksgiving Eve .

You guys , I am so excited and I'm so glad that you all joined me for another edition in my series of Thanksgiving holiday recipes .

2020 .

So it's another day .

I'm back in this kitchen again .

And like I said , y'all , we can't do Thanksgiving macaroni and cheese .

So that's what we will be doing today and I will be doing mac and cheese .

Like y'all already know like my mama used to do it real simple and easy recipe .

But before I get started , you guys , I probably should have videoed this , but I didn't because I have , I've already done a video where , where I've done roast beef , but I have been slow roasting this roast beef since 1 30 this morning and it's 12 30 I'm just taking it out of the oven .

I want you guys to peep at it real quick and then we're gonna get back on .

Ok ?

I know this ain't what we talking about , but this is what we have to look at .

I want y'all to look at this slow roast roast me .

And I really wish I had thought to share it with you guys .

But because I had done one already a recipe on my channel , I didn't do it but that one was in the instant pot .

So I should have you guys .

I apologize .

I will do it at another time .

But I want you guys to look at how tender this roast beef is .

Let's see , see if we can get in a little bit more if you get and because I had so much to cook , I just did it in a in an oven bag .

Look at that .

Mm .

Oh we y'all have some good eating right there and I do the roast beef in addition to the ham and the turkey because my dad loves , loves , loves roast beef .

So now I do that every Thanksgiving as well .

OK ?

Back to this macaroni and cheese because I'm getting ready to be right in my mouth .

I'm getting ready to go on and add my noodles .

I've already boiled some of them because I have so many of them to do .

Um but you guys always add a little bit of oil to your water just a little bit and then I always salt my water .

OK ?

Add a little bit of salt to your water .

And what I like to do is taste it because I like to taste my water to make sure that I can taste the salt .

I don't want it over powerful but I want enough salt to wear as when I boil my noodles , it's going to um you know , get the salt in my noodles .

OK ?

Now I can taste that .

That water is salty .

Again .

I have already boiled some of these .

So we use the zit noodles .

My mom always use these large noodles and I'm going to do two boxes .

I've already done part of this one because I have to make a lot of mess nice .

And again , I wanna go and get these this on in my mouth .

OK .

OK .

So two boxes of zit noodles by all means y'all already know you can use whatever kind of noodle that you want .

You like the little elbow macaroni , the pasta shells , the little squiggly spiral noodles , whatever you wanna use , whatever tickles your fancy , that's what you use .

But we always use the large ZT noodles .

Now , unlike most people , we don't do our macaroni and cheese with eggs , no eggs very , very simple .

We use salt , salt , pepper , some butter and cheese and our cheese preference preferences are sharp cheddar and also mozzarella .

These are the two cheeses that my mom used in her macaroni and cheese .

And if you've looked at my other other videos , I don't know if you know about now but this Thanksgiving and everything that I'm cooking .

I , I have referenced my mom a whole lot .

These are fun , happy memories that I have my mom cooking and the things I've learned .

So I'm just sharing it with you guys .

OK ?

But you can feel free to use whatever kind of cheeses that you like to use .

I have used other cheeses before .

Um but today I'm just gonna do sharp and I'm gonna do mozzarella and then we just use milk and I use 2% milk because that's the kind of milk that we drink .

You can always use milk , you can use like milk and whipping cream .

Whatever you choose to do works .

OK ?

Now , because I'm making such a large batch of macaroni and cheese .

I'm gonna try to do one small pan because again , I'm feeding my family .

So my brothers are gonna come by and pick up food for their families since we can't get together this year because of a but anyhoo what's most important is that everyone is safe and well , right .

Absolutely .

OK .

So , but because I'm doing such a big pan , I'm trying to give you guys some measurements and I keep saying you guys , I'm that southern cook that we just cook .

I don't measure a lot .

So I'm trying to get something together uh for you guys .

Where's that pan ?

I had ?

OK .

So some of it will be the majority of it will be in this big pan .

So this little pan right here , I'm gonna fix as well and I'm gonna give you some guys give you guys some measurements based on this little pan .

For example , if you take three cups .

Now , these are the zit noodles that we use .

If you were to take three cups of the dry noodles , when you boil them , they're gonna yield about 6.5 cups .

Ok .

So dry , it's only three cups .

But when you boil them it's gonna be about 6.5 , maybe seven , but definitely about 6.5 .

Ok .

So this pan that I'm gonna do here will be based on uh , 6.5 cups of , let's just start with the dry because you're gonna start with the dry before you boil them .

So three cups of dry zit noodles .

I don't know if that changes , if you use , if you use the smaller noodles or what ?

I don't know .

But thanks for the big noodles .

So we're gonna do this pan and it will yield about 6.5 cups of cooked noodles .

And this is the pan that I'm gonna use to try my best to give you guys some measurements .

Ok .

Ok .

So now one thing that my sister and I have started adding uh when we do macaroni and cheese and I actually got this from my baby sister .

She likes to add Italian seasoning and I love it too .

So we add a little bit of Italian seasoning , you know , hey , it's pasta .

Give it that little pasta flair if you will with the Italian seasoning .

So we will add a little bit of this as well .

Mama didn't do this .

Ok ?

She just kept it simple .

And you guys , if you really think about it , our good southern cooks , you know when it comes to our moms and grandmothers and great grandmothers , they were wonderful cooks and they kept it so simple .

Sometimes you got , we be trying to do too much .

We've been trying to do the most and then y'all be messing stuff up , be trying to do something all extra special in advance for the family reunion and for Thanksgiving and you bye .

I'm gonna need you to keep it simple cause now you done messed up the macaroni and cheese .

OK ?

So my noodles are going to boil maybe another um five minutes and time because you don't want to over boil them .

OK ?

You don't want to over boil them because you're going to bake them .

What did they say ?

Do you want them a little ?

Is that what they say ?

Girl , you just don't want to overcook them .

That's what they mean .

OK .

All right .

So we're gonna let this keep boiling and I'm gonna use my little here to grate my cheese .

I don't know how much cheese I'm getting ready to use .

I have £7 right here but I'm not gonna use all of it but I have my little you guys since I have so much cheese to grate .

This is my little uh This is my little nutri nutri slicer .

I think I got it .

From , I don't know if it was home shopping Network or QVC somewhere , something like that .

I've had it for years .

So I can't tell you , but it has these different little blades that you can attach that will slice and stuff .

Ain't that right ?

So I'm gonna use this one to grate with because it has the larger hole .

So that's the one I'm gonna use in a few minutes and , uh , wait a minute , it was something else I was going to say , oh , as pertains to the cheese , I like to grate my cheese .

You guys , when you grate your cheese , in my opinion , my experience it makes the cheese .

It's creamier because what happens is when you all buy that cheese that's already in the pre shredded in the bag , they use some type of starch or something they put on that , that uh raw , a raw , that a raw cheese to preserve it because you've already , it's already grated and it's been hanging up in the grocery store for a long time .

And if it's been in the grocery store for a long time , they , they need to preserve it .

Ok .

So I'm better than bad .

Take the , I take the time to grate my cheese .

It don't take long .

It don't take long when you're in the kitchen cooking y'all .

You can't be trying to rush in the kitchen .

Now , a good cook .

Don't mind taking the time .

You can't be doing all that rushing in the kitchen , that's how you mess stuff up trying to hurry up and get done .

So take your time in the kitchen and then you know take your time and cook everybody feel all that love that , love that you don't cook with .

That's alright .

Ok , so don't be in a hurry when you in the kitchen especially not holiday meals .

Now sometimes we all be in a hurry .

I know I do sometimes .

But meals like this , I just look forward to taking my time and just doing what I need to do in here in my happy place .

OK ?

So I'm gonna start grating my cheese while these noodles continue to boil .

OK ?

You guys ?

So that's all of the cheese that I think I'm going to use .

It's all grated and you'll notice that I did keep the mozzarella and the sharp cheese separated and this is what I have left and like I shared before and I get , I buy my cheese in the block like that and I cut it in the little blocks , put it in the freezer .

And that way I can just pull out what I want when I'm ready to use it .

And I do not mind grating the cheese because it literally only takes a few minutes .

OK ?

So now I have put all of my noodles in and the pan .

Yeah .

Yeah .

All of my salted the water .

I wanna put a little bit more salt in my noodles and also while they are warm , I'm gonna go on and open up this stick of butter and put it in here too so it can get all melted .

And this is the time I like to add any other seasonings that I may want .

Like the Italian seasoning .

I'm just gonna go and Sprinkle it in here .

Totally optional Black Temple and I'm just gonna stir this around to get all of my noodles coated in the butter and all of the other seasonings .

OK ?

And so I can give you guys some kind of measurement .

So I'm gonna start with this little pan and it's a little butter residue left on this butter packet .

I'm just gonna take it and rub it in his face .

OK ?

So I don't do , we don't use a what you call it a root or cheese sauce .

Don't do any of that .

I'm going to simply start by layering this um this pan here and we usually start see if I can zoom you in a little bit earrings , a limited sharp cheddar on the bottom .

And then I'm going to add some noodles and I'm not going to like really overfill this payment .

OK ?

Now I'm gonna add a layer of look at the mozzarella and we're gonna add some more cheddar and I'm just , you know , kind of grabbing a handful .

OK ?

And you guys , I just , now I'm gonna add another layer of noodles and in this pan , I'm just gonna do two layers and they're not real thick layers .

OK ?

We like our macaroni and cheese .

Really cheesy .

OK ?

I'm gonna go in with another layer of mozzarella and now I'm just gonna top it off with cheddar .

Again , these two layers were not very thick .

OK ?

So if you do a pan like this , I suggest you only do two layers and then as it pertains to the liquid , I'm gonna start with one cup and then we're gonna see what that looks like and see what it feels like and what I usually do kind of tilt the pan to see if I can see the milk running and I'm not seeing anything .

So I think I'm OK to do OK ?

So that's one cup .

I'm not seeing any milk .

So I'm gonna add just a little bit more .

We're gonna do a half a cup .

OK ?

I'm just now barely seeing the milk kind of run .

Let me zoom in to see if I can show you guys exactly what I'm looking at .

OK ?

OK .

As it pertains to the milk , what I do is I look , if you look right here to see if you see where the milk is , is uh As a matter of fact , let's look in the corner and see if you kinda can , you guys kind of see the milk .

Do you see the milk there ?

So that's kind of like a rule of thumb for me .

If I can see it a little bit , OK ?

You don't want too much and see how that milk is kind of gathering there just a little bit and you guys , it's really hard to explain .

So hopefully that makes sense .

You all and as you bake it , it has to set .

So you cannot dig into this as soon as it it comes out .

Um Let me add just a little bit more cheddar on the top .

My oven has preheated to 3 50 .

I don't necessarily like to cook this really fast .

As a matter of fact , I'm gonna cook it on 3 25 because I want it to cook kind of slow because I want the cheeses , you know , to melt slow and incorporate with that milk .

OK ?

So we did two layers that were not really thick in this pan and layer it with the cheese .

And then we did a cup and a half of milk .

That's about the best of a foundation I can give you guys .

OK .

So then we're gonna top it off with some black pepper and uh y'all know I need some parsley , some parsley and some parsley just top it off with some parsley .

OK ?

Again , when you bake this , it has to sit , you can't pull it out of the oven and dig right into it because you're gonna see the milk just kind of run up and it , you know , may look a little runny , but if you let it set then , um , mm , it should be fine .

Ok .

And I will admit this is something that sometimes is just , you know , kind of hard to get right if you're not used to doing it .

And then , you know , that's why a lot of people use the eggs or the flowers or the , the flour or the root or cheddar sauce because , you know , it makes that macaroni and cheese firm up and give , you know , give that consistency that , you know , a lot of people like .

And again , there's no wrong way of doing , of doing it unless it's nasty and unless you'll jump nasty if it's nasty and that's the wrong way .

But if you like the roux and the cheddar and by all means do that , I just wanted to share with you how we do our macaroni and cheese and it's , it's just a simple recipe and it just doesn't have to be complicated .

OK ?

So , so now I'm gonna just add the cheese to this other one and then we'll get both of them in the oven .

And you guys this one here , I didn't want to take the noodles back out of this pan .

So I just put some cheese in there kind of did this here to , to get it mixed up and I'm gonna pour some milk now so I can , you know , see what I'm doing before I cover it up , you know , put the top layer of the cheese on it just wanna see what I'm looking like with my milk had a little truck left in there .

Ok , so you guys see the milk kind of down there in the corner ?

Can you see that a little bit ?

Ok let me add just a little bit more .

Ok , now we're gonna top it off with the rest of the cheese .

Yes we love it .

Cheesy .

Alright let's get them in the oven and I forgot to mention that I also like to just add oil to the top of it when it first starts cooking .

Um and because of some reason you know if it's pushing a little too fast or if I'm needing to cook it a little bit longer to kind of get that milk to absorb , then the top of it won't , you know , it won't already have started browning so I just cover it up so that cheese can , you know , just kind of melt slowly without starting to brown because I can always um you know , once it's set enough , I can always put it under the broiler for a few minutes to get that cheese and start browning and bubbling on top if I need to .

But if you do that , you gotta watch it because the cheese will burn quick fast and in a hurry .

So again I have my oven set on 3 25 and that's just because I just wanted to cook slow .

I have time to let it do that and um I'm probably gonna let it just hang out in there for maybe about maybe about 45 minutes and then I'll check it again .

Ok , I'm just gonna take the full off .

Now actually been trying to kind of multitask .

This gave me a little bit more time to kind of cook this slow .

So now I'm gonna turn it up to like 3 75 and then just let them brown .

Ok , you guys , now that I've taken the foil off , this is what we're looking like and I want you to kind of see the consistency of it .

Um , and you know what we did with just the milk , you see that , see how cheesy it looks and what I don't want to do is I don't want it to get dry .

He does don't want it to get dry .

So I love the how it's starting to brown around the edge .

So what I'm gonna do now is just turn my oven up .

I'm gonna turn it up on broil .

Let me pull that one out for just a second and you guys can see what this one is looking like and I just , you know , really think that's one thing about um the mac and cheese .

You know , you guys can kind of just put it in there and let it cook slow .

Ok ?

You see how this one is looking creamy too ?

Let me put it on a of a shield scratch and then kind of zoom in .

I'm sorry , give you , give you some light hat .

Didn't have a light on .

Ok .

Now let's take a look .

You see how it's creamy .

Wait a minute , let me see where the camera is .

Ok .

See how creamy that looks and you see a little bit of the milk , but as it sets , that will continue , that will kind of firm up a little bit more .

So I don't want to leave it in there much longer because I don't want it to dry all of the milk out .

So what I'm gonna do now I'm gonna start with this one and I'm just gonna put it under the broiler just for a couple of minutes .

You guys that will happen really quickly .

So you definitely need to keep your eye on it just gonna get it just a little bit brown on the top and you guys , I'm telling you it does not take long .

You get here the sizzle .

We're gonna take this one out and put this one in .

Oh listen to that beautiful sizzle .

Ok .

So and that's all that's all I wanted to do .

So I'm gonna cover them up now .

I look at that pretty macaroni and cheese .

Mm Y'all know them edges just be the best .

Well , you guys , I guess we're on to the next video .

If you enjoyed this video , please give me a thumbs up .

Uh subscribe , turn on the nosy bell .

That's your notification bell .

So you will be notified every time I upload .

Thank you guys so much for watching .

We already look forward to you joining us again next time .

Bye .