Giada's Alfredo Sauce

Source: Food Network

Prep time: Very easy

I've never been a huge red-sauce-on-pasta fan, and so it's not really a surprise that when I discovered as a child that people actually ate pasta with something other than spaghetti sauce, it was love at first taste. Alfredo sauces in particular have always been a favorite of mine, and they're on of the few things that I'll occasionally indulge in these days, even when it means a stomach ache later for my dairy-sensitive self. I've shared several cream sauce recipes here in the past, including my previous favorite alfredo sauce. A year or two ago, however, I discovered this unusual-but-totally-amazing alfredo sauce from Giada de Laurentiis, and there is been NO going back for the Baldwin family. If we have alfredo these days it's always this recipe, and it never disappoints. As if that's not recommendation enough in itself, it's very fast and easy to prepare and usually cooks up in much less time than it takes your pasta to boil.

Because the original recipe called for a rather odd amount of pasta, I have adjusted the proportions a little to suit a regular 1lb box of pasta instead. I often halve it for the two of us, depending on how hungry we are; it makes at least 4 generous main-dish servings. It isn't nearly so good the next day, which always breaks my heart, but a tiny drizzle of fresh cream on the reheated noodles goes a long way.

1 one-pound box of your choice of pasta

2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 stick butter

1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan

The zest of your lemons, if you used fresh

Salt and pepper (the original recipe called for freshly-ground white pepper; I usually use freshly-ground whatever-I-have-on-hand)

A sprinkle of nutmeg (optional)

Cook the pasta in salted water until it's done according to your taste; drain and set aside. In a large skillet or in the empty pasta pot, stir all but 1/4 cup of the cream with the lemon juice to combine, then add butter and heat over medium heat just until the butter has melted. Turn heat to low, add the pasta, and toss until it's coated. Add the remaining ingredients (including reserved cream) and stir everything together over low heat until the sauce thickens a little, about one minute. Served immediately, garnished with a little more parmesan if desired. To revitalize leftovers, drizzle just a little bit of fresh cream on noodles after reheating and toss.

Parmesan Drop Biscuits

Prep time: Easy

I've always really loved the crumble topping on this Chicken Pot Pie Crumble recipe, and recently I tweaked it just a little bit to make absolutely delicious savory drop biscuits. Now they're one of my favorite quick and easy snacks!

2 cups flour (I use, and highly recommend, whole wheat)

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

6 tblsp chilled and sliced butter

3/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1 cup heavy cream OR 1/2-3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper together in a medium mixing bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly. Stir in parmesan cheese. Add cream or milk slowly while stirring until dough just holds together (depending on the elements and cooking voodoo of my kitchen at any given moment, I have used more or less cream/milk). Gently shape dough into balls with your hands (mine are usually a little smaller than my palm, but I have small hands!) and drop onto an ungreased pan (I prefer a pan lined with parchment paper for these). Cook for 18-20 minutes. Depending on the size of your biscuit balls, you'll end up with 9-12 drop biscuits. They're delicious for a day or two after cooking, but my favorite way to eat them is right out of the oven!

Lemon-Lime Risotto

Source: Adapted from the Southern Living cookbook (Lemon-Lime Risotto)

Prep time: About 45 minutes of fairly dedicated cooking (come on, it's risotto!)

I've read so many accounts of people first trying risotto and having an essentially transcendent experience. It changes their lives, they remember that moment with perfect clarity, yaddah yaddah. I've made risotto a few times in the past, using different recipes, and honestly, every time Mahon and I were extremely underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, but it was kind of... blah. Bland. Far from transcendent.

Most risotto recipes call for a cup of white wine early in the cooking process. Well, although cooking with alcohol is not usually regarded as being against the Mormon word of wisdom (health and living code), white wine is obviously not something we typically have on hand—and since I typically have a fairly strict policy of not buying ingredients that are only called for in one or two recipes, I've never bought any. (Plus, I'm pretty sure it would make my husband uncomfortable! ;) ) However, I long suspected that the lack of wine was what made my risotto so underwhelming. I'd tried substitutes, like apple juice and more chicken stock, but neither added the twist of flavor that I felt like risotto needed.

Enter this Southern Living recipe, slightly adapted by me (it didn't call for garlic, which seemed sinful!). I've nicknamed it my "Mormon" risotto, because instead of white wine, it uses a dash of lemon juice and a dash of lime juice to add flavor. And guys? This was our transcendent risotto experience. It was even worth half an hour determinedly stirring at a hot stove while my 11-month-old whined at my feet.

6 cups chicken broth (I used my homemade stock; I would definitely recommend using real stock or broth for this recipe since that's where most of the flavor and richness comes from)

The zest and juice of one lemon OR 1 1/2 T bottled lemon juice

The zest and juice of one lime OR 1 1/2 T bottled lime juice

1 large onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t sea salt

2 T EVOO for sautéeing

2 cups uncooked Arborio rice

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup fresh-grated Parmesan cheese

Bring broth, zest, and lemon/lime juices to a boil in a medium saucepan. In a large saucepan or large skillet with tall sides, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and salt and sautée about five minutes, until onions are softening and beginning to be translucent and sweet-smelling. Add garlic and continue to sautée for another two or three minutes, until garlic is just barely beginning to brown and is very aromatic. Add Arborio rice and cook, stirring constantly, for about two minutes, until the rice is turning translucent and looking plumper. Add about 1/2 cup (I used a ladle and just did one ladleful at a time) of the hot stock/juice mixture and stir until all the liquid is absorbed. Continue to add liquid 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it's absorbed. The first two or three ladlefuls absorb/evaporate very quickly; as the cooking time goes on it will take longer and longer to absorb. I also found that after the first ten or so minutes of near-constant stirring, it was okay for me to leave the risotto without stirring for a minute or two while I did other things around the kitchen as long as I was still stirring very frequently. The frequent stirring is what releases the starches in the Arborio rice to create a delectably creamy sauce—you'll find it hard to believe that there's no milk or cream in it!

When all the liquid has been added and the rice is "al dente" and plump, remove from heat and stir in butter and Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately, garnished with more Parmesan and veggies if desired. 

Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Rolls) (Gluten-Free)

Prep time: Very easy

Source: Adapted from Our Best Bites

Two or three years ago, I made this recipe as the original instructions indicated—using cheddar and parmesan cheese. Neither Mahon nor I were especially blown away by them, and I never made it again. Last summer, we went for the first time to Tucano's, a local restaurant chain that serves Brazilian churrascuro (grilled meats & veggies) and fell in love with their pao de queijo. In trying to figure out why we'd loved the Tucano's rolls so much more than the ones I'd made a few years before, I did a bunch of research and found that most of the recipes online call for only parmesan, rather than parmesan and cheddar. Although I was skeptical that parmesan could be the cheese in the Tucano's rolls, which are very mild-tasting, we decided to give it a try and adapted the recipe from Our Best Bites to use only parmesan. To our surprise and TOTAL delight, we had hit on exactly the right cheese! Our rolls were even better than the ones at Tucano's, since we ate them straight out of the oven and they were incredibly fresh and light. I'm embarrassed to say that between the two of us, we downed the whole batch in one night!

1 large egg

1/2 c milk

1/4 c canola oil

1 cup tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)—don't substitute this! Every recipe I read agreed that the tapioca flour is what makes these rolls unique and authentic.

1/2 t kosher salt

1/2 cup grated (fresh) parmesan cheese
Any other desired spices for topping

Preheat oven to 400. Grease two mini muffin tins and set aside. In a blender, add all ingredients except cheese and blend until smooth. Add cheese and pulse 2-3 times. Immediately pour into your prepared muffin tins. (We found that filling them 1/2-2/3 of the way worked the best, though the batter is thin and tends to pour faster than you expect!) You can top with a sprinkle of extra cheese, a bit of kosher salt, or any other herb or spice you'd like! (Rosemary is also DELICIOUS.)

Bake 15-20 minutes or until the rolls have puffed up (they will puff quite a bit!) and are just barely golden on top. Ours took exactly 15 minutes. According to the original recipe, the yield varies depending on how full you fill your muffin cups; we ended up with about 20.

Serve immediately. These made a great companion to a meal of Black Bean Soup (also a Brazilian recipe originally from OBB!).

Pupusas

Prep time: Medium

Source: Inspired by my friend Sacha, who introduced me to them, but the recipe is really my own

For as many recipes as I have on this blog, there is one whole category of meals which we make frequently that is conspicuously missing! My dad served his LDS mission in Mexico, and fell in love with authentic Mexican food while he was there. Because of that, I grew up with him frequently making dishes (like fresh tostados—still one of my absolute favorite meals!) from masa harina, or Mexican corn flour. When I got older, he taught me how to make a good masa dough to be used in recipes like corn tortillas, tostados, and gorditas. However, my dad's method—and now mine—of cooking with masa is very much "a little bit of this, then just enough of that to get the right consistency," so since none of my recipes use actual proportions, I've never typed them up! However, I'm determined to get my favorite masa recipes on this blog.

Because pupusas are El Salvedorean and not Mexican, I'd never heard of them until my friend Sacha asked me to teach her how to work with masa so that she could make some pupusas for her husband. Soon after that, I started making them as well, and Mahon and I were hooked! We now make these frequently, and I've never met anyone who doesn't love them. Since they're an all-in-one kind of dish, they also make exceptionally good picnic or traveling food! In El Salvador, they're often topped with curtido, which is a type of fermented cabbage salad, but if we don't have that we just top them with sour cream.

Like tamales, you can fill these pupusas with just about anything you like—meat, beans, cheese, or a combination of all three! I usually use whatever we happen to have on hand, and will often make them meatless. The recipe I'm including here is one of our favorites.

A note on the yield with this recipe: As I said above, I really don't usually measure any of this! These are all rough guesstimations, so feel free to play around with any of the proportions if they don't feel right to you. I am guessing this recipe, followed closely, would yield 12-16 pupusas, which is normally about how many I try to make (enough for the two of us to have for dinner and lunch the next day—so it essentially serves four).

4 cups masa (you can find this is the Latin aisle of any grocery store)

1/2 t salt (I like using kosher salt—it's a little more of a zing!)

2-3 cups warm water

1 chicken breast, boiled and shredded

1 cup pinto or black beans

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 t salt

A dash of chili powder

1/4 t cumin

Preheat a griddle or ungreased skillet to about 375 degrees. In medium mixing bowl, combine masa and salt. Add warm water and mix with a wooden spoon or your finger (my preference) until the masa dough is roughly the consistency of wet sand. In separate bowl, mix together shredded chicken, beans, cheese, and spices.

There are a few different ways to assemble your pupusas. I actually made a video demonstrating these different ways a few months ago, but for some reason I can't get it to do anything, so I'll have to hope I can describe each method adequately!

The first way is to separate your masa into balls a little smaller than golf balls and roll them out (or smash them with a tortilla press) into small tortillas. Take two of your tortillas and layer them on top of each other, with a generous scoop of filling in between. Pinch the edges of the tortillas together to seal in the filling and cook for a few minutes on each side until done. 

The second way is to take a ball of masa about half the size of your fist and gently flatten it out with your hand until it fills your palm. Cup your hand a little to create a little bowl shape, and then press a spoonful of filling into the crater and gently work the edges of the masa dough up around the filling until the edges meet and you end up with a ball of masa dough with filling encased inside. Gently roll this ball out or smash with a tortilla press (you will be able to see filling through the sides—that's just fine), and then cook on both sides til done.

The third (and most authentic) way, which is actually our favorite way of doing it because it produces by far the best texture (and is kind of fun, too!) is to follow the first few steps of method #2 until you  have your ball of masa with filling encased inside. Then, instead of rolling it out like you would a tortilla, gently "slap" the ball back and forth between your palms, rotating it around as you go to keep it circular. This can take a little practice, but it's really pretty fun once you get the hang of it! (And don't worry—ugly pupusas still taste fantastic!) After a few slaps back and forth, your pupusa should be a disk about 1/4" thick. Press this gently onto your pan or griddle and cook on both sides til done. (This method will take a little longer to cook than others, since it produces thicker pupusas—I let it cook on the first side until the edges of the pupusa start to look dry, and then flip it and cook 3-5 minutes on the second side as well.)

Serve hot with sour cream and salsa or contido.

Pinterest Macaroni & Cheese

Prep Time: Medium

Source: Pinterest (with adaptations)

You know the mac'n'cheese recipe that's been floating around Pinterest for ages—the unique characteristic being that the noodles are cooked in milk? Well, we fell in love with it last year and now make it regularly. Here's my take on it!

3 cups pasta

1 cup water

1 cup whole milk

(Or else use 2 cups 2% or skim milk)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground mustard

A shake of pepper

3/4 cups sharp(ish) cheddar cheese

1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese

In medium saucepan, combine all ingredients except cheese and stir to combine. Place saucepan over medium heat until milk just barely begins to boil, stirring frequently; once milk is showing signs of boiling, turn it down to low. Allow pasta to cook for about 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently. When the milk is mostly absorbed and about the consistency of a cream sauce, test a noodle for doneness. If the noodles need more cooking time, add a little water (about 1/4 cup at a time) and allow to keep cooking until desired tenderness is reached. Stir in grated cheese, remove from heat, and cover for about 5 minutes to allow cheese time to melt. Serve immediately.

Cindy's Favorite Pizza Sauce

I would have a picture of this... 

But I'm pregnant, so I just ate it all.

Prep Time: Very easy

Source: I had a few different inspirations for this sauce, but a lot of the basis came from Peter Reinhart's Crushed Tomato Pizza Sauce

If you know me at all, you probably know that I have always hated tomatoes and anything containing tomatoes—from ketchup on down. For most of my life, pizza sauce has been no exception, and I'm still not overly fond of most pizza sauces. Around high school, however, I started noticing that I actually enjoyed some kinds of pizza sauce, but not others. Over the last few years, every time I've had pizza I've tried to identify what elements about it I did or didn't like. Eventually, I had a pretty detailed list of things that I did or didn't like in a pizza sauce. (In case you wondered, it was: Savory, not sweet; fresh crushed tomatoes, not simmered-for-hours tomato sauce; simple and Neopolitan-style; and nothing that got its start in a jar of tomato sauce—turns out there's something in those basic tomato sauce cans I hate!) This summer, with fresh tomatoes from my garden, I decided to take what I learned and apply it to my own sauce recipe. This very simple sauce has since become our go-to recipe. Mahon and I can't get enough of it! It's also very easy to customize to your own taste preferences by adding sugar and other spices. We personally love the fresh-tomato taste, but if you prefer a stewed tomato sauce, feel free to simmer the sauce on low heat for an hour or two before using.

This recipe makes enough for a large pizza or two medium pizzas (unless you are like my husband and would like 1" of sauce on your pizza!), but it can easily be doubled as many times as you need. It can also be frozen and used later.

3 medium tomatoes*

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinaigrette

1 t salt

1/2 t oregano

1/8 t garlic powder

1/8 t black pepper

Parmesan or romano cheese, grated (optional)

If you'd like to remove the tomato skins—gently score a cross into the bottom of each tomato and blanch for about 60 seconds in boiling water. Skin and cut off the tomato tops. Toss in blender along with all other ingredients except cheese. Pulse on the lowest setting until tomatoes are crushed but not puréed. Pour sauce into a bowl. If desired, stir in about 1/8-1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese. (I'd never heard of cheese in pizza sauce before, but it turns out it's pretty common and really delicious!) Technically, you're supposed to allow the sauce to marinade for about an hour before using, but we've done it both ways without a hugely noticeable taste difference—the flavors steep together pretty well when cooking.

Although I initially tried this sauce recipe with a fancy, double-raised, all-afternoon pizza crust recipe, since then I've ended up going back to our tried-and-true favorite pizza crust recipe every time, made with 100% whole wheat flour. I always cook the pizzas for 12 minutes. This crust recipe pairs wonderfully with this sauce! (As evidenced by the fact that I just ate. My. Whole. Pizza. Granted, it was small!)

*Thus far, I've only used fresh garden tomatoes for this sauce. Once I run out, however, I plan to do some experimenting with canned tomatoes, which I'm sure will work just fine too.

Cream Cheese Won-Tons

Rating: 4 stars

Prep Time: Easy

The other night while making eggrolls, we had several pasta sheets left over after the eggroll filling was all gone. Rather than stick them back in the fridge, I decided on the spur of the moment to imitate an appetizer we had had at (where else) Panda Express once—cream cheese won-tons. They were very easy, and the cream cheese went surprisingly well with the fried wrapper. We dipped them in soy sauce and the zing of the sauce was a great complement to the mildness of the cream cheese.

Eggroll wrappers cut in fourths (or won-ton wrappers)

Cream cheese

Canola/veggie oil for frying

Scoop a small dollop of cream cheese into the center of each won-ton square. Wet fingertip with water and dab on opposite corners of square. Bring opposite corners together and push to seal. Do the same thing with remaining corners. (Essentially, you're trying to draw all four corners into the center and seal the sides. You'll end up with a neat-looking little package.) Alternatively, if you're using won-ton wrappers, you can wrap them according to the directions on the package.

Fry in oil over medium heat, or when oil pops when water is dropped in, but isn't smoking much. Drain on paper towels. Serve with your choice of dipping sauce.

Lemon Cheese/Paneer/Queso Fresco

So this is my new thing: making cheese. Because I haven't yet invested in things like rennet and cultures, I've been limiting myself to a very simple "lemon cheese" (also called "paneer" in India and "queso fresco" in Mexico). You can also make it with vinegar, if you don't have lemon, though I haven't tried it yet. The cheese is VERY simple and incredibly delicious. Serve this next time you need appetizers for a party and I can assure you, you will wow everyone!

1 quart whole milk

1/4 cup lemon juice (I used the kind from a bottle)

Salt

(Any other desired herbs/spices)

Line a colander with cheesecloth OR loose (clean) cotton. I just used cotton—in fact, I recommend it for this cheese, since it has small curds. If you use cheesecloth, use 2 or 3 layers to make sure the curds don't slip through. If you want to save the whey from your cheese, set the colander inside a bowl so that the bowl will catch the whey when you strain the cheese. (Whey is apparently really healthy and can be used in baking. I don't honestly know much about it, except that every cheese recipe I've seen has talked about saving the whey!)

In double-boiler (if you don't have a double-boiler, find a metal or glass bowl big enough to sit on top of one of your existing saucepans and use that!) heat milk over medium heat, stirring frequently, just until milk begins to have frothy bubbles around the edges and in the middle (DO NOT let it boil). For those with a thermometer, this is really anywhere between 100-180 degrees. As soon as you start seeing these frothy bubbles, remove the top part of your double boiler (pot or bowl, as it may be) and set on a hot pad on the counter. Let it sit for 15 minutes; it will maintain a temperature of over 100 degrees this whole time. Once the 15 minutes is up, pour lemon juice into milk and stir it all up with a spoon. You will start to see the milk thicken and separate almost immediately. Stir for a few minutes until the milk is fully separated—you will see stringy white curds and watery yellow/green whey. Once milk is separated, pour into lined colander. (Because I use cotton and not cheesecloth, I let the cheese sit in the colander for 3-5 minutes so it's not still swimming in whey when I hang it.)

Once most of the whey is strained off, gently draw the corners of your cheesecloth/cotton into the center and tie them together with a string. Hang the string from something in your kitchen (I use a kitchen cabinet knob; I've also seen pictures of people using their sink faucet), with the whey bowl underneath to catch the drips. Let your cheese drain 30-60 minutes, depending on whether or not you want a creamier or a dryer texture. (Using my cotton, I let my cheese drain for 60 minutes and it is perfect—creamy and spreadable, but not quite as creamy as, say, cream cheese.) If you are going for crumbly queso fresco to use in Mexican recipes (it's great on top of refried beans!), let it hang 2 hours.

Once the cheese is done draining, gently untie your bundle and scrape the curds into a bowl. At this point, if you want savory/salty cheese, add salt to taste. (Err on the side of too little, as the salt flavor will get stronger as the crystals dissolve and the cheese cures.) You can also add in any other herbs/spices/flavorings that you'd like to at this point. Once everything is mixed in, take the back of a spoon and press the cheese gently into the bottom of the bowl so that it is one cohesive unit, rather than a lot of loose curds. Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours; the cheese is best the next day, after its flavor has had a little time to mature, but about 3 days down the road it loses flavor. For queso fresco, don't press the curds into the bowl - just stir in the salt and let them remain loose and crumbly.

Enjoy! It's SO easy and SO delicious! I also think it tastes a little bit like chevre goat cheese, which I love.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup Like Panera

Rating: 5 stars

Prep time: Easy

I love the broccoli cheddar soup from Panera bread. I found a copycat recipe on the internet, and made a few alterations. Now I like it just as much as Panera's! (Recipe updated with a few more alterations, as of 1/30/13)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 small onion, chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup flour

2 cups half-and-half (or 1 cup milk, 1 cup cream, or 2 cups half-and-half substitute)

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 head to 1 full head broccoli, chopped

1 cup carrots, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups grated sharp cheddar
1/4 t nutmeg

Saute onion and garlic in butter; add flour and mix well. Cook until bubbly. Slowly add stock, continuing to stir. Add broccoli and carrots and bring soup to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat and add half-and-half and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over low heat until the veggies are tender (20-40 minutes), stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and purée at least half of the soup with a stick blender, or in batches in a regular blender (if you want to keep some of your veggies chunky, leave half the soup as-is).

Remove soup from heat. Add cheese, and stir until fully melted. Add nutmeg and serve immediately.

Alfredo Pasta

Rating: 5 stars

Prep time: Easy

8 oz. Fettucine or Penne pasta

3 T butter

1 T flour

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. black pepper

1 c. whole milk

2 oz cream cheese

1/3 c. fresh grated Parmesan

In a heavy saucepan, melt butter. Blend in flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring continually. Cook until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Add cream cheese, and Parmesan cheese. Remove from heat and stir constantly, until the cheeses melt. (An additional 1/4 c. milk may be added if needed.) Add sauce to prepared noodles and serve garnished with parmesan cheese. Makes 2 generous servings.

World's Creamiest Macaroni & Cheese

Rating: 5 stars
Prep Time: Easy

Way back when I was nine or ten years old, I learned to make a homemade macaroni and cheese recipe from an old microwave cookbook my mom had. This was the first dinner I ever learned how to cook, and it has always been a favorite. Since I got married, I've been playing around with macaroni and cheese recipes and I think I've finally hit on the perfect one! This recipe is super creamy, flavorful, and even makes great leftovers. I always say that this is what macaroni and cheese wants to be when it grows up. The recipe I use now is sort of adapted from both the original microwave cookbook recipe and Ina Garten's mac & cheese recipe, but the final product doesn't bear a lot of resemblance to either. I can promise, though, it is DELICIOUS!

World's Creamiest Mac & Cheese

3/4 lb-1 lb elbow macaroni (or whatever smallish pasta you like—I love using shells, wagon wheels, and other fancy noodles). 3/4 lb makes for a cheesier, creamier dish, while a full pound makes more servings.
4 cups milk
4 T butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups grated fresh parmesan cheese (pre-grated parmesan won't add enough flavor). If you don't have parmesan, just add an additional 2 cups of cheddar... but it's not gonna be as good!
1/8 t pepper
1 t salt

2 T butter

Preheat oven to 375. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil; add pasta and cook until tender. In large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat until bubbly. Whisk in flour and cook until mixture is bubbling. Slowly add milk; cook for a few minutes until sauce is warm, thickened, and smooth. (It will not be as thick as a regular white sauce.) Remove from heat; stir in salt and pepper. Add cheeses and stir. If your pot is big enough, fold in pasta, mix well, and pour into large baking dish; if not, fold pasta into large baking dish, pour cheese sauce on top, and mix well. Dot remaining 2 T of butter over top of macaroni. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until top is brown and toasty. Enjoy!