5 Minute Mac n Cheese

Today's recipe has been brought to you by another day of lunch boredom.  A few weeks ago I wrote about the 10 minute baked potato.  But what if you don't have any potatoes?  Or, more likely, you are so hungry lazy you don't want to spend even 10 minutes making yourself lunch.

If that describes you to a "T" then the 5 minute macaroni and cheese from Picky Palate is right up your alley.

I only had a single cup of cooked leftover noodles in the fridge, so I cut the recipe in half.  As I had a reduced amount of ingredients, I scaled back on the cooking time as well. (2 minutes and then 1 and a half minutes.)

My plastic wrap wouldn't seal properly on the bowl so the liquid sort of exploded in the microwave.  That wasn't so fun.  Next time I make this I will use a bigger bowl.

The first time I took the macaroni out of the microwave I had a bit of a shock.  There was a lot of liquid in that bowl.  So I stirred it and nuked it for the second round, and crossed my fingers.  I probably should have put a new sheet of plastic wrap on the bowl, because it was this second wave of microwaving that made the mess.  Aside from the mess, the liquid went down to a normal level for mac n cheese.

I had a bit of clumping with the cheese.  I happen to love cheese, so this wasn't an issue for me.  I'm not sure if the clumping was due to using too much cheese, or the fact that I used the pre-shredded stuff from a bag.

Overall, this was a good speedy lunch.  I'll have to experiment a bit more to get the recipe to turn out just how I like it, but I feel it is worth the time to tinker with.

Five minute macaroni and cheese from Picky Palate
1/2 pound cooked pasta of choice
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup whole milk
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place pasta, cheese, milk, salt and pepper into a large microwave safe bowl. Stir to mix. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and microwave for 3 minutes. Stir and microwave for an additional 2 minutes. Stir until creamy and smooth. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings