In honor of the Google Zeitgeist 2008 (see the lower left "Trendsetters" list for an explanation), here's a very popular homemade macaroni and cheese recipe we published in February 2007. You can read the full post, and what inspired it, in the ZRecs Archives.

My recipe for homemade mac and cheese is simple, easily modified, and inspired by a simple recipe I learned while living abroad in Italy, where pasta is king. Here's what you do:

1. Cook some pasta - preferably something not too big (like spaghetti) or too small (like elbow macaroni). I prefer fusilli (spirals), medium-sized shells, or rigatoni in a pinch.


2. Drain the pasta. Turn off the burner.


3. Add a little butter, a little milk, and a couple ounces of cream cheese. Stir over the still-warm burner.


4. Add some grated cheddar (grate it yourself to avoid the icky starch they use to keep that pre-grated stuff from sticking together) and a bit of an alternate hard cheese if you have something on hand. Don't use much, but this can really enrich the flavor if you have some (Emmenthal, Jarlsburg, Havarti, whatever).


5. Add a bit of grated Parmesan and stir to melt all the cheese into a liquid. Add more milk and butter if you need to.


6. Serve hot, reheating if necessary, and enjoy!

Here are a couple other recipes we've noticed: Parent Hacks | Life of A Mom | Alton Brown

There's also a pretty crazy recipe from Alton Brown's Good Eats show for "Mac and Cheese Toast" - made from leftover macaroni and cheese. I'd like to try that sometime.