Hey all, I just got an email inviting me to a recipe exchange, and I’m totally going there, but as I started thinking about which recipe I would share, I thought, you know, I hate to just share it with one stranger. So I decided to post it here, too.

If you want to join in and you’re a blogger, blog your recipe and put a link in my comments. If your not a blogger, go ahead and put the recipe in the comments below, and don’t forget to check back on this blogpost in a week or so to see if anyone else has shared their recipe, too!

So here’s my recipe! It’s wheat-free and friendly to those who are lactose-intolerant. It’s also vegetarian, unless you choose to add meat.

Mac and Cheese, loaded for bear

So, here’s the story. My husband loves cheese. My husband loves cheese almost as much as he loves me, I think. And because of a disease diagnosed as a teenager, my husband hadn’t had any sort of dairy at all in more than fifteen years before he discovered that he could eat extremely aged cheddar and yogurt fermented for longer than 24 hours. So this is the mac and cheese recipe I’ve figured out for him. It is a masterpiece in substitutions, so feel free to continue in the spirit of that. (Neither one of us can have wheat, either.) But it is comfort food, and so I’ve made it or variations on the theme so many times I can almost do it in my sleep now. I did so last night.

This recipe is a three ring circus. Depending on your comfort level, you can have all three going at once. If so, I recommend you do all your chopping in advance, and start your water boiling before you start chopping, and then get your onions to a good clear place before you start your rue.

So, pot number one: Noodles of some sort. Boil water, insert noodles of some sort. Last night it was garbanzo bean penne. Follow instructions on box/bag.

Pan number two: In a large cast iron pan, I start cooking a chopped up onion or two in some oil of choice, and when they’re nice and clear, I throw in some chopped garlic and some chopped jalepeno. Then some mushrooms. I grind a little black pepper and throw a little salt in at this point. I cover that and put it on low and let it do it’s thing, stirring occasionally. At the very end, I’ll throw in a head of broccoli well chopped, stems and all because stems are love.

So, pot number three you will stir constantly without fail. :) Make a rue with your favorite oil and your favorite flour. For us, it’s butter and rye flour. Then add your favorite thick and liquid dairy. Possibly a cup. And all measurements are simply eyeballed, you understand. For us it’s 48 hour ferment home-made yogurt which is nice and tangy and which we make by the gallon. Then add about a half a pound of shredded, cubed, or jullienned aged cheddar handful by handful, stirring until creamy in between.. Last night, it was 12-month aged cheddar and it was gorgeous. Don’t worry if it doesn’t have the added annato to make it orange. You’ll be adding tumeric. It’ll be plenty orange.

Once you’ve got your rue nice and creamy, add the spices you’ve already prepped in your spice bowl, which should include roughly, more or less, a tablespoon of the following: salt, ground ginger, ground tumeric, paprika, powdered onion, powdered garlic, ground mustard. Splash in some white wine if you feel like it. Still well.

Drain pasta and put back in the mac and cheese cauldron of love. Add all veggis, stir well. Add cheese sauce, stir well. Serve over baby spinach.

This is vegetarian, essentially, but last night I added smoked rainbow trout because it was in the pantry and I felt like it. Really, once you’ve got your rue and your spices to a good place, add whatever you want.

And had I thought of taking pictures, I would have posted them here. Perhaps the next time I do, I will. (Hello, this is so not a foodie blog. I just like eating tasty food, is all.)

A More Standard Recipe Form

All measurements are approximate, substitutions are fun.

Pot #1:

• 2 small boxes of noodles or one larger bag

Pot #2:

• 2T oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 4+ cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2+ jalapenos, chopped
• 2 handfuls of mushrooms, chopped
• 1 broccoli crown, chopped

Pot #3

• 2T butter
• ¼c rye flour
• 1c yogurt
• ½lb aged cheddar, chopped
• 1T salt
• 1T ground ginger
• 1T ground tumeric
• 1T smoked paprika
• 1T ground mustard
• 1T powdered onion
• 1T powdered garlic

Bring water to boil, cook noddles, drain and return to pot.

Cook onions in oil until clear, add rest of #2 pot ingredients bit by bit, stirring and cooking. Add broccoli 5 minutes before everything else is ready. Cover and leave on low. When all is finished, add to drained noodles in pot.

Create rue with butter and flour, add yogurt and stir well and continuously, add cheese handful at a time, stirring continuously until totally smooth, add spices, stir well. Add to noodles and veggis, stir well.

Serve over baby spinach.