Single Serving of Mac and Cheese

My kids use to be macaroni and cheese snobs.  The only kind that they would eat was the single serving Velveeta kind.

Even though I had no hopes of them eating it, I decided to attempt a single serving mac and cheese recipe I found here.

The ingredient list is short, which I was pretty happy about.

Instant Mug o' Mac and Cheese
1/3 cup pasta
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup 1% milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Now lets look at the instructions. For such a small list of ingredients, the instructions are surprisingly high-maintenance.  The red lettering are my thoughts:

Combine the pasta and water in a large mug or bowl. Microwave on high for two minutes, then stir. A lot of times the water will overflow while it heats up. It is OK if this happens. (easy for you to say, you're not the one cleaning it up) If you don’t want it to overflow just make this in a very large microwaveable bowl. Repeat this for at least 2 to 4 more minutes, stirring at each 2-minute interval. (So your saying I have to get a hot boiling-over mug out of the microwave, stir it, put it back in, and repeat. I don't think you know what the definition of 'instant' is) The water should absorb completely and the pasta will be cooked through. If the pasta needs another minute it is okay to add one more teaspoon of water and microwave for another minute.  My pasta cooked through in 4 minutes every time, but my microwaves tends to be very powerful. (show-off) Remove it from the microwave and stir in the milk and cheese. Microwave for another minute.(my microwave now thinks I'm schizophrenic from all the turning on and off and pulling the mugs in and out) Stir the cheese thoroughly into the pasta and eat up!

These instructions were not giving me a lot of confidence, but I went ahead and tried it. I got the biggest mugs I have to try and stop the boiling over part. I couldn't use a 'very large microwaveable bowl' because I was making two single size servings and two large bowls wouldn't fit in the microwave.  Why didn't I just combine them both into a 'very large microwavable bowl' you ask?  Because then they wouldn't be single serving size, duh!
Aaaaaaand because I didn't think of that until later.

Ok, lets get started

Water...... check
noodles......check

boiling over........ big check

Well, at least the microwave was already dirty

But hey, the final product actually turned out good and the kids ate it.

The verdict: two thumbs way down.  Instant mac and cheese is suppose to be easy. If I'm going to make it I don't want to sit by the microwave and babysit it.  Plus, it didn't take 4 minutes to cook, it took 8 (I guess my Steve Urkel microwave is no match for her Schwarzenegger microwave.) It was very annoying to keep pulling those mugs in and out of the microwave to stir them every 2 minutes.

Save yourself some time and mess. Just boil the noodles on the stove, drain the water and throw in some milk and cheese to your liking.

As a side note, my kids new favorite mac and cheese is macaroni with Parmesan cheese, and nothing else.  It's so easy to make and they love it.

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