So… since I haven’t written much in a while, I decided to do something a bit simple to mark my return to the blogosphere. I’ve decided to list a couple simple recipes that I’ve found work pretty damn well.
Best Mac and Cheese from a Box
Alright, so start by making your regular mac and cheese from whichever brand you choose. I usually by the Harris Teeter store brand of mac and cheese because there’s a Harris Teeter close to where I live right now and it’s still pretty good for a store brand.
Right, now that you’ve cooked your macaroni and strained it out of the water, put it back into the pot from whence it came and lower the heat to medium low (closer to low than medium). Put in about a spoonful of butter (as per the instructions), enough to mentally cover all the macaroni. Next, pour in just enough milk so that if you’re working with a small to medium sized pot you shouldn’t be able to see the milk. If you’re working with a pan… well I don’t know why you’d be working with a pan? SO FIX YOUR MISTAKE. 
Now, slowly pour in your cheese sauce/powder thing. Do it slowly, don’t just dump all of it at once. You want to coat every layer of macaroni as best you can. This sauce/powder requires enough solvent (in this case, milk) to make it all work. Add a little more milk if you have to. You don’t want clumps of powder… that’d just be nasty.
At this point, add in some salt and pepper if you want. I like the pepper, I think it gives it a little better look, but that’s just me. Make sure you don’t make it too salty. That’d make everything taste awful. If you want some protein, this would be the time to had in cooked ground beef or a can of tuna. Don’t ever put in any vegetables though. That’s just weird. At this point, add in some shredded or grated cheese. You can’t use sliced cheese or a block of cheese. That’s just too little surface area to melt such a great mass. Keep stirring. You should start noticing that the cheese is awesomer (meaning: sort of sticky).
Now, it is safe for consumption. Don’t forget to turn off the heat!
PRO TIP: If you consume coffee, take out half of the volume of milk you would’ve used and substitute it with cream. Trust me, it makes things better.
Awesome Japanese-Style Curry
Stir-fry your meat. I recommend chicken or shrimp. Beef doesn’t work very well because I think stir-frying it just makes it too hard. Set your meat aside.
Now, stir-fry your veggies in a pan. Carrots, celery, broccoli, they’re all sort of good. Ideally you want something that’s pretty stiff uncooked. Tomatoes, for example, would be really bad. Beans too. Don’t do beans. That’s just odd.
To your large (slightly tall) pan of veggies, coat everything with a powder mixture consisting of: Chili powder, cumin, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, and whatever else sort of spices you want. The important ones here are chili powder and cumin. Chili powder gives you a pretty good spicy kick for very little money, and cumin gives the smell and color you want (smells… cumin-y… color should be some variation of yellow-brown. Add some saffron if you have the money, but it’s not essential. I’ve never used saffron simply because of the cost.
Anyway, back to cooking. Let your veggies cook in the powder for about 30 seconds to a minute. Next, coat it with some flour. You’re not going to want to add too much flour. Cook it in the flour for another 30 seconds to a minute, and then pour in your soup stock so that you just cover your vegetables. I recommend chicken stock. It’s cheaper. You can use broth too. The thickness you want from stock is already present due to the starch in the flour.
Add in your meat.
After about five minutes or so, you should be noticing that the liquid has been thicker. If your liquid portion had already started to clump together, you probably added too much flour. Add more broth, or if you’re cheap, just add water and maybe a little bit salt. You don’t want to add too much and completely throw the reaction over the other side. Find a happy medium.
If you’re going to serve the curry and rice separately, then just let it cook for another 15 to 20 minutes. If you’re like me and you’re going to mix the curry in with the rice anyway, add in the cooked rice after the 5 minute mark and cook the curry for a total of 20 to 25 minutes. Stir a mixture of cold broth and flour in a small bowl with a fork and slowly pour it into your pan so that it just covers the rice.
PRO TIP: Eat this with rice. Obviously it tastes good. Add in your favorite hot sauce if its not spicy enough for you. I recommend Tabasco sauce or Srichacha.
