Food From Fiction: The Mockingbirds (Macaroni & Cheese)

Last week I reviewed The Mockingbirds and today I am going to talk about food, good old fashioned comfort food, from the book. After Alex is date raped she stops going to the cafeteria because she always sees the boy who raped her and his friends there. So, food kind of becomes an issue for her--or lack of it. Friends are constantly bringing her things to eat, but it's not until one girl, Amy, shows up with a pan full of homemade macaroni and cheese that I really started to drool.

The scene is written well, you can tell the food is there for comfort so it has to be a comforting dish, and what is better than macaroni and cheese. The author describes the taste and the gooey-ness so good that I wanted to make some ASAP!

I have never made homemade macaroni and cheese--the boxed kind has always been fine for me. So, I set about searching for a recipe that is like the one described in the book (1 block cheddar, 1 block monterey jack and 1 block cream cheese). Couldn't find one. I was getting very depressed. Then I decided that maybe, since she described it with such detail, the author actually has a recipe for this macaroni and cheese. I contacted her and she was so wonderful in providing me with the recipe for all my readers! Here it is in her own words:

Prep - Cut up slices of cheese from a block of cheddar, a block of monterey and a block of cream cheese.

Cook noodles al dente.

Rub some butter on the bottom of a baking pan.

Spoon in a layer of pasta.

Layer various cheese slices across. Add in some pats of butter. Sprinkle some pepper and garlic to taste. Repeat several times until all the pasta and cheese is added. Pour a little bit of milk into the pan. Bake for 45 minutes. Stir. Serve.

Exercise the next day. A lot.

I can't wait to try this out and I think it's one that my family would love as well!

Thanks so much to Daisy Whitney for sharing her recipe for us and for writing such a great book!