(by Maria Thompson Corley)
(Note: This isn’t Mom’s exact recipe because my children have food proclivities. Mom adds tomatoes or ketchup and likes to put breadcrumbs on top. I’d add chopped onion, but my son wouldn’t eat it.)
8 oz. pasta (I use chickpea or lentil)
1 c. whole milk
1 T. onion flakes or powder
2 T. flour (I use millet or barley)
2 c. mild cheddar cheese, divided
1 T. onion flakes or powder
salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 350 or 400 F. (I usually bake the mac and cheese with something else and use the temperature of the accompanying dish.)
Cook pasta in boiling salted water, drain, and set aside.
In the same pot, heat milk over medium heat.
Add onion flakes or powder, salt and pepper.
Stir in flour, mixing constantly until milk thickens into a smooth paste.
If mixture if too thin, add more flour; if too thick, add more milk.
Off heat, mix in half the cheese.
Add pasta, making sure to coat as much as possible with the cheese sauce.
Pour into a lightly greased casserole dish.
Add remaining cheese on top.
Bake until lightly browned, approximately 30 minutes.
(Read If Music Be the Food of Love, the story that accompanies this recipe.)