Remember the macaroni and cheese that was shaped like Super Mario Brothers?
Jen and I loved Super Mario World when we were young, so naturally, we HAD to have the Super Mario mac and cheese. We thought if we ate the Mario-, star- or the Yoshi-shaped macaronis (sorry, Toad), we’d gain Super Mario power which would allow us to run faster.
I’m not joking, we really believed this.
(We also thought the same thing about Frosted Flakes, for some reason). This turned into some weird game where we’d eat a piece and then chase each other around the kitchen, stopping only to eat another power-packed piece (i.e., not Toad).
Sadly, we have moved on to having bigger and better macaroni-and-cheese expectations (as if instant super power ability isn’t enough). We bring you our latest RBR test, good ol’ mac and cheese:
The contenders:
Allrecipes: Mom’s Macaroni and Cheese
Martha Stewart’s Perfect Macaroni and Cheese
The nitty-gritty:
Each macaroni & cheese recipe was scored on a scale of 1-10 (where 1= that’s food? and 10= the best mac and cheese that has ever entered my mouth) for overall score, the boyfriend/husband test, and the leftover test. We also provide other comments.
Allrecipes Mom’s Macaroni and Cheese
Overall score: 7.5
The boyfriend/husband test: 7
The leftover test: 6
Comments: This was good straight out of the oven, but once it was cool it was pretty bland. My husband thought it needed more cheese, even though it was FULL of cheese! I think a tiny bit of hot sauce would have helped bring out the cheese flavor (this is one of my mac & cheese secrets!) In addition, there weren’t enough breadcrumbs to cover all the pasta, and the breadcrumbs were way too buttery. Would I make it again? Probably not, unless maybe I added some hot sauce.
Best Mac ‘n’ Cheese Ever from Laura Macek
Overall score: 9
The leftover test: 7.5
Comments: This was so delicious! Although it sort of had an nontraditional macaroni and cheese taste (thanks to the bacon), it may have been the best mac and cheese I have ever tried! The only thing that could bring it to a 10 would be if it instantly made me run faster if the cheesy taste was a little bit more pervasive. I’m not sure that Gruyere cheese was the best choice; it didn’t seem to stand out at all. Another negative was that this was somewhat expensive since it required fresh, fancy cheeses. Furthermore, the mac and cheese wasn’t as delicious the next day.
Overall, I think this one is definitely worth the money and effort for a special occasion, but because it was quite effortful and somewhat on the expensive side, it would probably not be my everyday, weeknight mac and cheese.
Martha Stewart’s Perfect Macaroni and Cheese
Overall score: 5
The boyfriend/husband test: 5
The leftover test: 5
Comments: I was so excited when making this… all of the cheeses… a decent amount of work… I thought for sure it would be amazing! Lo and behold, Josh & I bit into it and ::silence:: It sucked. It literally reminded me of the cafeteria mac ‘n cheese we ate growing up… but not even as good. The leftovers tasted exactly the same. Sad face. Luckily, Josh is a carnivore so I had to make something with meat to go with the mac ‘n cheese, and threw together some delicious BBQ chicken sandwiches, which I will post the recipe to soon!
The winner:
I guess there’s a reason that her mac and cheese already won once….
Best Mac ‘n’ Cheese Ever from Laura Macek!
Special Diets:
While we can’t guarantee the results, here are some ideas you can use to customize the winning mac & cheese to your dietary needs:
- Gluten-free: Use gluten-free pasta, gluten-free flour, and gluten-free bread crumbs (and don’t forget to check that all your other ingredients are, in fact, gluten free!)
- Vegetarian: Omit the bacon.
- Lower fat/calories: Use lower fat cheese, skim milk, and turkey bacon. You could also experiment with using less butter, but I’m not sure how this would turn out.
Did you have any weird beliefs as a child? Please reassure us that we were normal?!?
