Mac & Cheese

[Zen]

Maybe I'll start the Mac and Cheese Truck

[channlluv]

I read somewhere that raw corn is a vegetable; cooked corn is a starch.

Still, I mix silver queen sweet corn and English peas and tuna in my mac and cheese, and I use an organic whole grain brand I get at Henry's and Trader Joe's -- Annie's, I think, or Amy's. I forget.

My 12-year-old loves it.

Roxy

[Zen]

I use the recipe from the back of the Muellers macaroni box.

[badgercat]

I grew up calling the stuff in the blue box Kraft Dinner because that's what my parents grew up calling it (and as I understand, what they still call it in Canada, rumored to be because it doesn't meet their government regulations for actual cheese content to actually be able to put Cheese in the name )

Anyway, one of my mom's quick-and-easy specialties was Kraft Dinner & Krab Meat--she'd sautee some onions and celery in butter, heat up some of that lump imitation-crab meat in the pan, and then would mix it all in with the prepared Kraft mix. It probably sounds bizarre, but it's delightful. It'll probably always be a comfort food for me.

[shootingstar]

I read somewhere that raw corn is a vegetable; cooked corn is a starch.

Still, I mix silver queen sweet corn and English peas and tuna in my mac and cheese, and I use an organic whole grain brand I get at Henry's and Trader Joe's -- Annie's, I think, or Amy's. I forget.

My 12-year-old loves it.

Roxy

Doesn't cooked corn release the natural sugars in some way..?

Long time since I've had Mac 'n Cheese. Years. Maybe even nearly 3 decades ago. But when I did, I mixed sauteed onions, garlic and mushrooms in cooking Mac 'n Cheese. Delicious.

Or with chopped cauliflower. Lots of other variations by cooking it with other chopped veggies.

I just couldn't resist adding something. Mac 'n Cheese by itself..is abit boring to me. I also wanted to offset the heaviness with veggies, onions or garlic cooked with it. Also a distraction from university studies at that time by cooking with abit more snap.

[NoNo]

Maybe I'll start the Mac and Cheese Truck

Holy crap! A truck that sells different types of homemade baked mac&cheese. Brilliant!

[GLC1968]

I don't honestly know the official definition of veggie vs grain, but in my mind, grains must be cooked before they can be eaten (we are incapable of digesting them raw) and veggies can be eaten raw. Since you can eat sweet corn raw, I consider it a veggie. Dent corn is definitely a grain.

Or...that's how *I* classify it anyway. Of course, it's certainly a starchy veggie (like peas) so it's not the most nutrient dense choice, but still...better for you than french fries!

And for the record, I don't like 'real' mac & cheese - too creamy for me. I only like the fake Kraft stuff and only if made with skim milk and no butter. Again, I'm weird.

[malkin]

When I was little I wanted to make a sign to hang on the back of my chair announcing, "My favorite dish is macaroni and cheese."

My ever-so-helpful big brother, after helping me write "favorite" dictated how to spell "macaroni."

M-O-U-S-E

He is still just as big a wiseguy as he was a half century ago.

[Zen]

Dent corn is definitely a grain.

Do you mean cow corn?

[GLC1968]

Do you mean cow corn?

I guess it could be called cow corn. It's also fed to other livestock and it's used to make cornmeal for human consumption. It's usually harvested later than the sweet corn we eat on the cob and it's hard and often dried for long term storage.

To be fair, I have no idea what type of corn is grown for mass industrial uses - I only know the odd little heirloom types that we grown in our garden.

[Owlie]

I want mac and cheese now. And corn on the cob. With chipotle butter and a bit of salt. Zen, get that mac&cheese truck out here!

[withm]

Mac & cheese sounds really good after all these posts, but it's still toooooo hot to turn on the oven, even with air conditioning. And I have always made it from scratch. On the other hand, an nice cold macaroni salad with lots of crisp celery and other goodies might be just the thing for the near 100o temps looming this weekend.

Lord knows my bikes are going to forget what the sun looks like - we've been cooped up way too long this summer.

[colby]

I don't honestly know the official definition of veggie vs grain, but in my mind, grains must be cooked before they can be eaten (we are incapable of digesting them raw) and veggies can be eaten raw. Since you can eat sweet corn raw, I consider it a veggie. Dent corn is definitely a grain.

Or...that's how *I* classify it anyway. Of course, it's certainly a starchy veggie (like peas) so it's not the most nutrient dense choice, but still...better for you than french fries!

It just gets confusing from here, but from what I dug up on Wikipedia basically corn (maize) in general is a grain and "sweet corn" is a less starchy variant consumed "as a vegetable". Fascinating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetcorn

V's response about corn and potato salad (don't forget the white bread bun on your hamburger/hot dog, too) made me consider what a sweet potato salad (instead of a potato salad) would taste like.