Pretty Pictures of Some Subpar Mac and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese is something of a mystery in this house.  It used to be the ONLY convenience food that all three of my kids would eat.  Then, one day, when Aidan was four, I made a terrible mistake.  I bought a box of dinosaur mac and cheese that was deemed "scary" and that was the end of that.  He has literally never eaten it again. He is older, wiser, braver and even a fan of dinosaurs; but, he will have nothing to do with mac and cheese of any kind.

The girls are another matter.  They love macaroni and cheese.  They like it in restaurants, made from scratch recipes at home and in a box.  The only problem is that they only like it in SOME restaurants, made from scratch at home SOME of the time and in SOME boxes.  This sounds like it would be easy enough to solve:  just make or buy the kind they like, right?  The only problem is that the macaroni they like (and don't like) doesn't seem to have ANY definable qualities or common traits.  It seems to be one giant game of hit or miss and I literally have no idea how to play this game.  I can buy a three pack of boxed mac & cheese and Addie will like two of the boxes, while Annalise only likes the third one.  In a restaurant, I will only let one of them get it now so that there will be another meal to share if things should go awry.  Annalise loves the mac and cheese at Zingerman's Roadhouse; but, it is just way too "real" for Ads.  And at home, who knows?  I think I might have stirred it with the wrong spoon and ruined the last batch??

So... I'm always on the hunt for the PERFECT Macaroni & Cheese that will satisfy everyone.  Coupled with my hunt for the ideal stuffing, it is kind of my eternal quest.  It has to meet these requirements:  the girls will eat it, there will be enough noodles left for Aidan to have them plain, it has enough of a gourmet feel to make me happy; and Matt, well, he doesn't care, he's just happy we saved him some.

I had high hopes for this one I found in Honest Pretzels.  It's a kids' cookbook I found at the library.  I had hoped it would be kid-friendly; but still tasty.  It turned out to be neither. Mostly, it was just mustardy.  Very, very mustardy.  It was rather photogenic, though.  It also makes a nice big batch and because no one likes it, the leftovers last quite a while!