Coug Eats

Baked Mac and Cheese: A family Tether

By: Lonnie Torres

Growing up, macaroni and cheese wasn’t just a meal in my family—it was a ritual. Every Sunday, no matter how busy the week had been or how tired we all were, someone would pull out the dented old pot and that same wooden spoon with the burn mark on the handle. The kitchen would fill with the smell of butter and cheese melting together, and suddenly everyone drifted in, as if pulled by memory. We didn’t realize it at the time, but those moments were when we felt most like a family. While the noodles boiled, we’d tell stories—small things about school, jokes my uncle always repeated, updates nobody thought were important until we heard them out loud. By the time the mac and cheese came out of the oven, bubbling and golden, any tension or distance from the week seemed to melt with it. 

Even now, when I make mac and cheese on my own, that first bite brings all of us back together. It tastes like comfort, like home, like the kind of love that doesn’t need big gestures—just a shared dish and the feeling that you belong at the table. 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. dried elbow pasta 
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter 
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour  
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk 
• 2 1/2 cups half and half  
• 4 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese divided (measured after shredding) 
• 2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese divided (measured after shredding) 
• 1/2 Tbsp. salt 
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper 
• 1/4 tsp. paprika (smoked paprika is our favorite!) 

Directions:

1. Boil the pasta, drain. 

2. Make the cheese sauce by combining fat (butter), and starch (flour), then whisking in the milk products. 

3. Cook the sauce until it’s nice and thick. 

4. Add in shredded cheeses, stir well. 

5. Combine cheese sauce with cooked pasta. 

6. Transfer half of the mac and cheese to a baking dish, sprinkle with more shredded cheese. 

7. Top with the rest of the mac and cheese, top with more shredded cheese.