A million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and your dial-up Internet still squealed at you for three minutes any time you wanted to get online, my husband and I were dating.

I’ve always loved cooking, and though I simplify and streamline for big batches of lunch, I enjoy actually playing with the ingredients in my full-on dinners. Plus, I wasn’t in medical school at the time, and had no kids, and had only about half of my current hobbies. Seriously, WHAT THE HELL DID I DO WITH MY TIME?

But I digress! He had mentioned his grandmother’s pot roast several times, and I was 21 (and, we’ve established, had absolutely nothing else to do in my day), and ambitious, and I decided to take a stab at the roast. He happened to have a copy of the recipe, so I eagerly offered to make it. He grinned, and warned me that it wasn’t exactly my style. I thought he meant that it was traditional American fare, and I cooked like the foreigner I was, so I scoffed at his warning and grabbed the little index card he offered.

The front of the card read:

“One 3-lb chuck roast, carrots, onions salt, pepper, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce”

Okay! Got it.

I flipped the card over to read the rest of the ingredients. It was blank. To the front again – maybe I missed something? To the back again – blank.


The hubby was right. I was too much of a foreigner to just do salt, pepper, and a dash of Worcestershire. I wanted the garlic cloves, and the thyme, and rosemary, and bay leaves, and red wine, and maybe something spicy, and dammit, I wanted to use my freakin’ pantry. You know … to make his grandma’s traditional pot roast, just like he remembered it.

My hubby laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

Almost twenty years later, I still fail at the real, classic Americana. Which explains my love for this Mac and Cheese recipe from Epicurious, which is all I ever make (though I’ve modified it to fit my taste). It’s freaking delicious, but definitely a little untraditional, using blue cheese, and throwing some veggies in for crunch and color.







In my version, I use half extra sharp cheddar, and half blue, plus the parmesan, and I tweak the quantities of veggies. But no worries if you prefer all cheddar, or Velveeta, or opening a flipping box and a packet of powder. Cut out the bell pepper, open that box! Remember, this is about what you and your family want, and about customizing the system to your needs. (And also a little bit about not having an angry horde of readers want to kill me for suggesting they put blue cheese in their Mac and Cheese).

Trust me, Mac and Cheese muffins are a FABULOUS addition to a cold-weather lunchbox.




Macaroni and Cheese Muffin Bites
Yields 96
Originally from Bon Appétit, December 1995
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  1. 4 tablespoons (1/2  sticks) butter
  2. 3 large red bell peppers
  3. 5 celery stalks
  4. 3 cups whipping cream
  5. 3 cups half and half
  6. 1 pound blue cheese, crumbled
  7. 1 pound extra sharp cheddar cheese
  8. 2 teaspoons celery seeds
  9. Cayenne pepper
  10. 5 eggs
  11. 1 cup chopped celery leaves
  12. 3 pounds macaroni or penne (elbow macaroni fits into muffin tins more easily than penne does)
  13. 4 ounces Parmesan cheese
  1. Use (you guessed it!) your Food Processor to shred all your cheddar (or do it by hand, but you know that's against my religion), and set aside in a bowl.
  2. (Again!) use your Cuisinart's "thin slice" (2mm) disc attachment to slice all your celery, and then cut your bell peppers into thick broad strips to be diced with your "French fry" attachment disc (you don't have to empty the Food Processor's bowl, just switch out the disc and keep on slicin'!). Or ... you know ... slice and dice by hand.
  3. Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat (I use a large Dutch oven for this, in an effort to make the fewest number of pans dirty when I'm batch cooking). Add bell peppers and celery and sauté until just beginning to soften, about 7 minutes. Empty into a bowl, and season with salt and pepper.
  4. In same (now empty!) Dutch oven, combine cream, half and half and blue cheese. Stir over low heat until cheese melts. Remove from heat. Add celery seeds. Season sauce with cayenne, if using, salt and pepper.
  5. Beat eggs in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in a ladle of cheese sauce, to temper the eggs (you'll super hate me if I suggest adding not only blue cheese, but also scrambled eggs to your M&C!). Return mixture to saucepan and whisk to blend. Add celery leaves.
  6. Cook pasta in pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite (8 minutes-ish), stirring occasionally. Drain, and add to the Dutch oven with the sauce. Throw the veggies in, too and stir to blend.
  7. **** Here's your chance to avoid cooking dinner, by the way! I usually portion out as many muffins as I want, and leave a third or so of the macaroni. I bake the whole thing off in the Dutch oven, so I don't have to worry about dinner for Batch-Cooking Night.
  8. Preheat oven to 400°F. Scoop about 1/2 cup of mac and cheese into each paper-lined muffin cup, and sprinkle 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of Parmesan over surface of each muffin (or over the entire Dutch oven, if that's what you're using). Bake until pasta is heated through, sauce is bubbling and top is beginning to brown, about 25 minutes.
Adapted from Epicurious's "Upscale Mac and Cheese"
Emi Ponce de Souza https://www.emiponcedesouza.com/



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  3. Mini Mac-and-Cheese Muffin Bites.
  4. Pumpkin Spice Waffles 


  2. Chewy Dried Pears




  1. Large Stockpot. No need to try to stir slowly to not slosh out of a 10 quart stockpot. Go for this 16 quart stockpot. It’s not that expensive, and will make your soups and broths far easier.
  2. Measuring Funnel Pitcher – 3.5 cup
  4. Silicone Muffin Cups for soup – standard size or jumbo
  6. Waffle Maker
  7. Big Tupperware Bowl
  8. Gallon Freezer Ziplocks

Strongly suggested, but not absolutely needed:

  1. Stand-up mixer
  4. Dutch Oven – 7qt
  5. Parchment paper
  6. Jelly Roll Pans – get two



So, I have a freezer upstairs for regularly-used items, then a downstairs freezer for frozen lunches, and a separate chest freezer (like this one) for when I’m feeling particularly go-getter-y (or for when I make Thanksgiving meals ahead of time because I have the stupid schedule). I call the chest freezer my Sexy Beast, and I make my hubby apologize to it if he doesn’t treat it with an appropriate level of tenderness.



