Birthday Special

Yesterday, I asked you guys what you did for birthdays at your place!

It was fun to see that for most families, the birthday person chooses the menu - no ifs, ands or buts!

• Some of you go out for dinner as a special treat so you can get the night off of cooking, or enjoy time together with extended family.  
• Others have a set breakfast across all your family members' birthdays, and have a dinner of choice.  
• Some of you have a favorite dessert ... like Mrs. Logan's Chocolate Cake, or Lemon Meringue Pie, or a new tradition of ice cream cake!  

For us, we let the birthday person choose their cake/dessert and their breakfast... but our dinner meal was solidified during our early months of dating....

The first time I tasted this dish, I knew it was something special.

Tasty, white cheddar cheese.  Yum-O.

Frog Prince made it for me while we were dating.  It was so tasty, we decided it would become our special occasions dish!  We eat it twice a year... once in February and once in May!

I posted this recipe originally when I had just a few faithful folks reading my cooking blog, so I am going to re-post the recipe today... since this recipe is too good not to be shared.

Enjoy our birthday special: White Cheddar Mac and Cheese!

White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese - Modified by Frog Prince from Kim's Kitchen

3/4 of a 16oz box of whole wheat penne rigate pasta
3 T butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 T flour
1 3/4 C milk
10oz block of Sharp Vermont White Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Paprika

Cook pasta as directed.

Meanwhile, melt butter over medium heat in a stir fry pan.

Stir in salt and pepper, to taste. Whisk in flour, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat, and slowly add milk.

(I always seem to have trouble with this step, and have found that I can alternatively whisk the flour into the milk, and add the mixture to the butter -- it tends to be less clumpy this way).

Return the pan to the range, and gradually increase the heat; stir constantly. When the mixture reaches a boil, stir for 1 minute (it should be thickening nicely), and then remove from the heat.

Stir in the cheese, allowing the heat from the mixture to melt the cheese.

Drain pasta, and place in a glass 2-3 quart baking dish.

Pour cheese sauce over the pasta and stir to coat.

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Sprinkle mac and cheese with paprika and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve warm. With green veggies.

Enjoy :)