Cookbook: Comfort Mac and Cheese

This is a favorite of mine. I'm fairly lactose intolerant, so I REALLY have to want it. There are ways to change it up to make it with fewer calories. This is a take off of the recipe my grandmother makes, which happens to be from my great grandmother. If there's one thing these ladies know, it's comfort :)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp fat (I like to use butter here, you can use margarine, or olive oil if you like)
3 tbsp flour
3 cups milk (I've used soy milk and almond milk, they do just fine)
3-4 cups shredded cheese (many people cube their cheese, I shred. I also use Colby/Jack like grandma, feel free to use straight cheddar)
2 cups uncooked macaroni
6 cups water
1 tsp chili powder (don't be scared, it's not hot)
Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Bring water to a boil, add uncooked noodles, cook 8 to 10 minutes. (this is a good time to shred your cheese if you didn't buy it shredded :) )
2. Drain pasta, return pot to stove over medium heat. Add butter (or your fat option), melt/heat.
3. Once the butter is melted, start whisking in flour one tablespoon at a time. It will get crumbly, make sure you cook it a little while whisking to cook out the "flour taste"
4.Once you have the flour totally absorbed into the butter, start adding milk, slowly. Your butter and flour mixture will absorb the milk fairly quickly to begin with. Add slowly, this will help keep lumps down. You want to add milk to a point that gives you a liquid consistency for the cheese.
5. Add pepper and chili powder.
6. Start adding the cheese one small handful at a time. Still using the whisk mix the cheese into the pot. You want to make sure it has melted all the way before adding more. You may need to add more milk or some olive oil if you see that the cheese is not mixing is evenly.
7. Add cooked macaroni to the cheese sauce. You can bake the mixture at this point if you like. I don't. I usually need to add more pepper at this point. I'm not quite sure why, but it's just part of what makes it taste like Grandma's .
8. Remove from heat and let stand to thicken slightly. You can add more shredded cheese to garnish or for that stringy texture some people like.

Enjoy! :)