Turkey Mac & Cheese

I don't know if this recipe has enough cheese! It's delicious and SO creamy....

8 oz noodles of your choice. Jacob chose this, but I also had mini shells on hand.
4 T butter
1/4 C flour
2 C milk
1 bay leaf
Dash of ground Nutmeg
2 1/2 C Cheddar Cheese (white, yellow, whichever), shredded
2 C Gruyere or Gouda Cheese, shredded
12 oz turkey sausage, stuffed with cheese (you can use any type of sausage or even kielbasa, I bought fully cooked meat), sliced
1 C crushed pretzels (Here, I would use bread crumbs instead, maybe not 1 full cup on crumbs. The pretzels came out soft)

Cook noodles according to package directions for al dente. While your water is coming to a boil, shred cheese. In a sauce pan melt butter over Med heat. Add flour and whisk 2 minutes. Add milk, bay leaf, and nutmeg. Whisk occasionally until thickened, about 5-8 minutes. (Drain noodles when they're done.) Add 2 C of cheddar cheese, and 2 C Gouda cheese to milk. Mix well. Add sausage and noodles, mix well. *Add up to 1 C of warm water to make the cheese less viscous. (you can use the water the noodles were cooked in here)* Spread mixture into a greased baking dish, at least 2 qt. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 C cheddar cheese and top with pretzels or bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes to heat through.

The Art of Pasta

I'm sure you've heard many ways to boil pasta: add salt, oil, butter - or omit those steps. Here's what you do:

Add Salt!
Salt adds flavor to your pasta. Add a generous amount of salt to your boiling water, or before it boils. This helps flavor your pasta which will make your meal taste better. There is the thought that adding salt to your pot of water will lower the boiling temperature for water. This is true. However it may only be by 1 degree or so for your little pot.

Pro's and Con's of oil/butter-
If you add one of these to your pasta pot your noodles will not stick! It will also help keep your water from bubbling over your pot. However, there is a cost to this.... if you add oil/butter the pasta will become oily itself. When you go to add your sauce to your pasta, it will slide right off. If you have the problem of water boiling over - use a bigger pot or use less water.

When you drain your pasta let it sit in your colander until the steaming dies down. Then add your sauce. This will help your sauce stick to your pasta better.

What is al dente? To the tooth or bite. It is a term used to cook pasta firm but not hard. Pasta will be fully cooked but not soggy. There will be no "crunch" to the pasta either. Al dente is common for most pastas unless you are going to bake them - al forno "at/from the oven". An example of this is lasagna. You don't full cook your lasagna when you boil it because it will finish cooking in the oven.