Baked Mac and Cheese

Submitted by lyric911

Awesome baked mac & cheese. (veeeeeeeeery cheesy)

Ingredients

 * 1 pound box of macaroni noodles (bonus points for the two bend ones, almost spiral-esque)
 * 2 pounds of brick cheese. At least one pound of it should be colby (melts nicely). Can use less cheese if you are a sissy, but I wouldn't go below 1.25 lbs. I've had the tastiest results with 1 lb of Colby. 1/2 lb of SHARP cheddar, and 1/2 lb of monterey jack.
 * Milk (no real idea how much, we'll get to that in a moment)
 * Salt & pepper to taste.

Directions

 * 1) Preheat oven to 350F.
 * 2) Cut all of the cheese into (roughly) 1/4" x 1/4" x 3/4" strips, set aside.
 * 3) Prepare noodles according to package directions EXCEPT take them out of the water about 1 minute early. They will soften more in the oven. Also, give them a THOROUGH cold water rinse.
 * 4) Spray a 9"x13" pan with non-stick spray.
 * 5) Put approximately 1/2 of the noodles in the pan. Sprinkle about 1/2 of the cheese across the noodles. Add a little salt & pepper, and make a few half hearted stirs to distribute the cheese a bit.
 * 6) Put on the rest of the noodles, and cover the top with the remainder of the cheese.
 * 7) Add a little more salt & pepper to the top layer.
 * 8) Pour milk slowly into the pan, and go slowly enough that it distributes across the whole pan. The amount of milk you are going for is about 1/4" deep across the whole pan.
 * Now, whack it into the oven (/naked chef) for about 30 minutes. Less time for less cheese, and all ovens are different. I like mine to be ever so slightly crunchy on the edges, but nice and melted throughout. Use your own preference here.

This is obviously something I mostly just throw together as I go. This should get you close to mac and cheese heaven though.