Fancy That!

We had a Dutton family reunion this weekend in Blountville. We drove up to John's parents' farm in Rural Retreat, VA first for a short visit. It was unbelievable how many apple trees were full of apples and the grape harbor filled with purple grapes. George, John, and I went out and filled a box with apples and a big bag of grapes. George said I'd have to let the apples ripen at home. He suggested me fill a large bucket with water, add sugar, and the grapes. He said after a little while I could syphon the grape juice off the top and the grape skins and seeds would settle to the bottom of the bucket. Then, it's grape jelly time!

John ran away from us when we started to see deer coming over the hill. They were eyeing up the apple trees. George has seen 15-20 deer and one buck he has on DVD with 10 points. John said he has some footage of 2 does washing each other. It's probably going to be a good hunting season on the farm this fall.

So, the mac n cheese was ok, but I was short on time and paprika.

I changed the recipe up to make more for the reunion. There wasn't enough sauce.
I used 1 1/2 boxes elbow noodles and 1/2 stick butter 4 Tbsp. of flour and 4 cups of milk in the sauce. I combined 1 1/2 cups Velveeta, 1 1/2 cups of Cheddar, and 1/3 cup of Fontina cheese. It was enough to feed 30 people. My verdict? It was the right texture, but needed paprika (we didn't have any in the kitchen at the farm) and maybe even some pepper. I'm going to try this cheese combination again, using sharp cheddar and going with the Attempt 1 proportions of noodles/ cheese sauce.

I think I'll try Anna's suggestion about how to make Her mac n cheese. It takes 45min-1 hour, stirring midway. Sometimes I have that long to wait, but sometimes I need the 15-20 min version.