Feeding the hungry mother-Macaroni & Cheese

As a new mother... or even a veteran mother you sometimes find yourselves feeling hungry at random times of the day.  For myself 10 o'clock in the morning is the time when I realize that while I did drink my coffee that morning, the toddler stole my breakfast and I never got anything else during the hustle and bustle of the morning. 

Post Toddler Theft Count Chocula Cereal

 

This in between time where breakfast no longer sounds appealing but lunch seems too far away, I find myself glancing through the pantry for a suitable snack to tide me over.

While I am reading some great books about healthy food options for pregnancy and postpartum, today I was looking for something purely comfort food based that would take little effort and time.
As a result, I present to you Microwave Macaroni N Cheese!

The ingredients are pretty simple.
 Macaroni noodles, water, milk, cheese, salt, and pepper

Find your largest mug that is microwave safe.

Inside add 1/2 cup noodles and 1/2-3/4 cup water.  If you like more thin of a sauce, go for the larger amount of water.

Mix together with little bit of salt.

Microwave for 3.5 minutes.  Stir and cook another minute.
Tips:

• I added the longer cooking time because on first try noodles were still pretty hard.  Taking the time to stir is again made for a softer noodle.
• Place a cloth or paper towel under your mug in the microwave.  The water will become a bubbling waterfall over the edge of the mug, no matter how big it is.  (Or you can skip this step like I did and end up with a clean microwave resulting from the mess I had to clean up.)

Carefully remove mug from microwave and add 1/2 cup milk, stir, then add 1/4 cup cheese (cheddar is suggested, but use what you have) and pepper, stir again.

 

Make sure to give it a good stir to prevent all the cheese clumping up into on blob.
Place mug back into the microwave for another minute.

Once finished, carefully remove the mug and stir again.  Then let it sit for a few minutes.  This will let the noodles soak up more of the liquid while it cools down enough for you to eat it.
If the baby starts crying, or the phone rings, or you realize it has been 5 hours since you could pee alone; take the time to care for those things.  By the time you come back, you should be staring at a delicious mug of cheesy goodness.

Start to finish, you should be able to enjoy a filling snack in less than 10 minutes.  Just enough time to eat it before baby wakes from her 20 minute nap, or the dryer finishes its load of laundry.

Let me know if you try this recipe and any changes you would recommend.  All moms should support each other in getting a chance to eat! 

What is your go to snack?

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