Baker 1

McKenna Baker
Prof. Szetela
English 1010
Dec. 2, 2014
Everything Tastes Better With Ketchup
BAKED MACARONI
1 cup macaroni
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 or 2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
Serves 4
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare macaroni according to the directions on the package.
Place layers of macaroni in a buttered baking dish.
Sprinkle the layers with cheese.
Beat the eggs and milk until well blended.
Pour this mixture over the macaroni.
Add one more layer of cheese.
Cover the dish with aluminum foil.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
If you want a cheese crust, uncover the dish for the last 10 minutes.
Serve the macaroni with your favorite salad, meat dish or vegetables, and some warm
french bread or as a stand-alone meal.
Enjoy!

(Some people add 1/8 teaspoon paprika, a few grains of cayenne, 1 sliced pimiento, 1/4 cup
chopped green peppers, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley or 1 tablespoon grated onion. They may
also top the dish with au gratin which is finely chopped bread crumbs, butter and cheese mixed
together.)

Baker 2
My grandmother is the second of six children. Her family was considered upper-lower
class or lower-middle class. There were four girls and two boys. Both my Nana and Papa
worked full-time. The girls were the oldest of the children and they took turns doing different
chores - watching the younger children, cleaning and yes, cooking.
The girls were required to fix dinner every evening. They took turns and each would
cook something they felt they were good at making. The meals prepared by the girls were
mostly one-dish meals. They prepared meat loaf, roasts, tuna casserole, macaroni and cheese
and many others. They also fixed hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken. All of these meals were
inexpensive to fix. Served with bread and a vegetable, all these meals could be stretched to feed
eight people.
The girls had different levels and knowledge of cooking. Some meals were delicious and
some were questionable. All were eatable. Papa didnt want to hurt anyones feelings by saying
he didnt like their cooking so he started putting ketchup on all his food. He put ketchup on his
meat, his potatoes, eggs and even his macaroni and cheese. Papa would say he loved the flavor
of ketchup and that everything tasted better with a dab or a glop. Ketchup was his flavoring of
choice.
My grandmother has become a better cook through the years of trial and error. My
grandpa usually does the cooking because he gets home from work first. So, when my grandma
cooks its usually one of her few specialities. The favorite of all my friends are my grandmas
tacos. Whenever friends were at the house at dinner time they would always ask her if she would
fix tacos for dinner.

Baker 3
My mothers favorite of my grandmas dishes is lumpia. My grandparents were stationed
in the Philippines for about three years. While there my grandmother learned how to cook a few
Philippino foods. Lumpia was her favorite. Lumpia is like a Chinese egg roll. The inside of the
roll is a combination of ground pork and ground beef, finely chopped green beans and carrots
and some spices. These are deep fried and when cooled they are delicious.
My favorite of grandmas dishes is baked macaroni and cheese. My grandma kind of
follows the recipe but she adds tons of cheese. Instead of doing layers of macaroni and cheese
she mixes it all together. And instead of using one cup of cheese for every one cup of macaroni
she uses two cups of cheese for every one cup of macaroni. Grandma would use a combination
of medium cheddar, sharp cheddar and colby cheese. The top of the dish was covered with at
least a one inch layer of cheese. As the dish is cooking it fills the house with the smell of yummy
goodness.
Grandma always made at least two pans of macaroni every time she made macaroni and
cheese. We would get to take home a whole pan for leftovers. We would slice the pan in meal
size servings and freeze them for days when we needed a little home cooked comfort food. Even
as a left-over the macaroni and cheese was still moist and gooey.
While waiting anxiously for the dish to bake the family and friends (usually papa, nana,
grandpa, grandma, mom, Kiley, Alex and I) would gather around the table and we played cards
or board games. Sometimes we would watch a movie. One of the games we would play is
Sorry. As a persons game piece moves around the board they would knock off the pieces of
other players. When this happened you would say - Sorry. My grandpa was a not-too-happy
loser. He would pick up the game pieces of other players and toss them around the room! This

Baker 4
would get us all laughing and the game would become a disaster - a fun disaster. Winning wasnt
an option.
Finally dinner would be ready. As the dish set for a few minutes, we would set the table.
We would have salad and sliced french bread. The baked macaroni would be placed in the center
of the table. The top of the dish was crusted with melted cheese. As we filled our plates with
salad and bread we always made sure to leave a big spot for the main dish. The macaroni would
be smothered in gooey goodness. Ya know how on a pizza if you take a bite the cheese seems to
stretch and stretch - thats what grandmas macaroni and cheese did. It has such a creamy,
cheesy flavor. It melts in your mouth. Its like you died and went to cheese heaven. But, even
with all the delicious flavors my papa would still drown his plate in ketchup.
My papa passed away last year from ALS (Lou Gehrigs) disease. He was unable to
enjoy any dinner with us during his last year. Now when we have baked macaroni and cheese,
we sit around the table enjoying our meal and we can still hear papa saying please pass the
ketchup.