The girls begged me to make them my famous, homemade mac ‘n cheese for dinner.

Equal parts: all remaining bags of pasta from the pantry cupboard mixed with shredded cheese, milk and flour to thicken. Recipe will be available to teaandsnippets members at their request or simply read the above and use your best judgement when it comes to measuring. Ketchup can be used for flavouring or (if you’re like me) as a negotiating chip.

I use my famous, homemade mac ‘n cheese as a tool to get the girls to do other things because this delicacy doesn’t happen every day.

It happens either when a) Greg is at a golf tournament, b) we have nothing else to eat but bits of bags of pasta, cheese, milk and flour or c) when I need the girls to step up and help with something.

“Please Mommy, can we have homemade mac ‘n cheese for dinner? We’ll do whatever you need. We’ll set the table, we’ll eat anything you want us to eat, we’ll be nice, we won’t press buttons on the convertor while we’re watching a show because it drains the battery.”

Hmmm.

I said, “Okay, I’m not saying I’m going to make my famous, homemade mac ‘n cheese but if I agree to make it, I’m going to need everyone to help out.”

Okay Mommy, anything.

“Ellie, you set the table, Chloe, you tidy the family room, Hanna you fill the water jug, get the cups and start pouring.”

They all agreed and I began my fussili dive into the cupboard returning to the pot on the stove with the early stage of my elixir; a handful of macaroni, enough rotini to feed a catering gig of about 40 hungry teenagers, a few pasta shells for texture and to lock in some of the cheese that didn’t melt totally into the sauce and a smattering of bow ties because who doesn’t like to be fancy?

I looked into the family room to find my kids in the following non-helpful positions.

Ellie had wandered towards the table which was the right idea but had become distracted with a craft involving a pair of headphone cords and some beads. That does not look like table setting. In fact it looks a little like table messing.

Chloe was rehearsing her “What Does the Fox Say?” dance from the school recital that happened a week ago.

Hanna was pressing buttons on the convertor even though the tv was off but the voice inside the remote was saying, “My batteries! My batteries!”

We had a quick pep talk and everyone agreed, the only way they were going to enjoy this melting pot of homemade goodness was if they stepped up immediately and got their jobs done.

In addition, I began my series of handing out small taster bowls of things that are good for them. My kids have come to know this part of the routine as, “If we don’t eat this stuff first, we won’t get to the cheesy noodles.”

First we had some apple slices, then berries, then carrots.

Hanna taught Chloe how to hold her nose closed while gagging down the berries.

Fine.

Chloe asked, “How many cucumbers do I have to eat Mommy?”

“Ten.”

Chloe, “But there’s only 1, 2, 3, 4, 5….there’s only 5 in the bowl?”

“Then consider yourself lucky and eat them all.”

Then Ellie started choking on a carrot and spit the chewed up refuse into her hand to present it to me with the following, “Mommy, I was going to eat the carrots, I’ll eat another one, just don’t make me eat this one, it tasted so gross, blech, blech, blech, I just can’t, I think I’m gonna be sick, oh, it was so gross, yuck.”

It must be homemade mac ‘n cheese night.