I don’t believe there’s anything better than homemade comfort food. Today my mother and I spent the afternoon making dinner. Well, I “made” the salad while she created her version of the Barefoot Contessa’s Mac and Cheese. It was fabulous!

I only recently realized you don’t have to follow a recipe exactly to make something good. For the mac, Mom left out the tomatoes, bacon, and breadcrumbs, and we were still licking out plates! Last weekend I made Challah French Toast (adapted from Epicurious’ Croissant French Toast recipe) but didn’t have any orange peel. I’m sure no one noticed. Man, that was a tasty brunch.

Anyway, I think I’m going to try that Mac and Cheese recipe soon, maybe even cut it in half and cook it in the toaster oven. I don’t use my oven very often, since I have to turn on the gas and manually light the bottom. I’m always afraid of catching on fire when I stick my arm that far back into the stove…