More Money and Macaroni Cheese

This post originally appeared in my old blog, www.the-alice.co.uk

Yuck, I woke up at 5am this morning with a migraine and it has not let up all day. Yet another thing I can blame my hormones on; I had a couple of migraines when I was undergoing Prostap hormone treatment for endometriosis a few years ago and haven’t had one since then. Fingers crossed they’re not back for good.

One highlight of the day was that a pack of baby clothes I ordered from eBay came! I’ve discovered these ‘baby bundles’ you can buy – such bargains. 30 items for £9 inc p+p? Yes please. They are all lovely quality and I will be trawling eBay for more bargains in the coming months.

Mum also took a trip to her local NCT nearly new sale today for some bargains (like Mother like Daughter) and found Childbirth Without Fear for 50p, as well as a couple of toys. So in terms of baby H accumulating more things, it’s been a good day.

I’m trying very hard to get over my money worries. I think the issue is that I want to be able to spend the absolute maximum time with our baby without feeling the pressure to have to go back to work. I would rather not go back to working in an office at all and have been looking into freelance options so I can be WAHM, but what if nobody wants me and I don’t have a choice? I’m sure this won’t be the case but going from having a dual income to relying on one salary will be a massive shock to the system. About a year ago we reached a point when we’d paid off the majority of our debts and were able to live without money worries, it feels very strange to almost go back in time finance-wise.

Plus, I’ve been working for the last 7 years. How will I deal with losing such a big part of my life?

Anyway, I know I need to suck it up and get over myself. People raise children on a lot less money than we have, we are lucky to have a safe home, great friends and a wonderful family; we will never go hungry, cold or unloved and I need to stop my whinging!

Having spent the day in bed feeling sorry for myself I really wanted comfort food. Will’s working this evening so I needed something easy, and something that can be re-heated when he gets home at 6am. Macaroni Cheese had popped in my head earlier on in the day – I know it’s not the best diet food but it’s definitely delicious, and hey, I’m eating for 2! I use a roux-based cheese sauce and if I’m feeling virtuous I add tomato slices on top before baking, or even breadcrumbs for a bit of extra crunch:

Comforting Macaroni Cheese

25g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
250g grated cheddar cheese
300ml milk
250g macaroni pasta
300g bacon, pancetta or lardons
salt and pepper

Fry off the bacon until golden in a frying pan and drain on kitchen paper. Put to one side.

Cook the macaroni until al dente.

Melt butter in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over a gentle heat.

When it’s liquid, add the flour and stir in well. Add 1/3 of the cheese and 1/3 of the milk and stir in until melted and blended.

Add the rest of the cheese and milk bit by bit, reserving a small amount of the cheese to put on top before oven baking.

When it’s a smooth sauce, add the macaroni pasta and bacon. Pour into an oven dish and sprinkle the reserved cheese on top.

Bake in an oven at 180 degrees C for about 12 mins, or until crunchy on top.

PS: Having had a bit of an issue with comments on my blog lately, I’ve upgraded my WordPress installation so hopefully this should have fixed the problem. Feel free to email me if you’re still experiencing an error message – alice at thealice dot co dot uk.