Community Cookbook: Make macaroni and cheese with Melissa Turner of Jackson

Every Sunday, Melissa Turner of Jackson prepares food for the week ahead. She chops veggies, cooks meat and makes a casserole to be eaten on Monday. A few years ago, she added soup to the schedule and began delivering it to family members and neighbors.

The food prep routine came out of necessity when her kids were little and their schedules were busy. But now, even though her children are grown, Turner continues the process because, for her, food is love.

“Food means a lot to me, because family means a lot to me,” Turner says. “You make food, but sharing it with people creates memories. They are so interconnected.”

Turner says learning to cook came through a lot of trial and error. And since she doesn’t write down recipes, nothing she makes is ever the same. She uses what she has available and cooks as naturally as possible. For Turner, that often means using what she grows in the garden.

“My neighbor and I garden together, and a lot of my canned goods go into my soup,” Turner says. “I like the soup to contain all my own stuff. If I have bones from anything, it’s going to be made into broth. Almost everything is bone broths and fresh herbs.”

Turner exchanges soups with her sister-in-law as part of the Sunday routine. Both of them are on specific health diets, so exchanging food helps keep them on track. And because Turner’s parents no longer cook, she takes food to them, as well. An aunt who recently had surgery is on the list for deliveries, too. Turner says she just loves feeding people, a habit she got into when her kids were teenagers and their friends gathered at the house.

“Saxony draws kids in from all over, so not everyone lives close,” Turner says. “We became the place to come for a quick meal. Mac ‘n cheese is one that my kid’s friends really like.”

Turner started making macaroni and cheese as a newly-wed. She would watch cooking shows and use some of their ideas to form her own. While she prefers a creamy, roux-based dish, her husband Jerry and daughter Sydney prefer their mac and cheese dried out. But, Turner says they’ve never turned it down either way.

When making a roux, Turner says to pay attention to the smell: When the flour has cooked out, it will smell kind of nutty. That’s when she slowly adds in the milk and uses the whisk to mix it all together. As for types of cheese, Turner says to use whatever you’re in the mood for at the time, though she does have a few recommendations.

“Gruyere is an important one, because it’s a good melting cheese,” Turner says. “And it’s important to not use pre-shredded cheeses in the recipe. They don’t melt well.”

From stovetop to oven, Turner says this recipe takes approximately an hour to make. For her family, she almost always doubles it. While she prefers to use a Dutch oven for cooking and stoneware for baking, neither is necessary. However, her latest gadget, a hand-cranked cheese shredder, is a nice addition and saves her a lot of time and arm strength in the kitchen.

“Cooking is my hobby,” Turner says. “I really love it. [Cooking on Sundays] is one of my favorite parts of my week.”

Ingredients

1 box of cellentani noodles

¼ cup of flour

½ stick of butter

3 cups milk

10 ounces white cheddar cheese

8 ounces gruyere cheese

8 ounces Colby Jack cheese

1 teaspoon garlic salt

¾ cup bread crumbs

Directions

Add a pinch of salt to boiling water and cook noodles al dente, saving the discarded water for later use. Using a Dutch oven or large pot on the stovetop, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour to the butter to create a roux. Once the flour has cooked out, slowly whisk in milk. Add freshly-shredded cheese to the pot, stirring as it melts. Once melted, add cooked noodles and garlic salt. If the mixture is too thick, add up to a cup of the discarded noodle water to create a soupier mix. Pour contents from the Dutch oven into a 9x13-inch pan. Sprinkle bread crumbs to cover the macaroni and cheese. Do not mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.