ya go.....skip the hot sauce though for a chemo patient.
Mac and cheese

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
6 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot and melt in the butter. Toss to coat.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until
Alton Brown

also Lake guy has a yummy one but it's not in my file.
Linda C

You are a good friend. This isn't the bestest ever for mac and cheese but if you run short on time it does get the job done. And we've enjoyed it in the past.

Kathryn

Here is a link that might be useful: Mom's Baked Macaroni and Cheese

In my family, kframe's mac and cheese is the standard, I use all the cheese "bits" left in the refrigerator, so it's different every time, but always good. I leave the cayenne out when I'm making it for The Princess and Bruvver, so you might want to do that too.

Kframe's Mac and Cheese

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon of cayanne pepper
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, smashed or diced fine
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg, light beaten
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
6 to 8 strips of bacon, fried crisp, drained, and crumbled
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter and let it foam out.

Add the onion and garlic with a pinch of kosher salt and lightly sautee until they start to turn carmel colored and soft.

Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, cayanne pepper, and paprika.

Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese and the bacon.

Season with salt and pepper.

Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

I'll be sending good strong thoughts for your friend, and hope for a swift and complete recovery.

Annie

Wow, you all are amazing!! Thank you! I can't believe that Alton is making my mother's mac and cheese! Oh, except the eggs. Linda and Annie, I'm so curious about what adding egg would do to the sauce?

Kate, that is funny...when I told her my fav mac and cheese from childhood was with velveeta, she said, "oh, if you just hadn't told me it was velveeta, I'd probably have loved it, too." Maybe I'll buy some cheese soup to keep on hand!

Thank you all again...off to the store for good old fashioned white flour mac...I only keep whole grain on hand but she has to have white.

You know what an egg does for custard? Does the same for a creamy cheesy sauce.
While you are at the store.....get her some yogurt with active cultures....need to get some of the stuff the antibiotics killed back into her.

I don't have a recipe to contribute but wanted to reinforce the suggestion to leave out hot sauce, cayenne or any other chili pepper. When I was on chemo, my tolerance for pepper heat went to zero.

Appetite can also be subject to rapid changes. I remember asking someone to make something and by the time it was available I couldn't eat it. Or sometimes I could just eat a small amount. So try not to worry or be offended if she doesn't eat much right when it arrives.

Massive antibiotics - I hope they lick whatever infection she has quickly.

Thanks, I understand the egg now, Linda. She's headed out today for probiotics and yogurt, imodium and milk of magnesia, poor thing. She's only had one dose of chemo a couple of weeks ago, so far, and so hasn't really had appetite problems yet. But she was on a short weekend trip and spiked a fever (without getting sick from anything) so they put her on massive antibiotics which has messed up her digestion. She's not yet too sick to cook, but that will likely come. I am happy to do what I can to let her save her energy for more enjoyable things for her.

I will leave out the pepper, though. Thanks again.

Linda beat me to it. I was a bit curious myself until I made it with egg, now we all love it.

And truthfully, I was thinking that even a little bit of extra protein in there couldn't hurt.

Annie

I use the one Linda posted sometimes with sour cream instead of the evaporated milk.

If she wants an easier route to build back good bacteria, they sell probiotics in drug stores, in pill form. I love yogurt and Sweet Acidophilus milk (does it exist outside of the South? Honestly, I don't know), but when I really needed fixing fast, the pill did it best and with the least amount of side effects.

Here is a link that might be useful: Walgreen's Probiotic

Thanks, yes...acidophilus milk is available here, my husband started drinking it in the 1970's but I haven't seen it in organic milk and my friend eats organically, especially meat and dairy. She did get the yogurt and pills today, so hopefully her full belly of comfort food and good bacteria will help her.

I'm on my way over with a nice pan of mac and cheese from a hybrid of your recipes...I made extra so I could have it for the next 2 days when my 2 year old grandson is staying with me, but he's allergic to eggs, so only my friend gets the egg in hers. I used a combo of organic white sharp cheddar cheese and gruyere with a little pecarino romano, which is pretty yummy.

Thanks again for all the quick help. I think she'll appreciate it as much as I do!

I have done the chemo thing....and my advice is to tell her NOT to take milk of magnesia...
In a chemo patient, diahrreah can quickly turn the other way.
I also found that my body reacted to chemo by running a fever even though I had no bugs....so I endured too many doses of "horse pills".
Sending prayers and good wishes and chicken soup to your friend.
As for no hot sauce....I CRAVED hot stuff.....and would eat the tiniest little bite of salsa....take some cold drink, then a bit more. I also craved Margarita mix....without the tequila....and that burned my mouth like crazy.....but I had to have some to sip.

How nice of you to do this for your friend. She should check with her Dr. or her pharmacist about timing the yogurt and probiotics along with the antibiotics. Sometimes they need to be separated by several hours so neither minimizes the effects of the other.

Your mac and cheese sounds delicious.

Lee

You are a good friend! When I was on chemo, my mom brought over frozen meals and we stocked our freezer with them. I was also in the midst of a massive home remodel/addition, so we didn't have a kitchen. It was a godsend!

I also ran high fevers after chemo...at first they hauled me in for testing, but eventually we figured out that it was just something that happened with me and that particular chemo drug. If that ends up to be your friend's situation, what helped me was to take a few ibuprofen immediately after infusion. It really helped to head off the fever later. Chemo can really play havoc with your GI system. If they give her steroids before chemo, those can cause constipation rather than the big D, hence the milk of magnesia. (My oncologist had me take pills) In a few days, the steroid effect wears off, and then immodium becomes your best friend. No fun, but I call it 'the cost of living'. :-/ I hope your friend weathers the storm well and never ails another thing for the rest of her life.

Cj

Thanks for the advice for her...it's a crazy situation, she had 16 cancer free years between this breast cancer diagnosis and her last. With her 1st she didn't have chemo, but radiation. This time, even though there was no lymph involvement they recommended chemo for the best survival statistically. I think they decided she doesn't need radiation. Her partner is a health care provider and also a recent breast cancer survivor (the two healthiest eating, living women you could know - what's up with this cancer stuff?) so she is getting good care from her partner's oncology colleagues, plus her own experience.

I baked the m&c at their house and got to have a little taste before I left (I already had other dinner plans tonight or would have eaten with them). It was pretty yummy. I'll cook the rest for my grandbaby and me tomorrow.

Thank you for all your help and caring!

Olychick, they have been doing a lot of work on looking at the type of cancer cells to see how aggressive it is. They treat based on the type and how aggressive, not just the size. Mine was a very aggressive type so I had chemo even though I was only stage I - negative nodes and a very small tumor.

Getting cancer is a kind of random event - several wrong random mutations occurring creating cells that replicate too freely. Some things you do can increase the risk of that happening, but even someone who has a healthy diet, exercises, etc. can be unlucky and get cancer.

Well enough of the heavy thoughts. Have fun with your grandbaby tomorrow! They are the best thing.

Just wanted to add my vote for K-frame's recipe. One of the best mac and cheeses I have ever had.
Also wanted to add my experience to the joghurt talk. When CJ was in treatment he was not allowed to have any products with 'live' cultures. The docs said any bacteria added to his suppressed immune system could be dangerous. Even 'good' bacteria.
Lisa