On Small Changes + Mac & Cheese

Over-the-top health advice and good eating

Doggie CWD — despite being lovable as can be, and an integral part of our lives — is a menace. At six years old, she still has the energy of a puppy¹ and the appetite of an elephant. Despite getting two solid meals per day — and the discards from both Kiddo and the Warthog² and countless treats — she still can’t be left alone in the kitchen. While pretty good when we’re around, if unattended, she transforms into an Olympic-level counter-surfer.

The other night I was home alone. After putting the Warthog down and getting ready to do the same for Kiddo, I heard a ruckus from the kitchen. Holding Kiddo in my arms, I sprinted downstairs to find Doggie standing — standing! — on the kitchen island, scarfing down the remainder of Kiddo’s dinner and, more devastatingly, a hunk of parmigiano cheese³.

She is, I suppose, a girl of my own heart.

Doggie has tempered in her old age — countersurfing aside, she’s a tremendous dog, a loyal companion, and sweet as can be to the kids. But before we “sent her to camp” for training, she was a handful. In the first year we had her, I spent a lot of time reading dog training books, watching dog training videos, trying to gain some semblance of control. One book I read — and sadly, I can’t remember which one — seemed to suggest some awfully harsh measures. But, reading more into the philosophy, the author suggested that most people only do about 10% of what they need to for dog training — in his mind, he needed to go over the top by a factor of ten in order to maximize the success of his clients.

We didn’t end up going all the way with this method⁴, but that idea has always stuck with me. As I was thinking about the way I write about food in this newsletter, it struck me that I may have subconsciously adopted that mentality in my advice. When I rail against “industrial oils” and “manufactured foods,” when I preach eating only local ingredients⁵, of the highest quality — I mean it, but I also realize and acknowledge that this isn’t 100% attainable for everyone. I wholeheartedly believe that you should eat with eyes wide open, with the best ingredients you can buy, with as much “real food” as possible — but if you, the reader, are adopting even just 10% of this ideology, I think you’ll be 100% the better for it. Small changes beget big results.

If you just make one swap — be it switching from canola oil to butter, from canned vegetables to fresh ones in the vegetable aisle⁶, from processed chicken nuggets to free-range chicken thighs — that adds up. You don’t need to hunt, gather, butcher, and prep your own meat — but if you’re thinking about where the food you eat comes from, how it was raised, how it got to your plate — well, that’s a win in my book⁷.

There’s a great saying I heard recently: There’s no such thing as bad food, just bad ingredients. We can put that to practice this week with macaroni and cheese, swapping the stuff you get from a box with some real ingredients, making it real good — and Kiddo CWD endorsed, as she eats this at least once a week.

Let’s do it — this couldn’t be easier.

Cook a pound of pasta, whatever type you have on hard, just short of al dente in well-salted water. Mix in a few pads of butter and some whole milk⁸, some grated cheddar cheese and some grated parmigiana. Mix well, adding more cheese, butter, or milk to taste. Finish with a splash of soy soy for color and taste.

Give this all one final mix and serve — adding more parmigiano as needed.

There you go, mac & cheese. This is just as easy as Kraft or Annie’s, and I guarantee you even if you use just basic grated cheese from a bag, it will be better quality ingredients than the dozens of additives and preservatives you find in the bag of cheese mix⁹. Feel free to experiment with other cheeses you might have on hand — gouda, Asiago, pecorino; cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk — there are no hard and fast rules here. The real test will be to serve it to you kids — because you know if they like it, you’ve struck gold.

I’ll leave you to experiment with the wares of your local cheesemonger this weekend. Me? I’ll be enjoying myself outside, hopefully jumping in a lake, doing some waterskiing, going for a hike. Spit-roasting a lamb over an open fire. Typical summer agenda.

You gotta soak it in while you can.

I’ll see you back here next week.

PS — Gma CWD, ever thoughtfully, got me a CWD brand for my birthday. Paid subscribers should have received — or will soon be receiving¹⁰ — their annual gift of branded hats. I still have a few left — so now is as good a time as any to upgrade to paid and walk away with a nice new trucker hat!

1. Most of the time. As a wise man once said: “I’m not as good as I once was / But I’m as good once / As I ever was.”

2. For ease, Kiddo CWD 2 will henceforth be known as “the Warthog.”

3. Frankly, I wasn’t even mad — just impressed!

4. Instead we swear by the folks at the Happy Retriever — if you’re in New England and need a trainer, they’re your answer!

5. Or a whole week, even!

6. Of, even better, the farmer’s market.

7. I don’t write this way to alienate you, or to make you feel bad about your food choices. That’s not my intent at all — and you need to eat, shop, and cook in a way that works for you and your family. But I do write this way to make you think a little bit about the choices you’re making. Just because you’ve “always done it this way” doesn’t mean you always have to. And just because something is a common practice doesn’t necessarily make it normal or the best!

8. I actually like to use kefir here, which gives it a nice tang. But do whatever you have on hand.

9. Though that stuff is delicious!

10. If you haven’t gotten yours, please let me know!