I Swear, It's Not Kraft

After a long arduous day of parenting, we were famished, tired of the tryptophan-induced narcoleptic haze of turkey and lazy. There is no shortage of Mac 'n Cheese recipes in the world and lately I've been using a Cooks' Illustrated version that I kind of liked, but it was too much work. I thought about the recipe and streamlined it to a decadent and extremely simple version that can be done faster than you can open a package of that mysterious, dense yellow powder. I think it's safe to say, this has become part of our repertoire.

Wicked Fast Mac 'n Cheese
small elbow macaroni, 224 g (yes, I actually weigh it)
butter, 2 T
condensed unsweetened milk, 5 oz
shredded cheddar cheese, ca. 1 cup
salt and pepper (coarsely ground)

1. Cook macaroni, strain and return to pot.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients. Residual heat from the cooked macaroni should melt everything and it will eventually look just like the stuff from the thin blue box.
3. Enjoy.