And the tiny orange shreds look so much like the cheddar that your kids might not even notice they are there. The grated carrots get boiled along with the pasta, so cooking them isn’t an extra step. Instead, I toss the hot pasta with grated cheddar, butter, sour cream for creaminess, and eggs to hold it all together. But to make up for that, I’ve eliminated the need to make a cheese sauce on the top of the stove. It’s a straightforward recipe that comes together without much fuss, other than having to grate some carrots. It was a huge hit with the under-three crowd and their parents, too. I decided to come up with my own simplified and ultra-Cheddary version. I got the idea from a chef’s recipe in a glossy food magazine. Just simple, kid-friendly, homemade food with the added grown-up appeal of lots of healthful carrots tossed into the mix. It’s comforting, crusty topped, soft centered, and very cheesy – but not at all sophisticated. My aim is always the same - to make the dish quickly with a minimum of fuss, and to use a maximum of vegetables that she will tolerate and not pick out. Like most little kids, my daughter Dahlia loves macaroni and cheese, and I‘ve made it for her in many guises, running the gamut of techniques.
