Makes Everything Better Cheese Sauce

cheese sauce

So, my kids are 14, 12 and 8. Not exactly toddlers. And, you know, they’re not super picky eaters. But they don’t love their veggies. Not like I wish they did. Not like I do. Which means I sigh a lot. And ask for “five more bites” way more than I feel should be necessary. I won’t even start with the 14-year-old’s annoying habit of eating food he doesn’t like as if he were taking a pill. That’s where this cheese sauce comes in handy. If I’m going to put a whole heap of veggies on the table and I know I’m looking at push-back, I stir up this sauce. It’s good. It’s homemade. And several spoons of it? They help the veggies go down.

Recipe inspired by Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook

Ingredients

  • 4 Tbsp. butter, melted
  • 1-2 tsp. minced garlic
  • 4 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour or a gluten-free flour mix
  • 2 tsp. dry mustard
  • 4 cups milk
  • 2 cups (packed) sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 tsp. fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Sauté garlic in butter for a minute or so.
  2. Whisk flour and then dry mustard into butter mixture until smooth. Pour in milk and stir until mixture thickens, 3-5 minutes.
  3. Add cheese and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper.