I’m a classy person—want to know why? I just made homemade mac and cheese in my dorm room. In the microwave. In 6 minutes. If you want to be classy, listen up.

Before you continue, you must free your mind from all perverse and unholy mac and cheese thoughts. I know you like Kraft Easy Mac, and I guess that doesn’t make you a (completely) horrible person, but sometimes you just have to indulge yourself. A classy person treats their body right, and that doesn’t include scary neon synthetic cheese powder. They can’t even call it cheese—it’s a cheese “product”. I know it’s fun eating it right out of the packet (not like I’ve ever done that) but you’re a classy person now, and a classy person uses real cheese, and preferably in 1lb block you could take out a stray cat with. I got mine from the Creamery (WE ARE!!!!). This is what it looks like:

You might think that a pound of cheese is a little excessive, but what if you suddenly crave cheese and crackers, mac and cheese, and multiple grilled cheeses all in the same day? It’s only $6, and completely necessary.

To make yourself some classy-mac YOU WILL NEED:

-1/3 cup dry pasta (I used elbow macaroni because I’m old school yo)

-1/2 water

-1/2 cup shredded cheese

-splash of  whole milk

-1 tablespoon butter (optional, but not really, butter is never truly optional)

-1 tall mug or bowl

After you have gathered your ingredients, stopped by the Creamery for your 1 (or 2 lb) block of cheese, grabbed some ice cream and some extra lactose pills, you’re ready to cook.

1. Grab a mug with fairly tall sides, and fill it up with the water. Add the pasta, and microwave on high for 3 minutes.

2. Take the mug out carefully, stir, and put back in for another 2 minutes. Watch it very closely, as at this point the water will start to boil and foam over a bit. (If you’re lazy like me, you can just let it go, and clean it up after.)

3. While your pasta is cooking grate your cheese (or just buy pre-shredded). If you bought a 1 lb block like me, and then realize you have no grater, you can dangerously chop it into little tiny bits with an insanely small paring knife like this:

It’s not “grated” per-se, but it’s close enough.

4. When your pasta is done cooking, there should hardly be any water left. Immediately add your butter and cheese, and stir until melted. I had to put the mug back in the microwave for a few seconds to help the cheese melt, but that was probably because I cut it up into giant chunks like a caveman.

5. Once everything is melted add a splash of milk to create a creamy sauce. If you would like, you can also season your mac and cheese with salt and pepper to taste. If you want to be super classy, you can use salt and pepper packets you stole from the commons.

6. Revel in your classiness, as you are now the envy of everyone on your floor.

If you’re interested in making more cool things in your microwave, try some peanut butter fudge, or a chocolate mug cake.

You can find the original recipe for my classy-mac here.