Chen's passion for the childhood favorite dish stems back to college days when she lived off instant boxes of the stuff. "I used to always just make it from the box — but I got so into it that I wanted to start trying to make gourmet mac and cheese," she says. She started with a recipe from The New York Times as her jumping off point for transitioning to gourmet. "I only used the recipe to make a list of main ingredients to buy, now I use it as a base so I can get adventurous." Chen's family didn't cook frequently when she was growing up so she started her own culinary journey about a year ago. Now, she swears by her go-to mac and cheese as an easy crowd pleaser for beginners in the kitchen. "I have such good memories of eating this dish with people I love," she says.