Mac & Cheese

For the eight years we've been married, I've been making the same awesome mac & cheese from a "Cooking for Two" cookbook we got as a wedding gift.

It calls for chicken, dry mustard, and crushed red pepper. It's amazing! However, the kids won't eat it. It just doesn't taste the same without the spices, so I've been on a mission to find a new recipe.

Leave it to the Pioneer Woman to have a delicious non-spicy Mac & Cheese recipe. It might be our new favorite dinner! I used smoked cheddar and monterrey jack. It's divine.

I do have two questions:

1. Why do people put an egg in mac & cheese?
2. Why bake it?