Craving Mom's cooking

Sunday already.. Happy Easter everyone! It was a very uneventful week in my little kitchen. I was so happy for the nice weather that I spent most evenings after work outside with the dogs. By the time we came in, I had about enough energy to open up a bag of seasoned noodles or a package of hotdogs :) Friday it was my linguine & clam sauce again (I really think I could live off that dish). Saturday I woke up with lots of energy.. I had cleaned my house and did my laundry all before 9 am! That doesn't happen often lol I also woke up with a HUGE craving for some of my mom's cooking. I thought about calling her and asking her if she'd cook for her favorite daughter, but we were having my neices and their parents over, so I knew we'd go out for lunch and she would not feel like cooking later. *sigh* I guess if I wanted to satisfy this craving, I'd have to cook it myself. My absolute favorite dishes she made me as I was growing up were Linguine and Clam Sauce (imagine that!!) paired with slow cooked BBQ ribs. Quite a combo, eh? But, gawd I loved it and always asked for that on my birthday. Next in line, was her fried chicken wings with macaroni and cheese.. and that's what I was jonesin' for Saturday morning. The wings are super simple.. just flour, salt & pepper. She throws all that with the wings in a big bag, shakes it up and then fries the wings to a goldeny brown perfection. Yum! Hubbs had never had fried wings before I had met him.. he thought wings were only made with buffalo sauce and served with blue cheese dressing and celery. He's now addicted too and asks for these quite often. My mom's mac & cheese? Well that's a different story.. she adds tomatoes to it and he just doesn't like that (so he says, but on the rare occasions that I'll make it he ALWAYS goes back for seconds - sometimes thirds, go figure). I don't know where my mom got this recipe or if she was just experimenting one day, but it was a huge hit with the family. Three ingredients is all it takes. One of which is Velveeta processed cheese. This recipe is the only way I'll eat Velveeta.. just not a huge fan of the stuff, but I keep in on hand as Hubbs loves his Velveeta and green pepper sandwiches. (ugh) Mom's Mac and Cheese 1 lb. medium shell shaped pasta (I used Radiatore for something different this time) 3/4 of a "loaf" of Velveeta cheese, diced 2 (14.5 oz.) cans of whole tomatoes broken up in blender - not pureed (I didn't have whole tomatoes so I used crushed tomatoes and they worked fine) Preheat oven to 350º F. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil, then season with salt. Cook the pasta until al dente, you don't want to overcook the pasta as it will go into the oven and continue cooking. In a 3 quart casserole dish, combine the cooked pasta, Velveeta and tomatoes, then cover. Place in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes to melt the cheese. Stir before serving.