I do have a couple of foodie friends, but my problem is at home. I was the product of Ward and June Cleaver (really!), where mom made homemade everything, and it always tasted/looked perfect. Occasionally we'd go to their friends' house and eat exotic foods. (The couple travelled a lot, and cooked regional foods from their travels. Then, the couple foster-parented 3 teens from Vietnam, so we ate that food too...which was kinda weird, but I ate it)
Anyway, my husband was raised with "nothing sweet on the plate unless it's dessert (no cranberry w/turkey, no apple with ham,....) NO cream sauces (*
*), NO cream soups ("real soups to him are those you can see to the bottom"), and casseroles were never an option.
OH, and hot sauce must be used BEFORE trying the food!
It's kind of hard for me, as I try to cook to please him (after all, he's the one who works hard every day), but it's sad when I want to cook something out of the ordinary, and I get "maybe you don't want to make this one again".
Fortunately my kids like some of my growing-up stuff. The little one will eat sweets any time you offer it, and the bigger one thinks my creamy chicken pie is to die for.
That's why this board is so wonderful! It's like a freedom from the mundaine!
PS - as for Kraft mac 'n cheese...
Neither of my kids will touch it, but I remember being about 10, with my friend, who was 8. We'd make it in mom's kitchen, and while the noodles were boiling, we'd "cook" hot dogs on top of a big coffee can (5lb size) that had the bottom cut out and holes in the top and had some burning material beneath. With that always came the overly chocolatey chocolate milk. When we ate it, it was a meal for a king in our eyes