If you think your homemade macaroni and cheese recipe rocks, enter it in the fifth annual Tillamook Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Contest. Six home cooks (no professionals!) from around the nation will compete in the grand finale cook-off in Portland, Oregon on October 23rd. The deadline to enter your recipe is Monday, August 17, 2009 at midnight PST.

Finalists will compete for the 2009 title of the “Big Cheese,” $5,000 cash and 25 pounds of outstanding Tillamook cheese from Oregon (their great Cheddars and other cheeses have won awards worldwide). The first runner up will receive $2,000 cash and 20 pounds of Tillamook cheese; the second runner up will receive $1,000 cash and 15 pounds of Tillamook cheese. The People’s Choice Award winner takes home $1,000. Finalists and their guests will be flown out to Portland, where they will cook their recipes from scratch in front of a live audience and a panel of judges consisting of national culinary experts and professional chefs.

Mac & Cheese Chile Relleno Pie, the Second Runner Up recipe in the 2008 competition.

Want to see what the competition looks like? See some of the previous Tillamook macaroni and cheese winners:

• 2006 Recipes
• 2007 Recipes
• 2008 Recipes