Tuesday, September 18, 2012

MACARONI AND CHEESE


Oh my goodness.....just look at that cheese!

Yesterday, I was in the mood for comfort food.  What better food than cheesy, hot, melt in your mouth, macaroni and cheese?

This is my daughter, Holly's, recipe.  She made it a couple of years ago and it was an instant hit.  I spent years making homemade macaroni and cheese but using Velveeta, which is good, don't get me wrong.  As a matter of fact, a while back my stepdaughter, Crystal, called to ask me how to make that recipe because it is what she grew up eating.  But this recipe....ahhhh...it just has the richest, cheesiest flavor and isn't that what we all  love about macaroni and cheese?

This recipe doesn't take very long to put together and it could not be simpler.  I served it with hamburgers and ranch style beans.  My son, Christopher, is a vegetarian so he had a Gardein Veggie Burger.  The link will bring you to the Gardein site but there are more products and HEB carries them.  And let me just say, the Gardein Meatless Burger is really, really good!  I ate one the other day because I did not want to cook and I did not want take out.  I was very pleasantly surprised!

I was running behind last night so I didn't get to take a lot of pictures....sorry!  Hopefully, the one above will give you enough of a reason to try this recipe!


MACARONI AND CHEESE

12 ounces small elbow macaroni, boiled in salted water until cooked but firm (mine took 7 minutes)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1 teaspoon onion salt
12 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded separated into 8 ounce     and 4 ounce portions
8 ounces mild cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup of melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil macaroni in salted water until firm but cooked.  The macaroni will continue to cook in the oven so you want the macaroni to hold its shape and not become mushy.


In a medium bowl, whisk flour and approximately 1/2 cup of milk until blended.  Add the remaining milk and onion salt.






In a large bowl, combine the hot macaroni and 8 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese and the 4 ounces mild cheddar cheese.






Stir in the milk mixture.


Pour into a 9 X 13 buttered dish.  I used a 9 X 9 stoneware dish by Pampered Chef because I like mine deeper.   Sprinkle with the remaining 4 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese and 4 ounces of mild cheddar cheese.




Drizzle with melted butter.



Pop in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.


Is your mouth watering yet...mine is....again!

Now here are a couple of pictures from our plates last night....

This is mine...I don't really care for ranch style beans so I will just have a double helping of mac n cheese...please and thank you!


Now, here is Christopher's creative plate....cracked me up so I had to take a picture!!



enjoy!



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How much mild cheddare cheese are you using: 4 ounces or 8 ounces?

Little Magnolia Kitchen said...

So sorry about the discrepancy between the recipe and the directions. I went back and looked at the recipe and it called for 20 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese. Since I like a mixture of sharp and mild cheeses, I remember that I decided to combine them. I just forgot to add the last bit of mild cheddar to the sharp cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top of the dish in the recipe. You could use whatever mixture you like as long as it adds up to 20 ounces. Thank you so much for asking or I might not have ever caught the error : )