Macaroni & Cheese

Easy Macaroni and Cheese

Get a box of Kraft Macaroni and  Cheese (it’s the cheesiest and tastes the best for mixes in its price range). Follow the directions on the box.

Ingredients for your shopping list:

Make sure you have:

  • large pot to boil macaroni noodles
  • big wooden spoon or spatula to mix up dry cheese sauce, butter and milk

Summary: boil the noodles for about 10 minutes. Drain and return noodles to pot.  Open packet of dry cheese sauce, dump in pot with butter and milk.  Stir until all cheese is absorbed by milk and butter is completely melted. Serve warm.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients for this recipe (Easy Macaroni and Cheese) are included in the week 7 shopping list.  If you decide to make Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese below, remember to add the extra ingredients to the shopping list.

 

Crock pot Macaroni and Cheese

This recipe is great for combining leftover pasta, cheeses and even leftover meat if you want a heartier meal.  If you had a cheese tray at at party, refrigerate the cubes overnight, then chop in a food processor.

  • 8 oz. uncooked short pasta shapes (elbow macaroni, rotini, farfelle, rigatoni, penne, shells, etc.), can be a mixture or all one kind
  • 1/2 stick of butter (4 Tablespoons)
  • 20 oz. grated or chopped mixed cheeses like Velveeta, sharp cheddar, Swiss, smoked Gouda,  mozzarella, etc.
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard (the dry kind of spice, not sandwich or hot dog kind in a jar)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • OPTIONAL: 2 cups chopped, cooked meat (like leftover ham, turkey, chicken) etc.

Prepare the pasta.  Bring 8 cups of water to a boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt and the dry pasta.  Cook on high for 8 minutes.  Pasta shapes that create a tube like penne, macaroni, and rotini, may take up to 12 minutes to cook thoroughly.  If you included these shapes, test one before turning off the heat at 8 minutes.  If the pasta is not tender all the way through, cook a few more minutes.

Drain the pasta and place in a cold crock pot.

Microwave the butter and cheeses in a large microwave-safe bowl with a lid or covered with plastic wrap.  Cook on medium power for 5 minutes then stir to combine.  Repeat the process of cooking at medium heat for 5 minutes, then stirring, cook and stir, cook and stir until all the cheese is melted.

Pour the melted cheeses into the crockpot and stir into the pasta.

Mix remaining ingredients – eggs, milk, spices and the optional meat – and add to the crock pot.  Mix with cheesy pasta.

Serves 6-8

Place the lid on the crock pot and cook on low for 3 hours.  Do not over cook.  If you have to cook this dish while you are at work, get an electrical timer that plugs into your outlet.  Set it to turn on three hours before you get home, then plug the crock pot cord into the timer.  These kinds of timers can be found at Home Depot or other hardware stores.