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You are here: Home / Eating / Dinner on the table / Quick Macaroni & Cheese (without the box)

Quick Macaroni & Cheese (without the box)

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Food, food, food! Do I seem obsessed to you? I truly believe that getting dinner on the table Every Single Night is one of the great challenges of rookie-mom-dom. We welcome our good friend, Karen, to share another easy peasy recipe with our readers: Quick (and healthier) Mac and Cheese good enough for kids and adults.

I admit I’m a sucker for that bacon trick. Oh, and the breadcrumb trick. Yummmy!

I am going to tell you a dirty little secret about myself: I like Kraft macaroni and cheese from a box. It might be because I ate it so much as a kid that I have some sort of Stockholm syndrome thing going on with it, or it might be that I am just not all that refined. I only occasionally eat it at home, and when I do it’s totally on the down-low and I shamefully hide all the evidence afterward. In case you’re not disillusioned enough by my bad habits yet, let me also reveal that I put soy sauce on it. Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it: the soy sauce actually makes the orange chemical cheese-like product taste more like, well, cheese. Strange, I know.

Of course, the sad thing about that Kraft box is the questionable ingredient list. Aside from the unnatural Doritos-colored cheese powder, did you know that one of the main preservatives in boxed Mac and Cheese is a common ingredient in laundry detergent? Ick.

The good news is that contrary to popular belief, macaroni and cheese is really easy to make from scratch, and offers a lot of room for customization. All you have to do is make a white sauce with milk, flour, and butter, then add cheese. No laundry detergent required! I like to serve it with broccoli and mix it all together on my plate. Pork-o-philes can cook up a few slices of bacon crumble on top. And I know it’s a lot of carbs, but it’s great with toasty garlic bread too!

Recipe: Quick Mac and Cheese Without The Box
serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. macaroni (or penne, campanelle, or other short pasta shape of choice)
  • 3 Tblsp butter
  • 3 Tblsp flour
  • 1 ½ cups milk (nonfat won’t work- whole or 2% will work best)
  • 1-2 cups grated cheese of your choice (I like the cheddar/jack mix with a little parmesan. if it’s just for grown-ups, I’ll add some gorgonzola too)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Turn off heat and stir in flour with a whisk. Return to medium low heat and add milk, stirring. Cook stirring constantly until thickened and smooth, about 5-10 minutes.
  3. Season with salt and pepper and stir in cheese. Cook, stirring, until cheese is melted, 1-2 minutes. Mix with pasta and serve.

 

Not-so-secret hints:

  • Feed the baby: Mush up some cheesy noodles with a bit of small cooked broccoli pieces.
  • Lower the calories: Mac and cheese is definitely not a diet food, but you can at least use low-fat cheese. I recommend the shredded “Mexican” blend you see in the butter aisle of the supermarket because a lot of low fat cheese is a little funky in the texture department.
  • Make it fancy: Put the mac into a buttered casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs. Bake in a 400 degree oven to toast the breadcrumbs. You can also do this with tater tots but I’m not sure that qualifies as “fancy”, per se.
  • Leftovers? In my house there is never leftover mac and cheese, but if you find yourself in this situation, this sounds like a good idea.
  • Take a shortcut: We talked about the pros and cons of the box already, right?

Related Posts:
Who’s Auntie Karen?
Auntie Karen’s Crock Pot Pulled Pork

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Karen
Karen
Among many other things, I am a toddler mom, a former pastry chef, a San Francisco native, an extensive world traveler, a writer, and an often overwhelmed remodeler. I have recently returned to school to become a certified nurse midwife. I blog at OffTheMeathook.com (lifestyles of the carnivorous and fabulous).
Karen
Latest posts by Karen (see all)
  • Baby Standing in the Crib? 2 Ways to Get Your Baby to Stop - January 14, 2022
  • 7 Tips to help kids and babies have a mosquito and tick-free summer - July 16, 2021
  • Yes, world travel is better when traveling with a toddler - December 10, 2017

September 2, 2010 6:33 am Karen Filed Under: Dinner on the table, Eating, How to, We Love It (For Mom)

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