Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

The fourth of July plans were quickly changed by the power outage.  We had plans on grilling steak but we used up most of the propane with the power outage cooking our food and the meat that we did have was frozen at a friends house.  Ooops!!!  I decided to make some homemade macaroni and cheese and went searching for a new recipe that I hadn't tried before.  I found one from Family Feasts for $75 a Week: A Penny-wise Mom Shares Her Recipe for Cutting Hundreds from Your Monthly Food Bill by Mary Ostyn that I thought that I would try.  I pulled out all the of the ingredients and made a mess of my newly cleaned kitchen just to make sure that I had all the ingredients.

I mixed all of the ingredients and got the sauce put together.  I decided to add the paprika to the sauce since the recipe said that it would add color.  I put all of the mac and cheese in a 9x13 pan since I opted to make it before dinner so I decided that I would bake it to make it ready for dinner.  It was really saucy so I thought it would help make it a little more solid and less runny.

I added additional cheese to the top of the casserole dish and some homemade bread crumbs to make a super yummy top.

I used a whole block of cheese in the pasta and another whole block on the top so it was a lot more then I expected but we had two from Super Doubles at Harris Teeter that survived the storm at my husband's office so I used them all up :)  I used a little less Parmesan cheese they they asked for since I added all of the additional cheddar.  Please feel free to try the recipe and change it to meet your family.  Be prepared for leftovers unless you are serving a crowd!!!

Here is the original recipe that I modified to what I thought would be yummy:

Better than Boxed Macaroni and Cheese

12 to 16 oz uncooked elbow macaroni

¼ c butter

¼ c flour

3 c milk

1 tsp dry mustard, like Coleman’s

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

2 c shredded Cheddar Cheese (or Monterey or Colby)

4 oz cream cheese (optional)

½ c Parmesan cheese

Sweet paprika (optional)

Cook macaroni in boiling salted water according to package directions.  Drain and keep warm.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add flour and mix with a whisk until smooth.  Add milk, whisking as you pour it in to smoothly incorporate it into flour mixture.  Heat until mixture thickens, stirring frequently.  Add mustard, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Let simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently.  Gradually add Cheddar, cream cheese, and Parmesan.  The sauce is done when cheeses are well combined, smooth, and melted.  Add macaroni to sauce and stir until well mixed with sauce.  Sprinkle with a little more Parmesan and a bit of paprika for color, if using.