Mac and Cheese from Scratch!

From time to time, I’d like to share with you some of my favorite recipes. I’m going to give you time-tested, tried and true, family favorites. And, my goal is to choose recipes with a minimum of ingredients, staples you hopefully have on hand in your fridge or cupboards.

Are you a box macaroni and cheese family? Or, have you ever made it from scratch? Growing up, my Mom always made it from scratch. Probably because box mac and cheese hadn’t been invented yet. But anyway, it’s what I grew up with and so it’s what I always made for my family. (Well, almost always. At some point my daughters' eyes were opened to the box stuff at friends’ homes, and they wanted me to make it, too. We ate both for a while.)

My children are adults now, and so once again I choose to make it only from scratch. It’s really cheesy good and what I’d call a true comfort food.

My recipe came from the back of the Mueller’s elbows macaroni box. Over the years I’ve noticed they’ve tweaked their recipe from time to time. Sometimes I would try the new recipe, but I always went back to their circa early 1980s version. (I just checked the back of a current box, and their new version is called Baked Macaroni with Double Cheese. It uses cheddar and Swiss cheese. I might just give that one a try one of these days.)

Here’s the recipe. Enjoy making it for your loved ones. I hope they like it as much as mine do.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

2 T. butter ¼ cup flour 1 t. salt ½ t. dry mustard ¼ t. pepper 2 ½ cups milk 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese 8 oz. elbow macaroni, cooked 6 minutes and drained ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

In 2-quart saucepan melt margarine over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, mustard, and pepper until smooth. Remove from heat. Gradually stir in milk until smooth.

Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat about 10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in the cheddar cheese until melted.

Turn macaroni into a greased 2-quart casserole pan. Pore cheese mixture over macaroni; mix well. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top of the casserole.

Bake in 375° oven for 25 minutes or until topping is lightly browned. Makes 6 servings.

That’s it. It’s both easy and delicious. Full disclosure, in the picture below on the left, we sprinkled bread crumbs on top because we were out of Parmesan cheese. It was still yummy, but more cheese is always better, right? And honestly, I never measure out 1/4 Parmesan to sprinkle on top. I'm very generous and just sprinkle it on till I think it looks good. Because as I just said, more cheese is always better!

Thanks for checking out my blog today. Bon appetit! Stay home and stay safe!