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Macaroni and cheese is comfort food in my house. It’s also a meal that everyone likes and I hear no complaining about. As a mom, I’m used to someone at the dinner table saying they don’t like this or they refuse to eat that. Not when I serve my homemade easy to make macaroni and cheese! Instead I hear, “Seconds, please!”
I’ve been making this recipe for a very long time. We always had macaroni and cheese growing up. My grandmother had those large blocks of processed cheese, wrapped in foil that she’d chop up and throw in with boiled noodles. I used to hate it because I couldn’t stand the cheese. It was fake tasting and plastic like. She’d burn the cheese and milk and we’d have crisp macaroni and cheese. Ugh, even thinking about it today, makes me gag.
My goal was to take what I grew up with and make it better. Gag free! No processed fake cheese and canned or evaporated milk. Something healthier and mouthwatering!
Here’s how I make my homemade mac & cheese and hopefully your family will enjoy this recipe as much as mine do:
- Boil 1 pound of elbow noodles – al dente style. You don’t want them to be mushy. Instead slightly
firm because they’ll continue to cook with the cheese, milk and butter. - Cut up 2 cups of Colby jack cheese and 2 cups of Monterrey jack cheese into small chunks.
- Cut up one stick of butter into chunks – approximately 1 cup.
- When the noodles are finished boiling and you’ve drained them, add your cheese, butter and slowly stir in 2 cups of milk. Mix this well over low heat.
- As the cheese, butter and noodles begin to melt together and milk well, add another cup of milk and stir.
- Let the macaroni and cheese slowly cook on the stove top and melt, stirring periodically. Add another cup of milk as you begin to see the mixture thicken. We like ours creamier so I add approximately 4 cups of milk in all. This is a preference and eye ball thing; you need to add more for your preference. I’m not the measuring kinda gal but I like to taste it and see if I need to add more!
- I let mine cook for a few hours of the stove top, melting together. This is something you could easily do on low in the slow cooker. If you want to speed up dinner you can turn up the heat and have the melting take place faster. I like to slowly cook and melt the cheese, butter and milk into the noodles. This is a great Sunday afternoon meal and then leftovers Monday!
At the end you have a wholesome meal that makes everyone smile. I like to bake bacon and crumble it up on top of the macaroni and cheese and serve with steamed broccoli or green beans. Of course what “type” of cheese, milk and noodles you use is up to you. You can go with organic everything if it makes you feel better or low-fat milk or cheese. Even whole grain noodles. The recipe is easy to adapt for your family preferences.
How do you make your Mac & Cheese? Please share!