Macaroni and Cheese recipe

Some home made macaroni and cheese here, the kids love this and freezes great! When my first was a toddler I'd freeze it in 2ozs containers for her for quick meals. Now we never have enough left overs to freeze, if for some weird reason we do I freeze it in batches of one meal worth for 2-3 kids. I've also done it with ground beef mixed in (fry it first of course) to "beef" it up, and a few times have mixed in peas and corn which didn't go over as well.  So here is what you'll need.

1lb of elbow macaroni, I've done shells too but they stick too much for my liking. Still came out yummy though.
1lb cheddar cheese grated, use sharp or extra sharp. The mild doesn't give enough flavor and they come out a bit bland.
some grated parmesan for the top, probably about 2Tb worth, never measured this just make sure there is a good layer over the top of the dish.
3Tbs. butter
4-5Tbs. flour
3 Cups whole milk
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg



Cook the pasta to al dente drain and pour into your baking dish. You can butter the dish but I don't bother, figure the sauce is buttery enough.

You can start your sauce while the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a medium size sauce once the butter is bubbly and melted start adding your flour gradually, until you have a pretty dry paste going.  Cook that for a min or 2 stirring constantly, got to get that flour taste cooked out. Basically you are making béchamel sauce (there are more detailed instructions in the lasagna recipe post).
Once the flour paste has cooked for a min or so start adding your milk gradually and either stir or whisk to get all the lumps out. Once all the milk is in salt to taste and add the nutmeg (fresh is best).


Cook the sauce until it thickens just a bit, 3-5 mins. Turn off the heat and start to stir in your cheddar. I do a handful at a time stirring until it's melted in, then add more etc until all the cheese is in. Pour your sauce all over the pasta. The sprinkle the grated parmesan all over the top. I forgot to take a picture of this step until right after it all went int the oven, so you don't really see the parmesan because it already melted.


Cook at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and turning brown, basically looks like this


Enjoy!