Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is one of our favorite comfort foods during the cold weather months! My boys prefer the fake kind out of the blue box, but we are working on getting rid of that concept! This recipe is my favorite for macaroni and cheese, and it includes all REAL ingredients! (Although you’d never know from looking at my picture – the cheese did not look that neon in real life!)

This is adapted from Light & Tasty Magazine’s Two Cheese Ziti.

Ingredients:

3 cups uncooked ziti or small tube pasta (we use whatever we have at the time…)

1 T butter

2 T all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 3/4 cups milk

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or colby jack or whatever you have)

2 T grated parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper until smooth. (Mine has never, ever been smooth, but it comes out okay.) Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in cheeses until melted.

Drain pasta and add sauce to coat. Transfer to a shallow greased baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Topping:

Combine 3 tablespoons bread crumbs, 1 1/2 tsp melted butter, 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, and 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over pasta. Bake, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes more until heated through and topping is lightly browned.

My boys don’t like the bread crumb topping, but I think it’s really good! Sometimes I just sprinkle a little cheese on top instead of doing the topping.

This makes a great dinner with broccoli on the side!

Linked to Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday