20 Minute Stove Top Mac and Cheese

Once you make this recipe you will seriously never go back to boxed mac and cheese again! Although, I'm not going to lie, I have a soft spot in my heart for Kraft Mac and Cheese.  That was one of the first things I could "cook" on my own (although my specialty was omelets).  I also made countless boxes during my extremely successful babysitting career (the high school years). I don't want to feed it to my son for a few reasons (1) it's high in sodium, (2) as a cheese-lover, cheese in powdered form causes me physical pain, (3) I'd like to develop his palette to appreciate good food, and (4) Kraft uses artificial food dyes and the FDA has said, "artificial food dye is an issue for certain susceptible children with ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] and other problem behaviors." That's just a start. In fact in 2007 a study linked the use of these dyes to hyperactivity in children.  It might not hurt my child at all, but why risk it? It is possible to smoke for an entire lifetime and never develop cancer, but why risk it?  Anyway, homemade is always better and certainly more nutritious (in my humble opinion).  The problem is that homemade usually takes longer.  

Enter 

Stove Top Mac and Cheese courtesy of Cooking Light magazine.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (about 6 ounces)

• 1 cup 1% low-fat milk

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese (I used sharp Pinconning because it's local and because it melts very smoothly).

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 (1 1/2-ounce) slice white bread 

• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Preparation

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

Combine milk and flour in a medium saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Cook over medium heat 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add cheese, salt, and pepper, (I also added a little garlic powder) stirring with a whisk until smooth. 

Add pasta; toss to coat. Let stand 4 minutes.

*I omitted the breadcrumb part:

Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until the crumbs measure 1 1/4 cups. 

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs, and cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in melted butter; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over pasta mixture.

The Review?

This literally took 20 minutes to make.  It was absolutely no more work than a box of Kraft or Velveeta takes to make and much more delicious. You could stir in broccoli, spinach, ham, bacon, peas, carrots - anything you so desire! I just made a second batch tonight with the intention of freezing it so that I can defrost at a moment's notice.