Baked Mac & Cheese
I know you’re thinking….not another baked mac and cheese recipe….but you’re right! This is my mother’s recipe and I made it for a Christmas get-together last year.
Several years ago, my sister Karen, put together a booklet of family recipes. I’ve referred to that booklet so many times! But in an effort to “modernize” my recipes, I’ve downloaded this app called “Recipe Keeper.”
Recipe Keeper
I have Recipe Keeper on my desktop and on my phone. That way I can edit recipes and sync them between all my devices. Yes, I had to pay extra for the app on the desktop and the app on my phone.
The app on the desktop lets me sync between my desktop and laptop. The app on my phone lets me sync between my iPad and iPhone.
Carrie has the same app on her phone so she can sign in to my account, and the recipes sync to her phone too. And, she can enter a recipe and it syncs to my devices too.
It was only about $25 for me and $10 for her. She only wanted it on her phone. So as I make recipes that belong to my family, I’m putting them on my blog. That way Recipe Keeper “finds” it and adds it to the collection.
Once you have a recipe like baked mac and cheese added to Recipe Keeper, you can categorize it by the main dish, side dish, dessert, etc. Plus you can add it to a collection for instance “Jeannie’s Recipes” or David & Carrie’s Recipes” etc.
Once you have several recipes recorded you can even create a downloadable cookbook.
Well, I didn’t mean for this blog to be about Recipe Keeper, so I’ll get back to the mac and cheese. You can add images to the recipes too))
Baked Macaroni and Cheese Ingredients
2 Cups Dry Macaroni
1 T Salt
3 quarts Water
1/2 cup Margarine (I use butter)
1/4 cup Flour (I use self-rising, but it doesn’t matter for this, plain is okay too)
Pepper to Taste
2 cups Milk
Two cups Grated Cheddar Cheese (I use sharp or extra-sharp)
2 tsp Chopped Parsley (or chives)
This is a basic baked macaroni and cheese recipe. Nothing special, and so easy to make. Just cook the macaroni in salted water until tender. Test it al dente, drain, and set aside. Or you can go ahead after you drain it and put it in a buttered or greased casserole dish.
Melt the margarine (or butter) in a saucepan and add the flour. Stir and cook until bubbly, but not brown. Stir in the milk. Continue to stir and cook on low heat until it thickens. This only takes a couple of minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Sprinkle 1 1/4 cups of the shredded cheese on the macaroni and stir it in a bit. Pour the milk mixture over the cheese and top with the remaining cheese. I like to use the two full cups in the macaroni and use extra for the top. Sprinkle chopped parsley or chives on top. You can use smoked paprika too if desired.
Bake for about 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 350° If it looks like the cheese is browning too quickly, place a piece of tin foil over the top and remove a few minutes before it’s completed.
Cheese
We like the cheese to be sharp or extra sharp. Sometimes when in a hurry, instead of grating the cheese I just cut it up into small pieces and scattered them throughout the macaroni. Either way works, but I like biting into that spoonful that is just full of cheese)))
More Recipes
Stay tuned and follow along for more recipes. I was just thinking the other day, I should take that booklet and cook each and every recipe like that movie Julie and Julia. I may do that, but one of the recipes is Daddy’s fried catfish fillets. He fried catfish outside in a gas cooker, so I’m going to have to pass on that one unless I get a friend to do it)))
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