Old Fashioned Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

I am a macaroni and cheese connoisseur. In this day of low fat, healthy lifestyles that is almost like admitting I've eaten dessert for breakfast (there's eggs and milk in that cake). I really can't remember when I started liking macaroni and cheese. I don't remember my mom or my grandma making it. It wasn't a part of our holiday meal traditions. All I know is, as long as I can remember, if macaroni and cheese has been part of the menu, I wanted it!


Macaroni and cheese is one of those dishes that varies widely. One end of the spectrum hardly resembles the other end. The funny thing is, I like it all. I like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and I like homemade macaroni and cheese. They don't look or taste anything alike, but I like them both. That makes it easy for me when I see macaroni and cheese on a menu at an unfamiliar restaurant ~ chances are good I'm going to like it. My grandchildren do not carry my "mac & cheese acceptance" gene. They like Kraft, and sometimes Bob Evan's grocery brand, and that's it! Over the years I've tried to expose them to the wonders of homemade macaroni and cheese, but I've never been successful in converting them. Many of their parents, on the other hand, love it ~ but try to eat healthier foods on a regular basis.


Recently, I tried making just a few small changes to my macaroni and cheese recipe in hopes of addicting enlightening another generation to the wonders of good macaroni and cheese. Let me show you what I did and then I'll let you know how it worked.

I started by gathering the ingredients. I decided not to use traditional elbow macaroni. My thinking was I could call this something other than macaroni and cheese, thereby avoiding the kids' automatically comparing this dish to the boxed variety. I wanted to use cavatappi (which is a pasta shaped like a spiraled tube), but my little local store didn't carry that, so I bought bow tie pasta. I also got out shredded sharp cheddar cheese, chopped onion (I had some in the freezer left over from another day), dry mustard, salt, pepper, flour, butter and milk (not pictured). 

 As I was cooking the pasta on the stove, I melted the butter in a large sauce pan. And I added the onion. I got sneaky again here. I decided since some of the complaints I've gotten from the kids has been the onions, I would put them in the food processor and puree them so they would impart flavor, but wouldn't be seen.

 When the onions and butter became bubbly, I added the salt, pepper, and dry mustard.

 Then I added the flour.

 I stirred the flour into the butter mixture and let it cook for about a minute. At this point it is very thick. I had to keep stirring it so it wouldn't stick to the bottom of the pan. I moved it off the burner as I went to get the milk.

 I stirred the milk into the pot of butter/flour mixture and put it back on the burner.

 At this point I broke out the whisk so I would not have any lumps.

 Then I added the shredded cheddar cheese, and I kept stirring to make sure it didn't scorch.

 After just a couple of minutes I had a thick, cheesey sauce.

I poured the sauce over the cooked and drained pasta noodles and gave them a gentle stir to distribute the sauce throughout.

 I poured the noodle/sauce mixture into a casserole dish I had previously sprayed with PAM. Here again, I got sneaky...how can I make this appeal to the little guys?...hmmm I'll crush potato chips and sprinkle them over the top. This is a trick I've used on other casseroles and it always seems to appeal to the kids. I didn't take a picture of this with the chips, but just believe me, it did it. I then popped this in the oven preheated to 350 degrees for about a half an hour.

 I forgot to take a picture of the finished product right out of the oven, but this is a shot of it on my plate. It's cheesey, creamy, yummy, delish!

 This is what it looks like after a few minutes if you take it to a potluck, family reunion, or holiday dinner.


This is the official recipe:


14 ounce box of pasta cooked al dente, and drained
1/2 cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground dry mustard
4 cups milk
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 3 quart casserole dish by spraying with PAM. 
In a large saucepan on top of the stove, melt butter and cook onions over medium heat until onions are tender.
Add salt, pepper, mustard and flour.
Cook and stir for about a minute. Remove from the burner.
Add milk. Whisk to remove any lumps.
Place back on the burner and add shredded cheese. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly.
Pour cheese sauce over drained pasta. Stir to combine.
Pour pasta and cheese mixture into the prepared casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly browning on the edges.


Enjoy with caloric guilt!



What was the taste tester's bottom line?
The little rotters didn't like it!!   What?!! How can this be? I really have no idea. I was sure I could fool them by calling it "Bow Tie Casserole", by pureeing the onion, and especially by adding the crushed potato chips. But no, not a one of them liked it. Bummer!! I liked it and my daughter-in-law liked it enough to take leftovers home for herself so it didn't go to waste. I served it with wonderful homemade dinner rolls, and they were the hit with the kiddos.  

The bottom line: Put this recipe in the "keeper file" but save it for big gatherings, and serve the cheap boxed stuff to the kids.