One of my favorite comfort foods is mac and cheese. In fact, I eat it on average of about once a week! But I won’t eat just any mac and cheese. Oh, no! I am picky about what kind I eat… I really prefer the boxed variety. Preferably either Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or the Aldi equivalent. Mmmm, mmm!
Who else prefers boxed mac and cheese to the homemade kind? Come on… you can admit it! Anyway, even if you don’t, I bet your kids prefer it.
The boxed mac and cheese is so quick and easy to make, but there are a few things that have always bothered me about it.
1.) There is too much wasteful packaging with the boxed mac and cheese.
2.) There are too many mystery ingredients in the cheese sauce packet. I like my food to be “real.”
3.) Boxed gluten-free options are VERY expensive (and not very good).
So I set out to develop a mac and cheese recipe that tasted as good (or better) than the boxed kind, could be made gluten free if desired, and was easy and fast to make. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients (per serving, multiply as needed):
1/2 cup (2 ounces) macaroni – you can use regular, whole wheat, gluten free, or home-made
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon milk
2 Tablespoons dried cheddar cheese powder
Now a couple quick notes… first, if you are looking for a good gluten free pasta, I highly recommend the Tinkyada brand. It truly tastes just like the “normal” stuff and it comes in all the different shapes and sizes you would expect from pasta.
Secondly, you may be curious about the cheddar cheese powder. If you live near an Amish or Mennonite community you should have no problem finding this ingredient in a bulk food store. If you don’t have a bulk food store near you, no worries. You can get some cheddar cheese powder here, through Amazon. (And if you do order some, if you order it via the link on this page I will get a small affiliate commission.)
Okay, back to the recipe.
1.) Cook your pasta. I like to cook mine in a microwave using the Fasta Pasta microwave pasta cooker.
2.) Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan and add milk and cheese powder. Mix it well so that there are no lumps. it should look like this:
3.) Now add in the cooked pasta and mix well:
See how quick and easy that was? Just like the boxed kind, but so much better. I like to serve it with a big garden salad. Doesn’t this look good?
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Tried your recipe and it was great!
My only problem was I needed to add a lot more milk than the 1 tablespoon you recommended. Could possibly be the brand of cheese powder I used.
But it was delicious!
Thank you for posting.
I am glad you tried the recipe and liked it! As for needing more milk, you might be right about it being the kind of cheese powder you used. However, I should have warned that the cheese sauce mixture seems really thick (and it really does look like it needs more milk)… but somehow when I add the pasta it all spreads out fine over the entire serving. I’ve actually tried adding more milk and it made it too runny for my liking. But the great thing about this recipe is that you can make it however you wish!
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I can’t wait to try this recipe. First I need to find some cheese powder, but I think it is sold in bulk at a store near me. Hopefully I’ll be able to try it by the end of the week.
My 12 yo stepson just got diagnosed with a wheat allergy. Poor guy. He loves macky. I tried making the real, homemade mac’n'cheese the last time he was here (he spends summers with us), but he seriously prefers the fake stuff. Maybe this cheese powder version will help him cope. Plus I can make it with special noodles. Thanks for the share!
That does look really good… much better than store bought!
I never thought about the cheese powder. I gave up on the box mixes long ago and went to the Ragu cheese sauce and it has been a hit ever since. We have no amish communities near by, but I am glad you have found another yummy way to make mac and cheese. I think there is no wrong way to make mac-n-cheese. New follower via twitter, feel free to stop by and link up to my new blog hop if you get a second. http://onecreativeprocrastinatinggal.blogspot.com/2013/01/inspiration-in-progress-2.html
Sounds great! I love mac and cheese to
Thanks for sharing on The HomeAcre Hop!
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