Fun with Food Friday - Baked Mac 'n' Cheese

Welcome to the brand-spanking-new Fun with Food Friday! (ALERT: Read to the bottom for extra bonus entries opportunity!)
Check The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a First Time Mom for another recipe review this week!
Today's recipe comes from reader Amanda, who blogs at A Life of Peace, Love & Diapers and also runs the shop Peace, Love & Diapers!Thanks, Amanda!
If you regularly use the boxed kind, this recipe is TOTALLY worth the small amount of effort it takes.Ditch the box and cook up a delicious batch of this tasty comfort food!
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
2 Tb cornstarch1 tsp salt1/4 tsp pepper2 1/2 cups milk2 Tb butter2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese, divided8 ounces elbow macaroni (about 2 cups dry) cooked 5 minutes and drained
1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.) Combine cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a large saucepan.

3.) Stir in milk.

4.) Add butter.

Fail.

5.) Bring to a boil over high heat. Unless you relish cleaning scorched white sauce from under your burners and all over your stove, do not leave it to boil over.
See above.
Stir constantly. Boil for 1 minute.

6.) Add 1 3/4 cup of the shredded cheddar to the hot white sauce mixture and stir until melted. (The recipe says you can use American "cheese" instead, if you prefer. I put "cheese" in quotes intentionally, and do not prefer.) ;-)

7.) Boil your elbow macaroni. 

8.) Drain the noodles when they're still firm and not quite done. Remember they're going to be cooking in liquid for another 25 minutes soon, and you don't want them to be total MUSH.

9.) Pour in the sauce. I was a little concerned about the runny-ness , but the cornstarch made it thicken up quite nicely as it cooked in the oven.

10.) Pour into a greased 2qt casserole pan and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheddar over the top.

(See my meatloaf cooking, too? For some reason meatloaf and macaroni & cheese are a pair for my hubby...so that's how we do it! You'll get my meatloaf recipe someday, too, if ya want it.)

11.) Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Easy-peasy, delicious and quick!

This is very similar to my stand-by, throw-it-together, comes-out-different-every-time mac 'n' cheese, but had a few slight variations, including the use of cornstarch for the white sauce.
I liked it:  more moist and melty than mine usually turns out.

Mac 'n' Cheese has the benefit of being able to hold in a warm oven quite well without sustaining irreparable damage...which came in quite handy last night as John was delayed for about an hour at work!
It didn't seem to suffer at all...which is more than I can say for a few vegi stir-fries I've killed in the past...

THANK YOU, Amanda!

I will be using this recipe again!

We'll be doing this again next Friday, and we need your recipes!
To encourage ya'll to produce your tasty gems, I'm offering 10 extra entries into any ONE giveaway of your choice for each recipe you submit, (you can send me as many as you like!)

Just send the recipe(s) to mamachocolateblog@gmail.com and tell me which current giveaway(s) you'd like your extra entries to go into. I'll add the entries!

Don't forget to check The Not-So-Secret Confessions of a First Time Mom to see what Michelle cooked up this week!

If you have a blog post about a favorite recipe, I'd love it if you'd comment with a link to it!
Spread the word about our event and grab the button!






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