Parmesan Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded Wisconsin cheddar
1 cup grated Wisconsin parmesan
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika

for the breadcrumbs
1 cup freshly made bread crumbs
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt


1 lb small or medium sized pasta, cooked

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, whisk together the breadcrumb ingredients. Set aside.

In a medium pan, melt the butter. Add the flour along with the spices and stir until smooth. Add the milk and whisk together until slightly thickened. Whisk in the Parmesan and cheddar until smooth. Pour over the drained pasta. Pour into lightly oiled baking dish. Top with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs. Bake covered about 15 minutes, then uncover and cook until hot and bubbly, about 10-15 additional minutes.

My thoughts:

I was approached by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board to develop a recipe using Wisconsin cheese for their 30 Days, 30 Ways Mac & Cheese blog for Macaroni and Cheese month. I picked parmesan because I was interested to see how non-Italian parmesan would taste like. As it turns out, it was remarkably good. Not quite as sharp as Italian Parmesan, it made for a very family friendly mac & cheese.

Mac + Cheese with Tomato + Bacon

Ingredients:
12 oz evaporated milk
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
2 cup shredded extra sharp, aged cheddar
1/3 cup panko
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 slices thick cut bacon, crumbled
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
14 oz canned, diced tomatoes, drained
1 lb small or medium sized pasta, cooked

Directions:
In a medium skillet, heat a small amount of olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and heat through. In a small, dry skillet, quickly toast the panko.

In a medium pan, melt the butter. Add the flour along with a sprinkle of nutmeg, salt and pepper and stir until smooth. Add the milk and evaporated milk and whisk together until slightly thickened. Whisk in the cheddar until smooth. Pour over the drained pasta. Add the tomato mixture and bacon; stir to evenly distribute. Pour into lightly oiled baking dish. Top with a sprinkle of panko. Bake covered about 15 minutes, then uncover and cook until hot and bubbly, about 10-15 additional minutes.

Yield: about 4-6 meal sized servings, 8-10 side dish sized servings

My thoughts:

Years ago an older lady lived across the street from my mother. She was really nice (in fact she gave me my first slow cooker!) and we would visit her and my mom would take her shopping and out to lunch. To repay us (not that she had to) she would occasionally make this macaroni and cheese that was unlike any mac and cheese that I had ever had. It had bacon and a tomato-y sauce. I never did get the recipe but I've thought of it fondly over the years and thought I'd try to recreate it with a few of my own touches. It actually ended up being pretty much nothing like her mac and cheese beyond the bacon and tomato additions but I think she'd like it just as much. It is creamy and flavorful and surprisingly, not as heavy as you would think. The perfect comfort food to help ease into the colder months.

Asiago & Crab Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:
16 oz lump crab meat
12 oz evaporated milk PLUS enough milk to equal 2 cups
2 cups shredded asiago
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
salt
freshly ground black pepper
panko
minced Italian parsley
1 lb small or medium sized pasta, cooked (I used cavatappi aka cellentani)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium pan, melt the butter. Add the flour and spices and stir until smooth. Add the milk, mustard and evaporated milk and whisk together until slightly thickened. Whisk in the asagio until smooth. Stir in the crab meat. Pour over the drained pasta. Pour into a lightly oiled baking dish with a lid. Top with a sprinkle of panko and parsley. Bake covered about 15 minutes, then uncover and cook until hot and bubbly, about 10-15 additional minutes.

Yield: 4-6 meal sized servings or about 8 side dish sized servings.

My thoughts:

When the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board approached me about developing a recipe using a Wisconsin cheese to share on their new Macaroni & Cheese Blog, I couldn't say no. It had been entirely too long since I made mac & cheese. I decided to use fresh asagio because it has long been a favorite. While I've had lobster macaroni and cheese before, I've never had crab. Being a Baltimore girl, this just seemed wrong. I had to make a crab macaroni and cheese and asagio seemed like the perfect cheese to pair it with, mild enough that it wouldn't overpower the crab but distinctly flavored and most importantly, it melts well. Adding smoked paprika and mustard gave it some bite and blended seamlessly into the simple cheese sauce. It ended up being a very easy but elegant macaroni and cheese. Fancy enough for company but quick enough for a weeknight.

Weenie Mac & Cheesy (Macaroni & Cheese with a Hot Dog Surprise)

Ingredients:
2 large hot dogs cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds
2 cups evaporated milk*
2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar
1/3 cup panko
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 lb macaroni or (my favorite)cellentani, cooked

Directions:
For the b�chamel: In a medium pan, melt the butter. Add the flour along with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, cayenne and stir until smooth. Add the milk and mustard and whisk until slightly thickened. Whisk in the cheeses until smooth. Stir in the hot dog slices. Pour over the drained pasta. Pour into lightly oiled baking dish. Top with a sprinkle of panko. Bake covered about 15 minutes, then uncover and cook until hot and bubbly, about 10-15 additional minutes.

Yield: about 4-6 (meal sized) servings

* Most cans of evaporated milk only yield about 1 3/4 cups. Make up the rest with regular milk.

Note: Avoid using hot dogs with a very high fat content or your macaroni and cheese will become unappetizingly greasy as it bakes and the hot dogs release their juices.

My thoughts:

Don't tell anyone where you got this recipe! While it is super tasty, it is also rather embarrassing to admit that you not only made it but that were no children were present to use as an excuse. My mom had made mac and cheese with hot dogs (although not quite this version) when I was a kid a couple of times. I think she saw the suggestion in a magazine because it wasn't exactly our usual fare. Anyway, I was telling my husband about the disappointing casserole book I had read and I revealed that I had eaten this somewhat dubious dish; the closest to a casserole I ever had growing up. He was intrigued (we do love hot dogs) so when I ended up with a couple flavorful but not too fatty Roseda Beef hot dogs leftover from an earlier meal, I knew what I had to make.

While the mac and cheese of my childhood was infrequent and consisted simply of macaroni tossed with shredded cheese and then baked, I've grown to enjoy a bit of creamy sauce. However, I avoid making it with the traditional heavy cream, that is a little too rich for me. Instead I use evaporated milk with is quite creamy tasting but is also 98% fat free. Regular (2%) milk works well as an alternative if you don't have evaporated on hand. Since I was making macaroni cheese with hot dogs I went ahead and added some mustard to the sauce. It was a perfect choice, it added a bit of spice and extra sharpness to the cheddar.


I've been getting lot of emails about cheap eats and I am happy to say this was a very filling, very budget-friendly meal. While the locally produced hot dogs (bought at Graul's for you locals) were on the pricy side ($8 for 6 hot dogs), the cheese was about $2, the evaporated milk was 80 cents and the pasta was only $1. The remaining ingredients were cheap staples. Add some broccoli ($1 lb) on the side and you have a complete, thrifty meal.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese with Rapini

Ingredients:
1 cup evaporated milk*
1 cup milk*
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 cup shredded asiago
1/4 cup panko
3 tablespoons grated parmesan
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bunch rapini, chopped and steamed**
1 lb small or medium sized pasta, cooked

Directions:
For the b�chamel: In a medium pan, melt the butter. Add the flour along with a sprinkle of nutmeg, salt and pepper and stir until smooth. Add the milk and evaporated milk and whisk together until slightly thickened. Whisk in the asiago and cheddar until smooth. Pour over the drained pasta. Add the rapini and stir to evenly distribute. Pour into lightly oiled baking dish. Top with a sprinkle of parmesan and panko. Bake covered about 15 minutes, then uncover and cook until hot and bubbly, about 10-15 additional minutes.

Yield: about 4 (meal sized) servings

*Having the milk at room temperature or slightly warm helps keep the butter from hardening when you make the sauce.
**A little trick: I steamed the rapini (AKA broccoli rabe) in a mesh basket over the pasta while it was boiling.

My thoughts:

What is it about winter that just cries out for mac & cheese? I don't normally go the whole creamy cheese sauce route but Matt had a craving so we went for it. Using evaporated milk gives the sauce a very creamy feeling but has a fraction of the fat in heavy cream. I'm always looking for ways to incorporate vegetables into things like macaroni and cheese, especially when it is serving as our entree. Rapini might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of macaroni and cheese but it worked well, rapini's strong flavor was tempered by the cheese and it kept the dish from being too one dimensional.

Macaroni & Cheese with Artichokes

Ingredients:
10 oz frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted
1 1/4 cup shredded asiago cheese
3/4 cup panko
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 cloves garlic, minced
16 oz short pasta, cooked almost to al dente

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. In a large pan, saute the red pepper flakes, garlic and artichoke hearts for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant. Stir into the cooked pasta. In the same saute pan, quickly brown the panko. Remove from heat and stir in the paprika. In a large casserole, sprinkle some cheese, top with pasta repeat until all of the cheese and pasta is gone, taking care to end with cheese. Pour the milk over the top. Sprinkle with panko. Bake covered for 20-20 minutes then uncovered for an additional 10 minutes to brown the top. Serve hot.

My thoughts:

What better food to have on a cold day than macaroni & cheese? To make this one a little special, I added some sauteed artichoke hearts and used Matt's favorite, asagio cheese.

Broccoli & Tomato Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:
1 lb macaroni, cooked to almost al dente
2 cups broccoli florets
1 medium onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
1 cup fresh tomatoes, large dice
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon hot paprika



Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. While you are cooking the pasta, heat the oil in a skillet. When it is hot, add the broccoli, garlic and onion and saute until the onion is translucent and the broccoli is bright and hot. In a small bowl or measuring cup, toss the cheddar, mustard and paprika. Toss the broccoli mixture with the drained pasta. In a large casserole, alternate layering the cheese and pasta, starting and ending with pasta. Arrange the tomatoes between layers. When finished, pour the milk over the pasta, cover and bake for 25 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until bubbly and hot. Serve.

My thoughts:

When the weather is cold and blustery, nothing tastes better than bubbling hot macaroni and cheese. With this version I upped the nutritional count and the flavor by adding broccoli and some hot house tomatoes to make a completely one dish meal.

Macaroni and Cheese with Tomato

Ingredients:
10 oz macaroni, cooked and drained
28 oz canned whole tomatoes
8 oz sharp cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup fresh spinach
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons oregano

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease or spray casserole dish. In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Add onion, shallot and garlic, cook until translucent, about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add spinach, tomatoes and oregano. Stir occasionally, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon. Cook about 10 minutes or until cooked through. Pour over drained macaroni. Place in alternating layers in the casserole, beginning and ending with cheese. Cook 20-30 minutes or until bubbly hot.


My thoughts:
I have really been in the mood for some retro style comfort food. It was pretty fast to make and certainly easy. I bet you could make and refrigerate this the day before baking and it would be just as good although it would take longer to bake. It's actually a fairly healthy version of mac and cheese compared to a lot of recipes that call for butter and milk/cream along with all of the cheese. The tomatoes, celery and spinach give you more than a serving of vegetables and if you use low fat cheddar, it is almost light.

Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups (8 oz) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, reserving 1/2 cup
2 cups (8 oz) pasta, cooked 5 minutes and drained

Directions:

In a microwavable bowl, combine the corn starch, salt, dry mustard and pepper. Stir in milk. Add butter. Heat for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 3/4 cups cheese until melted then add pasta. Pour into slightly greased crock pot. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Cover and heat on the high setting for 30 minutes. Then switch to low until ready to eat (if late) or keep on high 20 more minutes and then serve.

Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

1 lb small pasta
1 lb shredded extra sharp cheddar
1/4 cup italian style bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter

Directions:

In a large pot cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and return to pot. Add shredded cheese, stir to combine. Meanwhile, melt butter in the microwave (or on the stove top, of course) for about 1 minute. Add bread crumbs and stir to coat. Pour pasta and cheese into a large oven safe dish. Pour milk over the pasta. Sprinkle with a thin layer of bread crumbs. Bake, uncovered or covered (for less of a chewy "crust") for 1/2 hour or until bubbly and hot.