Baked Mac and Cheese

melmorr's Note:

this is my hubby's great grandma's recipe. Most mac and cheese recipes call for cooking the noodles first, I am usually pressed for time so this recipe is a great alternative. Just throw it together and pop in the oven.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons margarine , melted
• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I usually use more)
• 4 cups milk
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. toss uncooked noodles in melted butter.
2. Place in 9X13 baking dish, cover with shredded cheese, pour milk over all. Salt and pepper if desired.
3. I used to stir periodically but my husband told me he likes the crunchy bits from not stirring.
4. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Reviews

[Terri Newell]

No stars...this really wasn't good. The milk boiled up and out of the pan while baking, eventually all disappearing. The cheese looked curdled and lumpy at the end of cooking time, and the noodles, while cooked, were basically bare. I had high hopes for this, but it just didn't work for us.

[SarasotaCook]

It turned out pretty good and it was easy to make. The method is what caught my attention. A couple of notes. Using a good quality cheese shredded rather than the pre packaged cheese really helps. The prepackaged cheese has stabilizers in it which can interfere with a "creamy" melting. I used a mix of sharp cheddar and monterey jack cheese. Also, I used 1/2 milk and 1/2 cream. This helps the milk from curdling. And I did stir half way through.

I did add small diced ham to this and topped it with a bread crumb mixture which main it a main dish dinner for me. Overall, a pretty good recipe.

[girl#1177249]

tasted pretty good and was very easy to throw together. I gave it 3 stars because it wasn't creamy, the cheese was chunky. My son, who is incredibly picky about mac and cheese, wouldn't eat it. he likes chef boyardee from a can... don't judge, i didn't give it to him *sigh*. I've been looking for a recipe that doesn't take all day and has simple natural ingredients

I shredded the cheese myself and used 1% milk, I'm wondering if the milk was the problem. I'm going to try this again because it's so easy, but next time I'll use whole milk and if that doesn't work, I'll try it with half whole milk half cream like another reviewer suggested. I will make this super easy recipe work. I'll update if the problem was just the milk i used.