Favorite Mac & Cheese- OAMC

Munchkin Mama's Note:

Makes 3 batches of Macaroni & Cheese, 4 servings each. Adapted from The Freezer Cooking Manual.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 12

Yield: 3.0 pans

• 3/4 cup butter or 3/4 cup margarine or 3/4 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup flour (can use up to half whole wheat if desired)
• 6 cups milk, warmed
• 6 bouillon cubes or 2 tablespoons instant bouillon granules
• 12 ounces cream cheese
• 6 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 30 ounces dry pasta, cooked (2 lbs., I like rotini)
• 1 1/2 cups buttery crackers, crushed (like Ritz)
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) or 1/2 cup margarine, melted (1 stick)

Directions:

1. Make a white sauce: In a large heavy bottomed teflon sauceman or stock pot, melt/warm the 3/4 cup butter or oil over low heat. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cook the mixture until it begins to bubble. Do NOT let brown.
2. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. When the sauce has thickened (be patient; this could take 15 minutes or so.), stir in the bouillon.
3. Add in softened cream cheese until smooth.
4. Next add in the cheddar cheese until melted.
5. Finally, stir in the cooked pasta.
6. Press into 3 greased 1 1/2 quart or 2-quart baking dishes. (I like to use disposable foil containers for easy clean-up).
7. Combine cracker crumbs and butter. Store in 3 baggies and attach to macaroni and cheese dish.
8. Label and freeze.
9. To serve: Take out of freezer and thaw in refrigerator the day before serving. Sprinkle cracker mixture over macaroni and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the edges are bubbly.

Reviews

[SoNottaCook]

I'm not giving this any stars because it could have been me that messed it up...Well not really messed it up because it is edible but I had to add stuff to it. First off, I started out following this recipe exactly. My milk mixture never did thicken up at all (even after 30 minutes) until I started adding the cream cheese to it (any suggestions on what I did wrong?). Then after the cheddar melted completely it was really bland and as silly as this sounds because of all the cheese you add to it, it just didn't taste very cheesy to me at all (again, any suggestions on what I may have done wrong?) So this is what I ended up doing...I added 2 more cups of shredded cheese but it didn't help much so I added 1/2 block of the big box of velveeta. That did help out quite a bit with the taste of cheesiness but if I would have had a whole block of velveeta I would have added it all. (I like my mac & cheese REALLY cheesy tasting) Then to help with the blandness I added salt and pepper, which didn't help much so I added some parmesan cheese and seasoned salt and that really did help. Be aware that this recipe does make a LOT of mac & cheese...I ended up with 4 1/2 8X8 foil pans full LOL (probably because of all the extra cheese I added) If anyone has any suggestions on what I may have done wrong please let me know!

[Qmeg]

Absolutely delicious. It was great fresh and even better frozen. I grated up a few carrots into the dish for some extra nutrition - perfect!

[Chef #810489]

This is a very good recipe! I tired it today for the first time. I'm hoping it freezes well. The portion we ate hadn't been frozen yet. Also, the nurtition facts seem to be way off. They seem to be about 3 times higher than the actual amount. I had to go back and check my packages. I hope that doesn't stop anyone from trying this delicious recipe!