I made this one Christmas Eve, only to be advised by my brother that his new bride “didn’t like Mac ‘n’ cheese”. After she devoured 3large helpings (way too much to just be polite) I discovered her only previous experience with Mac ‘n’ cheese had been the boxed kind. A convert for Martha!
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Worth a try!! Worst case scenario you have some tasty pink lunches ready for yourself!
Mac n cheese isn’t my “thing” but i do know that recipe is considered one of the “be all end all” of homemade mac n cheese! The team at martha develops some great reliable well tested recipes
Too funny your sis in law hoovered it up!
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I just saw this and figured I would share it here, I like the idea of boiling the pasta in the milk!! Might have to give this a try, enjoy!
There’s the mac and cheese. The two lower right containers are for the pink mac experiment. I added some berry juice. But before the mac and cheese started to turn pink, the taste started to turn a little berry-like. So I stopped. Who knows- maybe berry mac and cheese can be the next big thing with the kids.
@NotJrvedivici I used the stove top way you linked to above. I mixed the milk and flour at the same time rather than waiting a few minutes to add the milk though.
Some of these will go into the freezer!
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Thanks for posting. I made this recipe the other day and it turned out very well. I followed the recipe exactly, except I machine-grated the cheese and I warmed the milk in the microwave. I opted for Gruyere over Pecorino Romano. My only issue is that the pasta and sauce overcooked by the time the topping became crunchy. Next time I will do as suggested in The Mac+Cheese Cookbook (Arevalo & Wade): Pre-toast the breadcrumb topping.
Our little one liked it a lot, but absolutely loved the topping. Insisted on only being served the top half to get a 1:1 ratio of bread crumbs and mac. (Apologies for the grilled fish in the pic. I needed a protein fast.)
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It sort of happened to us. Preschool handbook stated no nuts and they reserved the right to ban certain sweets. I was sending chocolate chip cookies. Apparently, other kids were taking notice. Then, this Nutella-stuffed chocolate chip cookie was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
We received a notice: no more chocolate chip cookies. I thought it was because Nutella has nuts. I sent a square of 85% chocolate. Another notice. An email went out that all chocolate was banned. I sent a white chocolate / macadamia cookie. Got a notice. I thought, oops, I forgot about the nuts. But it was because even if it has “chocolate” in the name, it is not allowed. Shortly after, mini sugar cookie sandwiches were deemed too enticing. It was “suggested” I try something healthier. I wanted to send oatmeal raisin, but raisins can look like chocolate chips, so we thought about it. Eventually, we settled on oatmeal-fig cookies. Just the right amount of “ew” factor to not cause any trouble.
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Glad it was an almost success! It’s tricky with baked pastas how done it needs to be before baking, but sounds like you have a good solution- and even better the kiddo was happy! 
Just wait until she can leave campus on her own at lunchtime:
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Not gourmet, but I made a really great batch of mac and cheese this weekend - one pound of shells, 1/2 pound of Velveeta, and about 12 oz of sharp yellow cheddar, which was the store brand from Mariano’s, an upscale grocery chain in my parents’ new suburban Chicago neighborhood. It melted very well and had exceptionally robust flavor for a non-gourmet cheese. If you live near Chicago, I would recommend trying it!
As I usually do, I made my bechamel sauce quite runny to ensure a very creamy result after baking (about 6 cups of milk and only around 3 T. of flour) - it thickens a lot during the baking process. Topped with buttery sourdough breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. It was a hit with kids and adults alike!
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I am intrigued.
Indeed, as am I.
Sad face emoji.
I’m just going to food process a bag or two down to crumbs add some milk and add it to a mild cheese and make my own! Necessity is the mother of invention!!
Lemme know what you come up with. I’d go with Monterey Jack. Or maybe Kraft White American Singles, to keep it from getting too fancy.
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I may have responded in this thread already; after years and years of looking for the perfect homemade Mac n cheese recipe, we finally found a combo we like. We did in fact make some very special and pricey ones, that were, well, extremely disappointing. The secret IMO is some Velveeta to lighten and smooth out the sauce. We’ll put sharp cheddar with it, maybe a bit of Asiago or gruyere if we have it. I also like something slightly stringy/stretchy, and may put in Monterey Jack or Colby. Mozzarella would be too stringy, I think, but haven’t tried. We like a panko topping, but chicharonnes might be interesting too.
Stringy mac-n-cheese is a pet peeve of mine. I prefer it to be velvety smooth rather than stringy so mozzarella is a big no-no in my book.
@small_h velvetta has been a staple additive to my mac-n-cheese for years! I prefer using the block of cheese and cutting and melting down the appropriate amount I need. My go-to quick and easy, yet delicious mac-n-cheese is equal parts velvetta and any port wine infused cheddar pub cheese spread. Depending on the consistency some milk/cream if needed to smooth it out. The port wine cheese gives it nice depth of flavors for mac-n-cheese, bonus points for presentation the end result is generally a pink colored product.
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No to mozzarella definitely & I only like just a tiny bit of stretch really. The port wine cheese sounds interesting & I do love the flavor combo. Not sure my brain wants pink Mac n cheese, but could probably get over it. Think I may prefer sherry and lobster though…
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My usual mac & cheese is adapted from a Mitchell Davis recipe that involves sharp cheddar, aged gouda, parm and cream cheese. I occasionally get a jones for Velveeta, but my tolerance for processed cheese has diminished over the years. Not on purpose! It just happened.
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