Macaroni & Cheese

A few days ago I posted a picture of a macaroni and cheese casserole I made, and got lots of questions about how I made it and what was in it.

I love cooking casseroles, and especially macaroni (or pasta in general) and cheese! When this months “Cooking Light” featured several recipes for mac and cheese, so I decided to try one out. Because of lacking ingredients and not paying attention to a couple of directions, I actually ended up with a slightly different recipe. This was adapted from the Chimichurri Mac and Cheese recipe.

3 cups uncooked pasta  (I used ziti once and spiral pasta once – doesn’t matter much, whatever you prefer)

1 ¼ cups milk

1 can condensed cream of chicken

3 tablespoons flour

A dash or three of salt

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

¼ cup grated mozzerella cheese

¼ cup grated pepper jack cheese

3 ounces velveeta (optional)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped bell pepper (I used green and red for color)

Italian Seasoning to taste

Red pepper flakes to taste

Chopped garlic to taste

breadcrumbs

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Set the pasta up to cook.

In a saucepan, combine condensed cream of chicken, milk, salt and flour. Warm over medium heat to boiling. When it hits boiling turn down the heat and add the cheeses. Whichever/however much you want – I did not use the velveeta the first time and it turned out fine.

Cut the onion, bell pepper and garlic, and throw it in a frying pan with the olive oil. Cook on medium-high it until you can smell the flavor – no more than five minutes.

Drain the pasta.

Pour the pasta into a pyrex dish, mix in the veggies and cheese mix. Once all that is mixed, add the breadcrumbs and any spices you want.

Bake for 15 minutes, then broil for another five.

Remove from oven, let it cool for a few minutes and serve.