Crock Pot Macaroni & Cheese

I LOVE my mother’s macaroni and cheese recipe. Love, love, love. I know we all have our favorite versions, and I’m sure yours is good too, but hers is the best. And I just figured out how to make it in the crock pot! Woot! This isn’t a total dump-and-go recipe, you will have to be around to stir it every half hour. It works out great for a day that you’re home and doing chores, or prepping for the Super Bowl.

Everyone who has tried this recipe, including Max who still has no teeth, loves it. Except for my husband. Hubby still prefers a box mix to any homemade macaroni and cheese, and he slathers on so much ketchup that I’m impressed he can still taste cheese. So I generally ignore his commentary which is along the lines of, “It’s pretty good, but I still like a box mix better. <munch, munch> Did you put in onions? <munch, munch> It’d be better with no onions. It messes up the texture. And maybe you could add some ham or bacon, I liked it better with ham.” le sigh.

Crock Pot Macaroni & Cheese

Serves 4

Adapted from my mother’s recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

2 cups hot water

1/3 cup margarine or butter

¼ cup chopped onion (optional)

¾ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

¼ tsp dry mustard or ½ tsp yellow prepared mustard

1 ¼ cup milk

8 oz cheddar cheese cut into cubes

1/3 cup flour

1 cup diced ham (optional)

Put all ingredients into the crock pot, stir. Cook on high for two hours, stirring thoroughly every half hour.  Prop the lid open slightly to vent for the last hour.



Before



After





Notes: For the batch pictured with this post, I omitted the salt, pepper, and mustard in lieu of flavored cheese. Instead of plain cheddar I used a combination of horseradish and sundried tomato & basil cheddars (hence the flecks of red/orange). I omitted the ham so that Max could gum it easier.