This recipe of my mother's was one of my favorites growing up. I have requested in on many of my birthdays. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I have over the years!
Ingredients:
Extra virgin olive oil
Olive oil baking spray
6 TBSP butter
3 TBSP flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups milk
18-20 oz Velveeta cheese (cut into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes)
(each package of Velveeta is 32 oz, so if you're eyeballing, I would use about 2/3 of the package)
12 oz macaroni (or pasta of your choice - I used bow tie pasta)
Bread crumbs (for topping)
About 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Boil water in pot with a dash of salt and a couple tbsp of olive oil (the olive oil helps keep the pasta from sticking to the pan and to itself while cooking). Add the pasta to water and boil for 7 minutes.
After pasta is finished, drain, return to pot, drizzle with a couple TBSP of olive oil, and set pot aside (in this case the olive oil helps keep the pasta from drying out while you're preparing the cheese sauce).
While pasta is boiling, you may start preparing the cheese sauce. Melt 3 TBSP of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once butter is melted, gradually add flour, salt and pepper and stir until smooth. Gradually add milk and stir until smooth, continue stirring over medium/high heat until the mixture begins to thicken (this may take several minutes).
The mixture may still seem slightly runny, but that is okay. The pasta will absorb the moisture, and it will ensure your finished product doesn't dry out and is smooth, thick & creamy.
Remove saucepan from burner, add Velveeta cheese cubes, stir until melted. If you find it's taking a long time for the cheese to melt, return the pan to the burner (turned off) to distribute a little more heat.
Pour sauce over pasta in one of the saucepans and stir until all the pasta is coated with cheese sauce.
Pour the pasta and sauce mixture into a baking dish (sprayed with olive oil baking spray).
Mix bread crumbs with 3 TBSP melted butter and sprinkle over the top of the mac n' cheese.
Bake 25-30 minutes, or until top is lightly brown.
You may either sprinkle the 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar on top and bake for about 1 more minute, or sprinkle it on each helping as it is being served.
Enjoy!
(Makes about 6-8 servings)
