I was tempted to call this “Mystery Ingredient” macaroni and cheese because my mom likes to invite me over, have me try something she makes and then guess the secret ingredient. The secret ingredient is always Old Bay. What can I say? We live in Baltimore. It’s always Old Bay.
Old Bay Macaroni & Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup dried elbow macaroni
- 1 3/4 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar
- 1/3 cup shredded gouda
- 1 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Old Bay
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- extra cheese and Old Bay to sprinkle
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400. Grease a 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Set aside.
- Prepare noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, melt the butter in the pan. Add the flour and Old Bay. Whisk until it forms a paste, about 1 minute. Pour in the milk. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Add the cheese and whisk until thickened 3-5 minutes. Stir in drained noodles.
- Pour into baking dish, sprinkle with cheese and Old Bay. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.
My thoughts:
Another day staying home! I’ve been trying to make our “main meal” during the day so I can relax in the evenings. Today I was feeling a little overwhelmed but somehow managed to make this and hand-breaded chicken tenders using bread crumbs we made from the heels of bread for lunch. In under an hour. I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t make a vegetable (although, I’d argue that mac & cheese is a vegetable because it is always one of the “threes” in a meat and “three” plate) so I’ll have to make something this evening but still! Homemade mac & cheese at lunch is one of the few perks of not being able to leave the house.
As you may have noticed I’ve switched from Blogger to WordPress. I’ve been on Blogger literally since the late ’90s so it is a little weird but I’m hoping it will help you all save and print recipes more easily and make the recipes more searchable. Please let me know if you have any issues! I’m slowly editing some old posts, tagging and making new categories and all new recipes will be in the recipe card format.
