Mac & Cheese

My homemade mac and cheese recipe is incredibly easy and quick.  This is great for those nights when I get home from work and don't feel like putting much effort into making dinner.  It's also convenient because if you make a little bit extra, the leftovers taste great for lunch the next day.  In fact, my boyfriend will request that I make extra mac and cheese so that he can take all the leftovers the next day!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup milk or half & half
3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
Small handful of shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
Elbow noodles (or pasta of your choice)

Instructions:

Bring water to a boil and cook the pasta.  I do this while I am making the "cheese sauce" so that the noodles are still hot when I blend it all together.

In a sauce pot, melt the butter on low heat.  When butter is completely melted, slowly stir in the flour.  Keep stirring until it thickens.

Next, slowly add the milk or half & half.  Stir it into the butter/flour mixture.  Let this sit for a minute or two to allow the milk to heat a bit.

Begin to add the shredded mozzarella.  As soon as all of it is in the pot, begin stirring it.  If the cheese doesn't start to melt, turn the heat up a notch or two.  You should see the cheese begin to melt around the edges of the pot.  Once all the cheese has melted, pour your cheese sauce over the drained pasta. 

Once mixed, I pour all of this into an oven-safe dish, and sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top.  Put this in the oven, on the "high" broiler setting, for about two minutes.  Check it about a minute in - if your broiler is really hot it will burn the breadcrumbs, and you don't want that!

Once the breadcrumbs have browned, the mac and cheese is done and ready to serve!  Enjoy!