How to Rock Baked Mac & Cheese


I was pecking away at my keyboard and started craving macaroni and cheese. I'd told a few of my teammates how good mine is (beep, beep) and they essentially told me to put my money where my mouth was. Well, that's what I did and the reactions were amazing! Keep reading to find out how to make the BEST macaroni and cheese.

I hadn't made macaroni and cheese with freeze dried food so I decided to give it a whirl. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. There was only one hiccup: the electric cook top in our kitchen didn't boil the water in the stock pot as quickly as I'm accustomed using a gas range. I literally had enough time to go back to my desk and work on other projects in the time it took to boil. The good news, though, is once the water boiled it didn't take very long for the macaroni to become tender


There are a few things that I would've normally thrown in but for the sake of time and dietary restrictions among our team members, I decided against them. Now, macaroni and cheese is definitely a dish that can be customized and accessorized all the way to the moon but there's nothing wrong with keeping it simple. I decided to use EVERY, and I mean EVERY, cheese product Honeyville makes. And by the way, if you haven't used Honeyville's cheese you're missing out!



The Ultimate (Food Storage) Baked Mac & Cheese 


Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups FD Mozzarella Cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups FD Monterey Jack Cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups FD Colby Cheese
  • 2 cups FD Cheddar Cheese
  • 2 cups Powdered Cheese Sauce
  • 1 tbsp Freeze Dried Onions
  • 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp black pepper
  • 1/4 cup milk 
  • 2 cups Elbow Macaroni

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly coat a 9 x 13 in. baking pan with nonstick spray.
  2. Re-hydrate all of your cheese with room temperature water, except for the Powdered Cheese Sauce. Set aside.
  3. Add hot water (microwaved or otherwise) to Powdered Cheese Sauce. Stir the water in as you pour to reduce clumping.
  4. Combine onions. garlic powder, and pepper with the cheese sauce and stir to evenly distribute them.
  5. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add the macaroni and boil until pasta is tender.
  6. Drain the macaroni and set aside once it's done.
  7. When all of the freeze dried cheese is re-hydrated, add to your cheese sauce. Mix until all parts are combined well. Pour milk into the sauce and continue to mix well.
  8. Pour your mixture into the baking pan/casserole dish. Make sure it's level so it bakes evenly. 
  9. Place the dish in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes depending on your browning preferences (I prefer my Mac & Cheese a little brown around the perimeter and on top).
  10. Once it's done, let it cool down a bit.
  11. Enjoy that cheesy goodness!







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