I hacked my pantry – Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

Today was one of those lazy rainy days. We hung out in comfy clothes and watched television. Around lunch time I got to thinking about what I should feed my little boys. There wasn’t much in the house as far as food because we’re going on vacation in a few days and I figured we’d eat what we had on hand.With that in mind I scoured our pantry and came up with this home made macaroni and cheese recipe that was actually pretty good. In fact my son Michael said it was “the best mac & cheese…ever!”I had four different types of cheese on hand -but none was enough to make much of anything, so I combined them.Here is what I used to make what I’m calling my Pantry Hacked Mac & Cheese recipe. I’m pretty sure you could do the same, with things that are on hand in your pantry!

• 1 cup Half & Half
• 1 cup Milk
• 1/4 cup margarine/butter (I used margarine.)
• 2 oz (approximately-I eye-balled) hand shredded Gouda, Romano, Parmesan, Colby Jack, and Cheddar Cheese
• 3 tbs flour
• 1tbs white pepper
• 1tbs Adobo seasoning
• 1 box-16oz of elbow macaroni
• 1/4 cup crushed Garlic Parmesan Pretzel Crisps (I didn’t have croutons or even bread on hand to make croutons, so I figured I’d give these a try.) they worked out really well, the flavor meshed perfectly and the crunch was a fun surprise!

To prepare:Preheat oven to 375 degrees.Cook the pasta until it’s “al dente”.While the pasta is cooking, in a separate saucepan melt the butter/margarine. Slowly whisk in the flour to make a roux. Once the roux is nice and pasty, slowly whisk in the milk/half and half mixture. Add in the pepper and Adobo seasoning. When the milk mixture begins to simmer, slowly stir in the cheese. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens. By this time your pasta should be ready to come out of the pot. Drain the pasta then return it to the pot and stir in the cheese mixture.Combine the two then transfer to a casserole dish.Sprinkle the crushed pretzel mixture on top of the macaroni and bake for 15 minutes.Buen Provecho!xo,nicole