Last week I was sharing with you how much Mac N Cheese my kids enjoy. It’s one of the few items that I can consistently get them to clean their plates with. Except when it comes to me, I don’t want to touch the stuff. I think I ate far too much of it as a child to ever really enjoy it again.
Update: The one mac and cheese I WILL eat is this Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese. WOW!
So this week I decided to give myself a challenge: Find love in a meal I formerly didn’t and use a new product that I have yet to try.
I have to tell you that I could NOT keep my spoon out of this reformatted meal. Walk by, “taste test”…walk by…test….by the time it was actually dinner time, all my spoons were dirty from digging them in!
Now you can make Mac N Cheese on the stove and serve immediately as the original recipe I was inspired by does, but I get a little picky about cheese being the right consistency, so I altered this for my families tastes and needs and served it up slow cooker style.
Mac N Cheese Soup and Buffalo Chicken Strips
- 1 1/2 cup dry elbow macaroni
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 1/2 cup minced celery
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 cups whole milk
- 4 cups shredded cheese ( I used Colby Jack, you can use Cheddar if you prefer)
- 6oz Velveeta (I bought a block and cut off and tore into pieces)
1) Prep your slow cooker pot by adding Reynolds liner.
2) Cook your elbow macaroni noodles till al dente. Do not finish all the way bc they will get some slow cooker time. Drain and set aside.
3) Add butter to a separate pan and fry up your onion and celery a bit for about 5 minutes or until softer. Stir in flour for just a minute to cover items. Be careful to not let burn. Add wine and simmer down. Add broth, mustard, nutmeg and cayenne. Simmer till its a little thicker and then add in the milk. Do not let boil or your milk could get icky.
4) Pour noodles into crock pot and then pour in your soup mixture. Do not worry about runny it is. It will thicken up a bit. Add cheese 1 cup at a time and stir till dissolved. After all four cups of shredded cheese are in, drop in your chunks of Velveeta and put the lid on the pot.
5) Cook on high for about 30 minutes, then change to low for about 30 minutes. I stirred mine every 10 minutes to make sure the cheese was mixed up. Once an hour is up, switch your crock pot to warm so the soup holds. I served mine an hour and a half after that,s o it was in the pot for 2.5 hours. It was a perfect consistency for my family. Now the longer it stays the more the broth base will cook out of it and it will become creamy mac n cheese. If you want this to be more of a soup, I wouldn’t plan on leaving it on all day.
When I served the baby, I drained some of the liquid and let him use a fork. He is better at it at his age in keeping the food on there and as you can see, he was pleased.
And messy:
And so was dad!
I’d show a picture of Charlotte, but it took her like an hour to try it and then she said “Its not as bad as I thought.” That’s about equivalent of me winning the lotto around here.
She is so picky.
If you like you can also pair it with some buffalo chicken strips to make more of a meal. They are easy! Just cut up some chicken, however your family usually likes to eat, into strips. Coat in flour and a little salt and pepper to taste. You can either broil by laying on some Reynolds Wrap foil in the oven, bake if you prefer a healthy alternative and use some pan lining paper, or even toss in a pan with a little oil. Once the chicken is cooked, pour 1/3 cup buffalo sauce, 1/2 stick of melted butter, and 1 tbsp honey in a bowl and toss in your strips. Pull out (tongs work great for this) and serve along side soup. We liked to dip ours in a side ranch.
Of course I submitted this recipe for the Reynold Real Mom Challenge but if you like this recipe, I hope you pin, stumble, tweet, or like to share with your friends!
Trisha
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