Creamy Baked Macaroni and Cheese
This recipe blog post was created for my fellow carb lovers. As most of you know, on June 28th of this year, I decided I wanted to change my life and my diet and started to eat healthier. As of today, I am at my lowest weight since the end of June and I'm down 7.3 pounds! If you look at my recipe blogs from last year or even before June, it was recipes full of carbs and deliciousness! Since then, I've only maybe a handful of recipe blogs that aren't healthy. This being one of them. I did know ahead of time that I was making this so I did try and balance it out by going to the gym before cooking. It seemed to work because I'm still losing weight. Life is about balance, right?
I also have to realize at times that my boyfriend and son aren't on the same diet I am although they do love what I cook. I'm sure it's nice for them to get some comfort food sometimes :)
Do you ever find yourself making unhealthy food choices just because you don't want to go to the store and you only have the most unhealthy food ingredients? I think this is in part why we chose to make this. It was good though! Below is my version. The original version came from Chunky Chef (as if that doesn't tell you something about the recipe!) but my version is below. I haven't been shopping in weeks so just like last week, I made a few substitutions in my version.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb elbow pasta, uncooked
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp paprika
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and use vegetable oil or PAM spray and spray a baking dish. Set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt. When boiling, add dried pasta and cook 1 minute less than the package directions for al dente. Drain. While water is coming to a boil, put your cheeses in three separate bowls - one cup at a time in each bowl. If you have other types of cheese, feel free to use those as well.
Use your 1/2 cup vegetable oil and place into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk to combine. Mix for about one minute, whisking often. Slowly add in your 1 cup milk and 1/4 cup heavy cream while whisking constantly. Whisk until it's a very thick consistency. Stir in spices and 1 1/2 cup of the cheeses, stirring to melt. Stir in another half cup and stir until smooth.
I also have to realize at times that my boyfriend and son aren't on the same diet I am although they do love what I cook. I'm sure it's nice for them to get some comfort food sometimes :)
Do you ever find yourself making unhealthy food choices just because you don't want to go to the store and you only have the most unhealthy food ingredients? I think this is in part why we chose to make this. It was good though! Below is my version. The original version came from Chunky Chef (as if that doesn't tell you something about the recipe!) but my version is below. I haven't been shopping in weeks so just like last week, I made a few substitutions in my version.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb elbow pasta, uncooked
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp paprika
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and use vegetable oil or PAM spray and spray a baking dish. Set aside. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt. When boiling, add dried pasta and cook 1 minute less than the package directions for al dente. Drain. While water is coming to a boil, put your cheeses in three separate bowls - one cup at a time in each bowl. If you have other types of cheese, feel free to use those as well.
Use your 1/2 cup vegetable oil and place into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk to combine. Mix for about one minute, whisking often. Slowly add in your 1 cup milk and 1/4 cup heavy cream while whisking constantly. Whisk until it's a very thick consistency. Stir in spices and 1 1/2 cup of the cheeses, stirring to melt. Stir in another half cup and stir until smooth.
In a large mixing bowl, drain pasta and add the cheese sauce.
Pour half of the mixture into the baking dish. Top with 1/2 cup of the cheese. Pour the other half of the mixture on top of that and then remaining cheese. Bake for 15 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.
Also, my family LOVES Pepper so I added a lot and a lot of Pepper to this!
Enjoy! ❤️❤️❤️
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