manufacture Macaroni and Cheese in the Crockpot

My daughter made the most appetizing dinner last night. She is a macaroni and cheese lover. Her grandmother used to make macaroni and cheese from scratch, over the stove, while every person else was buying boxes of Kraft. It was these memories that led her to want to try the macaroni and cheese in the crockpot.

This is a very cheesy, rich recipe.

Start with two cups of macaroni noodles - this can be made with either elbow macaroni or even penne pasta. Boil the pasta seven minutes. Pasta should be soft at this point. Drain the pasta but do not rinse.

While the macaroni is boiling, grab a sauce pan and couple four tablespoons of butter and two and a half cups of cheese. We like mild cheddar. The traditional formula called for sharp cheddar. We also use a lower fat cheese, thus cutting out some of the calories. Stir the butter and cheese together over a low fire until the cheese melts.

Pour the melted cheese combination into the crock pot and add in three scrambled eggs. We certainly used one whole egg and two egg whites. I couldn't expound the extra yolks. Mix in one cup of sour cream. We used low fat sour cream. I've cooked with the non fat sour cream and the taste changes. If you can, stick with either low fat or regular sour cream.

Add in one can of cheese soup. Any brand is fine, we happened to use the favorite national brand. We searched for a lower fat version of the soup and could not find one. Had we found it, we would have used it. Add in a half teaspoon of ground mustard and salt and pepper to taste. We are not salt users and the butter has salt in it, so we did not add any salt to our mac and cheese. We did add in pepper, probably a half teaspoon worth.

Stir everything together and then pour in drained noodles. Mix together to coat the noodles. We took off the lid three times to stir it. The more you take off the lid, the more cooking time you'll need.

The sauce thickened in between each stirring. The sides and lowest ended up being just a wee browned and crunchy which I personally love.

Kids love cut up hot dogs in their macaroni and cheese. Add the hot dogs for the last 30 minutes of cooking.

As I read reviews on this recipe, I noted many population said theirs was overcooked. Make sure your crockpot is on low and make sure you stir it a few times while cooking.

We served this with a green salad and garlic bread and had a fantastic dinner that every person enjoyed.

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