baked mac and cheese

Talk about a day of food!  Yesterday I feel like I ate, and ate, and then ate some more.  We had our traditional New Year's Day fare complete with collards, black eyed peas and rice, ham, salad and baked macaroni and cheese.  I think the tradition of having mac and cheese on New Year's Day started when we were little kids and didn't like to eat collards.  Not wanting to miss out on the "financial security" that eating collards on New Year's Day brings for the rest of the year, my mom improvised and let us eat macaroni and cheese to bring us "gold" all year long.  Not a bad compromise if I do say so myself!

This year, I made the macaroni and wanted a recipe that was yummy, but not laden with extra calories and ingredients.  I almost made a butternut squash macaroni, but thinking this would be going to far for the other guests, I decided against it.  Luckily for everyone involved, I did find a yummy baked mac and cheese recipe that wasn't too full of bad stuff (relatively.)  I think next time I make it I will try it with truffle salt or oil for an added kick.  Make this for your next potluck or get together- it makes lots- but it is too good to pass up!

sorry for the iphone picture...this was all that was left by the time I got a chance to snap a quick pic!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 12 oz package macaroni (I used a 16 oz. box of "shells.")
• 1 egg
• 2 C. milk
• 2 Tbs butter, melted
• 2 1/2 C. sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 C. parmesan cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish. 
2. In a large pot of salted water, cook the macaroni for about 5 minutes (until halfway cooked.)
3. In a large cup (I used a BIG measuring cup that was easy to pour later) combine egg and milk.  Add the butter and cheddar cheese to the egg mixture and stir well.  
4. When the noodle have cooked, drain well and pour them into the greased baking dish.  Pour the egg and cheese mixture over the noodles and mix into the noodle as needed.  (The cheese sort of fell in clumps on my noodles so I stirred it into the noodles to distribute it evenly.)
5. Top the noodles with parmesan cheese and salt and pepper.
6. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until the top is brown.  

Enjoy!

xo,