Pasta

Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

October 12, 2011 By Stefani 7 Comments

At my house, you will often find boxes of macaroni and cheese in my pantry. It is easy to cook and everyone likes it, so I keep it as a staple at all times. I often get bored with making macaroni and cheese from a box, so I will make my baked macaroni and cheese recipe that is really a hit, especially with me!

If you want to put a twist on macaroni and cheese at your house, try baking it.

Check out my recipe for Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese:

Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

5.0 from 3 reviews

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Stefani Tolson

Serves: 4

Ingredients

8 oz elbow macaroni – uncooked
3 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
2 cups Cheddar cheese – shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese – grated
3 TBS all-purpose flour
2 TBS butter – for topping
1/2 cup Stove Top Stuffing or bread crumbs – for topping

Instructions

Cook the elbow macaroni – per directions on package
In a sauce pan add the butter, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat until melted.
Add four slowly to make a roux or paste like form. Add milk to mixture slowly, stirring constantly.
Add the two cheeses and cook on medium low heat until cheese is melted.
Pour cooked macaroni into a casserole dish and add the sauce mixture. Stir mixture well.
Mash Stove Top Stuffing into crumbs. In a skillet, melt butter for topping and then add the stove top stuffing crumbs or bread crumbs and cook on medium heat for around 2 minutes to brown mixture.
Drop topping mixture over macaroni mixture and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Remove, cool and enjoy!

Filed Under: Dinners, Pasta, Recipes Tagged With: Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

Parmesan Chicken Pasta Salad

September 4, 2010 By Stefani 4 Comments

Lately I have been in the mood for pasta salad. I think because it is a cold food. Since it has been hot here lately in the city, I have been avoiding using the oven if at all possible. Today I whipped up something good and fairly easy. If you are like me, you may have all the ingredients already in your fridge and pantry. This might make for an easy dinner and a happy husband! Here goes my Parmesan Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe …….

Directions:

2 cups – cubed/cut pieces of chicken (I use boneless chicken breast)
1 box – Betty Crocker® Suddenly Salad® Caesar pasta salad mix
1/4 mayo
1/4 cup milk

Instructions:

Cook pasta as directed on box for 12 minutes
While pasta is cooking, in a large bowl add seasoning packet from Betty Crocker box, milk and the mayo.
Once pasta is done, rinse with cold water and drain well. Then add pasta to bowl and toss to coat
Enjoy

Filed Under: Pasta Tagged With: Parmesan Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe

Suddenly Salad Ranch & Bacon Pasta Salad Copycat Recipe

July 20, 2010 By Stefani Leave a Comment

My husband (and me) are big fans of the Betty Crocker Suddenly Salads. We particularly are fond of the Suddenly Salad Ranch & Bacon Pasta mix. I have been buying the box mixes for the last couple months and have been wanting to find a recipe to make it from scratch that would taste similar. I don’t mind buying the box mixes, but making my own sounds like more fun! Okay, so I found a recipe I thought would work for me.

Now here goes the my version of the recipe I found ….

Ingredients:

2 cups – Small shell pasta

2/3 cup mayo – I prefer the Kraft Mayo w/Olive Oil

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix

8oz young peas (drained)

1/4 cup shredded baby carrots

1/2 tsp onion powder

Bacon Bits – (I used 1/3 cup of the Oscar Meyer Real Bacon Bits)

Directions:

You will want to cook your noodles as directed on package. Once cooked, rinse with cold water and drain.
Add mayo, ranch dressing package, carrots, peas, bacon bits and onion power. Stir ingredients until well mixed. You may want to cool in fridge for 1 to 2 hours before serving.
Enjoy

You can find a ton of yummy pasta salad recipes at the Betty Crocker website too!

Filed Under: Pasta, Recipes Tagged With: ranch and bacon pasta salad recipe, Suddenly Salad Ranch & Bacon Salad recipe

Creamy Pesto Chicken With Bow Tie Pasta Recipe

July 19, 2010 By Stefani Leave a Comment

I found a recipe while browsing the Campbell’s Kitchen website last night that I had to try. So today I ventured out to the store to get a few ingredients I needed. I have never made or cooked with pesto, so I was unsure how it was going to come out. While it was cooking, my daughter Hailey told me it smelled good. Boy, was I hoping it was going to taste good. To my surprise, it turned out AWESOME and my children ate all their food on their plate! I even heard “can I have seconds”. Score, I have hand written this recipe on an index card and put it in my box of recipes to cook again.

Now for the recipe…..

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves cut into cubes (about 1 pound)

1/2 cup Pesto Sauce. You can make your own with this recipe. (I used one of the Knorr Pesto Sauce package mixes)

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

1/2 cup milk

3 cups bow tie pasta, cooked and drained (I used the mini bow tie pasta)

(A picture of My Creamy Pesto Chicken)

Directions:

In a 10 inch skillet, heat butter until melted and add chicken. Cook the chicken in the butter until well browned. Be sure to stir often.
Once chicken browned, add the soup, pesto sauce and milk and bring to a boil. Once at a boiling point, reduce heat to low and cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
Stir in cooked bow tie pasta and cook until mixture is well mixed and hot!

This is definitely something I plan on making again. I served this with a side of white rice……..

Filed Under: Dinners, Pasta, Recipes Tagged With: Chicken pesto, Creamy pesto chicken reicpe

Crockpot Lasanga Recipe

February 23, 2010 By Stefani 1 Comment

This picture serves the meal no justice, but hey its a picture!

If you ever thought you could not make lasagna in the crock pot, you are WRONG. My husband was teasing me yesterday telling me that I could not make lasagna in the crock pot and I proved him wrong. Everyone loved the dish and I took the leftovers over to my cousin. Felt good feeding my family as well as hers.

Here goes the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 package lasagna noodles – uncooked
1/2 pound Italian sausage – cooked and drained
1 pound ground beef – cooked and drained
2 cups cottage cheese
2 cups Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup water
1 jar spaghetti sauce – large

Directions:

Line the bottom of your crock pot with a few layers of uncooked lasagna noodles.
In a pot, mix your spaghetti sauce, ground beef and sausage.
Use about half of your sauce mixture and cover the layer of noodles in crock pot.
Now spread half of the cottage cheese over the top of the sauce mixture/noodles .
Slowly pour the 1/2 cup water on top
Now sprinkle 1 cup of Mozzarella cheese on top.
Repeat the above steps 1-6, to create a second layer of lasagna but OMIT the water.
Put on the lid and let cook on low for 4 to 6 hours

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Crockpot Cooking, Dinners, Pasta, Recipes Tagged With: Crockpot lasagna recipe

Spaghetti A La Philly

January 23, 2010 By Stefani 1 Comment

One dish that I have probably cooked the most for my family is spaghetti. We all LOVE it. One of my favorite blogs the Dirty Shirt posted a recipe last week called “Spaghetti A La Philly“. I read the recipe and bookmarked it. I normally cook spaghetti the same way so I was excited to throw in something different just to see what my family would say. I did NOT mention to them that I was changing our family recipe up a little. My youngest daughter Hannah tried to come in the kitchen and I hurried and got her out of there before she could see what I was doing. I did not want her trying to tell me she wasn’t going to eat it. So I fixed dinner and waited for the responses. The first one was my daughter Hannah with a “This stuff is good”. She actually ate seconds. A big relief for me! My whole family liked it including a friend. My husband was trying to figure out what I put in it to make it different, but I would not tell him until he was done eating.

This will be definitely something I make again. Makes a good and cheap twist to the traditional spaghetti!

The Ingredients

1 LB Ground beef

24 oz Spaghetti Sauce

4 oz Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cut in cubes

8 oz Spaghetti – Cooked and drained

2 TBS Kraft Parmesan Cheese

Directions

1) Brown the ground beef in a medium sized skillet over medium heat and drain

2) Add the cubed cream cheese and sauce into the skillet with the meat. Reduce heat to low and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until cream cheese is melted. Stir often.