Yummy, frugal and quick! Stovetop Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

I ended up not going to pool last night, so I made macaroni and cheese for dinner. I was wiped out after the field trip.

Doodle is going to Texas to visit her grandmother on Sunday. She’ll be gone for two weeks. The kids go to their dad’s tonight, so I was glad to spend an extra night with all of us together before she goes.

We don’t eat the orange boxed stuff around here anymore, because this recipe makes macaroni and cheese that’s so much tastier, has real ingredients, and doesn’t cost much at all. It makes a wonderful dinner with a couple slices of bacon and some green beans.

I buy my cheese at Costco. They’ve got a very tasty blend they call a Mexican blend. It’s cheddar, asiago, and jack, I think.  It melts super quickly and has a great taste and texture. You could use any cheese you have around for this, though.

Yummy Stovetop Mac and Cheese

Creamy stovetop macaroni and cheese

1 pound of pasta
1 cup bread crumbs*
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. smoky paprika
1/4 cup butter, cut into little cubes
3 cups shredded cheese

Start the pasta boiling. Don’t forget to salt the water and add a glug of vinegar or lemon juice, since you’ll be doing other things while the pasta is cooking.

In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Don’t let it brown! When it’s melted, turn it down to medium low and stir in the bread crumbs. I also like to add a shake or two of garlic salt at this point. Stir it, and leave it over the heat. Keep an eye on it, stirring it frequently while everything else cooks. When the crumbs are evenly browned, remove them from the heat and let them sit until everything else is cooked.

Dissolve the mustard and paprika in a tablespoon of water. In a big bowl, beat the eggs with a fork and add 1 cup of the evaporated milk, the dissolved mustard mixture, and the salt and pepper.

When the pasta is done, drain it and return it to the pot. Turn the heat to low. Add the butter and stir gently until the butter is melted. Pour in the evaporated milk/egg mixture and about 2/3 of the cheese. Stir until it’s starting to melt (that’s usually pretty instantly for me) and then add the rest of the evaporated milk from the can and the rest of the cheese. Stir until it’s all melt and gooey and tasty, usually just a minute or so.

Sprinkle each serving with the bread crumbs.

This could easily serve 8 if you weren’t all huge eaters like us, or if you were serving it as a side.

* You can use panko bread crumbs, but I wouldn’t recommend the regular store-bought bread crumbs for this – they’ll be like sand in your mouth. I keep a large ziplock in my freezer, and when a piece of bread tears as I’m slicing it, or the bread starts to get a little stale, or whatever, I throw it in this ziplock. Then when I need bread crumbs, I’ll zip the whole bagful of bread in my food processor, and put what I’m not using back in the same bag to use next time.

This recipe is my own adaptation of a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. I changed a few things, but the major things were adding more pasta, and making the crispy crumb topping on the stovetop instead of in the oven. I originally tried this recipe at the beginning of this summer, and the reason I was looking for a stovetop recipe is that I didn’t want to heat up my house by turning on the oven. Their stovetop macaroni and cheese recipe still had you turning on the oven just for the crumbs! So I adapted it, and we’re thrilled with the results.

We eat this at least once every two weeks now. Yum. Oh! And leftovers heat up really nicely – sometimes I’ll ad a tablespoon of milk per serving to keep it creamy when reheating it.

This post is linked to:

• Frugal Fridays
• Foodie Friday
• Food on Fridays
• Hooked on…
• Family Recipe Fridays
• Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap