Grandpa's Mac & Cheese

 

You have just got to love Pinterest for all of the inspiration that it provides.   I think a person could very easily get swallowed up in it for a couple of hours or longer every day if they let themselves.  There is no end to ideas for cooking, or decorating or crafting . . .



There is lotsa lotsa eye candy to go around depending on what it is you are looking for.   I'm usually looking at the decorating or the food . . . occasionally other things.   I love to look at the flowers and the animals too.  So pretty and so cute.

 

I have a whole pasta board on Pinterest, which is kind of funny, especially considering the Toddster hates pasta.   I do torture him with it from time to time though . . . but he suffers it silently, because he knows I will make up for it by baking him a pie or something.  I found this delicious looking recipe on there the other day for something called Grandpa's Mac and Cheese.   The link didn't go to the proper page, but I did hunt the recipe down and managed to find it here.   It seemed like a good basic recipe that you could work from . . . you know me, I like to charge things up a bit if I can.

 

And so I did.   I used cream cheese instead of Quark.  (They are basically the same thing, except cream cheese is a bit richer and more fattening.)   I added a crunchy topping, and I added some Gouda Cheese along with the cheddar.



It was very, very good, and even the Toddster had two bowls full . . . (Me thinks he doth protest too much sometimes!).  I couldn't make myself eat two bowls of anything I didn't like . . . but



Apparently he can, which just goes to prove you can drag a horse to water, and make it drink if you just persevere.



*Grandpa's Mac & Cheese*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A delicious and simple version of Mac & Cheese that is a great mid week winter warmer and something the whole family will love.

8 ounces of whole wheat macaroni (1/2 pound)
1 (125g) package of cream cheese (1/2 cup)
5 ounces extra strong cheddar cheese, grated coarsely
2 ounces grated Gouda cheese
1 (10 oz) tin of condensed tomato soup (such as Campbells)
1 soup tin of whole milk
salt, pepper and parsley flakes to taste
to top:
a handful of crushed garlic croutons
a couple TBS of salad onion crispies (Durkees French fried onions in North America)
a couple TBS of bacon bits

 


Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter an 8 inch square casserole dish.  Set aside. 

Cook the macaroni according to package directions, in lightly salted water, cutting the cook time down by about a third.  Drain well and then return to the pot.  Stir in the cream cheese and allow it to melt.  Stir in the tomato soup, milk and 3/4 of the grated cheese.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and parsley.  Pour into the prepared casserole dish.

Stir together the topping ingredients.  Scatter the remainder of the cheese over top of the pasta.  Sprinkle with the topping. 

Bang into the heated oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown.  Let stand for 10  minutes before serving.  A salad goes nicely with this.

Note:  If you wanted to you could use herb and garlic cream cheese for additional flavour.