Day 11: Homemade microwave easy mac

For day 11 I wanted to try something that was just for Little T.  He loves...I mean LOVES easy mac!  So I thought way not try and make it at home.  I have pasta, milk and cheese so this shouldn't be too hard, right?  Anything made from scratch should be better than the box.  Looking at the ingredients in a envelope of easy mac I can barely pronounce half of them.

This recipe is getting two ratings.  The actual recipe on the blog is getting a 2...it had mixed reviews in the comment section of the original blog & based on those comments I made several tweaks to it to get it to turn out.  So in the end I would rate it a 3...not as easy and easy mac, but tasted better.  Even I liked it.

The original recipe can be found at blogs.babble.com

Ingredients:

Blogs Babble recipe
1/3 C pasta
1/2 C water
1/4 C 1% milk
1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese

My recipe
2/3 C pasta
1 1/2 C water
1/4 C milk
1/2 C Velveeta cheese

Step 1: Combine the pasta and water in a large bowl.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes then stir.  Caution because the water might overflow if the bowl isn't large enough.  Repeat at least 2 to 4 more minutes, stirring in 2 minute intervals.  The water should absorb completely into the pasta

Step 2:  Remove from the microwave and stir in milk and cheese.  Microwave for another minute.  Stir until cheese is thoroughly combined.

Step 3:  Eat and enjoy!!

Ok...now its time for the tweaks...where do I start.  Granted I used pasta that isn't traditional mac & cheese pasta, but it needed more cooking time than 4-6 minutes.  Once I placed the pasta and water in the bowl I noticed that the water wasn't even covering the pasta, so I added another cup.  I figured that even if all the water didn't get absorbed I could just drain it out.  Next I cooked it in 3 minute intervals, and did that 4 times, by than the pasta was cooked and all the water was absorbed into the pasta.

Next, a few comments said that the cheese was one big clump in the bottom of the bowl, so I decided to use another comments suggestion.  Add the milk to the pasta, microwave it for about 30 seconds before adding the cheese.  Adding cheese to cold milk will cause the clumping.  

Just by looking at the recipe I knew that shredded cheese wasn't going to melt very well, so I decided to use Velveeta cheese....it is much creamier and has a similar taste to easy mac.  Than microwaved it for about 30 more seconds and removed from the microwave and stirred, stirred, stirred until all the cheese was melted in.

Finally it was ready to eat!!  It was a little more work than easy mac...but Little T liked it just as much and I'm pretty sure it is a little healthier than the Kraft brand.

Not sure if this recipe will make it into the regular rotation, but it could be a recipe that I use in an emergency case....if you run out if easy mac that can make for a very bad day for mommy.

Give this recipe and try...let me know what you think and what changes you made.