Baked Mac & Cheese

Kids are obsessed with Mac and Cheese!! Lukey especially loves this dish. :) I like to make this dish on a Sunday and serve it for lunches for the upcoming week. Enjoy!

12 ounces of Gruyere cheese
8 ounces of extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 lb. of Barilla whole grain macaroni (to make this even healthier use EZEKIEL 4:9 Sprouted Whole grain elbow macaroni)
1/2 t. pepper
1 T. Celtic sea salt
4 cups of organic whole milk (to make this even healthier use Farmer's Creamery organic whole milk)
1/2 t. nutmeg
8 T. organic butter, divided
1/2 cup flour (to make this even healthier, grind your own flour from large rolled oats)
1 1/2 cup of gluten free bread crumbs or organic Panko bread crumbs

1. Pre-heat oven to 375
2. Drizzle oil in large pot of boiling water. Add noodles and boil according to directions.
3. Heat milk in sauce pan and be sure not to boil.
4. Melt 6 T. of butter in pot and add flour.
5.Cook butter/flour mixture over low heat for 2 minutes, while stirring with a whisk.
6. While whisking, add milk and cook for two more minutes until thick and smooth.
7. Take it off the heat and gradually add gruyere cheese, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add cooked macaroni and stir well.
8. Pour into 9x13 dish and cover with bread crumbs that have been mixed with melted butter.
9. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to and hour.

I think the key to getting the cheese sauce creamy is to make sure the milk is really warm. Again, be sure not to boil the milk. I think this is a fun dish because you can add veggies, bacon, chicken, etc and make your own variation.

I will also post this on the recipe page. Hope your kids like it as much as mine! :)