2 weeks ago, my son had a very serious question for me…
“Mom, what’s mac-n-cheese?”
11 years old, and he doesn’t know about mac-n-cheese?!
It’s one thing to not know about the K-word macaroni and cheese, yet quite another not to know about homemade real food mac-n-cheese (which is a thousand times better, anyway)!
So I knew what I must do. Macaroni and cheese was going back on the menu — real-food style!
Homemade Real Food Mac-n-Cheese
Macaroni and cheese is back on the menu — real-food style!
Ingredients
- 1 pound brown rice noodles of your favorite shape*
- 4 tablespoons grass-fed butter
- 1 cup cream or raw whole milk
- 2 cups cheddar cheese grated
- 4 hot dogs organic, grass-fed, nitrate-free hot dogs
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- sea salt optional**
Instructions
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Boil the noodles in salty water according to the package directions.
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Tinkyada pasta takes 15 to 18 minutes to cook, which is longer than other noodles, but they have a great texture and hold up well, so I like them best.
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Drain, then put back in the pot still hot.
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Add butter, cream, cheese, and any other add-ins (like beef hot dogs cut in pieces).
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Stir a bit.
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Cover so that the heat will melt the butter and cheese.
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Stir again.
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Season to taste with pepper.
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Serve.
Recipe Notes
*I like the Tinkyada brand.
**The noodles are salty if boiled in salty water. The cheese is salty. The butter is salty (if salted butter). And the hot dogs are salty. So... additional salt is not usually necessary.
Looking for other real food recipes? Try these…
- Easy Chicken Enchiladas (Healthy Mexican Casserole)
- Easy Real Food Meaty Lasagna (Best High-Protein Comfort Food)
- Root Vegetable Tartiflette
- 30 Real Food Romantic Dinners & Desserts For Date Night (Best Valentine’s Day Food)
Do you love real food macaroni and cheese? How do you make yours?
...without giving up the foods you love or spending all day in the kitchen!
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I love, love, love homemade macaroni and cheese: so creamy and zesty and filling!
I always make a cheese sauce beginning with roux, and add sweet paprika, dry mustard, and cayenne pepper 🙂
Shelley — I bet your mac and cheese has fabulous flavor. Thanks for sharing!
I add egg yolks in mine for extra nutrition. No one can tell, and it makes it nice and yellow.
Great idea!
That’s a great idea, especially for kids used to the packaged Mac N Cheese. No food coloring, but same effect! Thanks!
Good idea! I have adapted the basic recipe in Joy of Cooking to work for our family’s preferences and to make it ‘whole’, but next time I think I’ll try using the yolks! My husband would like that.
I use a Pampered Chef chopper to mince mini bella mushrooms super fine, then saute them with grassfed beef, which I add to the final mac ‘n cheese mixture. The whole family loves it, including my four year old who “doesn’t like big mushrooms, Mama.” I enjoy getting the mushrooms into them… you can add a ton along with the beef (more than the beef!) without really noticing and I do love the depth of flavour!
We’ve been making real food mac ‘n cheese for the last few months, using a recipe similar to yours. I wanted to thicken up the sauce for the noodles, so I started adding a cut up and peeled baked potato to melted butter, hot milk, and grated cheese then blending that together.
We like to use cauliflower instead of noodles, it’s yummy!
I love to add chopped onions to mine! I also like to add the dry mustard sometimes too. We like sharp cheddar or Monterrey Jack, they both go nicely with onions. My goal this summer is to dehydrate some chopped onions for convenience. I usually get compliments/requests for my macaroni and cheese.
I’ve been curious about something… If you don’t want to make your own pasta but would like your grains soaked, is it possible to take a whole rice pasta like this one, soak overnight like you would flour or oatmeal or another whole grain, and then cook the next day? Or will the pasta completely fall apart?
We love homemade macaroni and cheese in our house! I can’t believe I used to by the boxed stuff. We often like to add some chopped cooked chicken and broccoli, and we always bake the sauced pasta with a little extra cheese on top to get a nice crust.
I love all of these ideas! :o)
Melissa — People have soaked and then dehydrated the pasta — then they cook it. It worked out allright.
I make mine on the stove like this. 3 cup uncooked noodles, 3 cups whole milk, Salt, pepper to taste. 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (any kind you like) Boil noodles in milk gently (be careful it can foam up- turn down if it does) and stir often…every min in fact to keep from sticking 7-9 mins- depends on size of noodle used. When noodles are done add cheese and stir all up….will be THICK and luscious. If yours gets too thick while cooking….go ahead and add a bit more milk…the starch from the noodles is what thickens the milk while it cooks…so good! LOVE the idea of egg yolk…..I used to hide babyfood squash or carrot puree in mine when the kids were little…sneaky style!!
But to go straight from soaking to cooking won’t work?
I think they’re bound to get too soggy. But I haven’t done it myself, I’m just speculating.
Ok thank you!
My kids sure know what mac’n’cheese is…but they do not, we realized, know what McDonalds or a microwave is…. How cool is it to realize that they don’t know these things that are basically ubiquitous in our culture!
so what was MIkah’s comment about it, did he like it Wardee?? warm loving hugs
This looks amazing! We have been vegan for almost 4 years and are coming back to a whole foods based nutrition lifestyle and this is going on my menu plan next week. I just talked to my local farmer about doing a cow share (where we live we aren’t allowed to have our own dairy cow, yet), and this will be a nice way to try our newly invested in cow. 🙂 Thanks for the post! I look forward to taking your courses this month as well, alongside my 4-year-old who declared: “Mom, that looks so good! Can we do that together?” when she saw me peeking through the website. 🙂
yum! sounds delicious. we just had mac and cheese a few days ago. ours is also homemade. i pretty much make mine like yours, except we’ve never added hot dogs before. i bet the kids would dig that. we usually pair it with some steamed broccoli-one of the kids’ favorite veggies and it’s easy to prep.
a long time ago, before we began changing our eating habits, all i knew was boxed macaroni and cheese. i started with the “K” brand and then switched to the organic kind (haha) and then realized how simple and more delicious it was just to make it yourself. fortunately, the kiddos are still quite young and they weren’t ever really exposed to the boxed variety long enough to remember :).
I was just thinking we needed to come up with this for your menu plans! 🙂
Peacewing – Oh, he loved it!
Cute! I’ve always wanted to make real food mac and cheese, but since giving up grains I’ve just never gotten around to it! This looks so fab and reminds me of my childhood 😉
How did C. like it??
Marg — He loved it! He asks for it every day (we’ve had it three times). It is not the cheapest meal to make when you consider the cost of the improved ingredients.
Wardee,
I have a question for you – I was curious about your use of hot dogs. Do you consider hot dogs (like the ones you used) to be whole foods and not too processed?? I have just found your website (and Kitchen Stewardship) and love your thoughts and perspective on eating. We eat fairly well – mostly whole foods. But you have given me some great ideas where I can improve the meals for my family. And mac n cheese is one that I have been trying to find a good recipe that will pass with the kiddos!!
Thank you for your help
Michelle
Michelle — I haven’t researched all hot dogs, but I’m very happy with Applegate Farms organic beef. The beef is real, grass-fed and organic. The ingredients are all real spices and sea salt. You could also look at US Wellness Meats for good grass-fed beef hot dogs and sausages and such (online ordering).
I’m glad you found us — and Katie is the greatest! I love working with her online. 🙂
Uh, I buy the boxed kind. : /
That said: I have made it from scratch once and this is what I did and what I will do as soon as I finish typing this because I’m starving and reading this made my stomach growl and…TMI…here’s my recipe…Boil a 3lb bag of macaroni and cook…Add sauce…which would be 1/4 c melted butter mixed with 3 c of any cheese on hand melted with 2 or 3 c milk…salt in the macaroni water of course…hot dogs cooked and served on the side…round the whole thing off with some splashes of tabasco sauce. A note here at this point: the tabasco sauce is essential. Homemade catalina salad dressing is also tasty on top but the tabasco is a must.
Bye, Wardee, and thank you for tonight’s dinner inspiration.
Jamie
Jamie — 😀 Love it! Enjoy your dinner!
P.S. Wardee, sounds like you better stick with Shelley’s recipe up there! Jamie
Are these noodles sprouted, soured, or soaked?
I do love mac and cheese but can’t have it very often. I use brown rice pasta as well, and the recipe from How To Cook Everything, which also calls for a roux.
FYI, for any roux experts out there: the recipe calls for 2.5 cups of milk to be incorporated into the sauce. No matter what I do or how little I pour in, at some point I ALWAYS have super liquid sauce and it takes some time to thicken again. Help?
The Roux thickness depends on the ratio of butter (fat) milk (liquid) and flour starch.
Here is my recipe for basic white sauce…
1/4 c butter
1/4 c flour
2 c milk
Melt butter, blend flour, slowly add milk. Stirring bring to boil. 2 cups of sauce.
Thin sauce… Decrease butter and flour by 2 T each.
Thick sauce… Increase butter and flour to 1/3 c each.
Adding cheese (1 – 2 cups) will thicken it also.
Yeah, Mac n cheese is a favorite around here. I don’t make it often, so it is a treat when we have it! My girls will live on it everyday if they wanted to ;o) I’m sure C. loved it, huh?
This is my recipe for l lb. of pasta. While your pasta is cooking, start your cheese sauce.
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan. Whisk in 4 tablespoons of sprouted flour. I have used whole wheat, spelt and even rye. Cook, still whisking for about 10 seconds, over medium heat. Whisk in 2 cups of milk. Continue whisking until thickened, and continue cooking for a few minutes. Take off the heat and add approximately 2 cups of grated cheese. We usually have a mixture of cheddar and colby jack. Stir well. After your pasta is drained, put it back in the pan, and pour your cheese sauce over and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste. (I usually do not salt too much, because each of my kids likes it a different way-seasoned salt, garlic powder, etc.) A little parmasen cheese gives it a little kick. Sometimes I will add a little cayenne pepper to jazz it up.
This looks really delicious and I want to try is this weekend…Thanks for the idea…
I love it! I love it! Pasta is my life! And mac and cheese is one of my faves. When it comes to pasta, any taste will do for me.
It’s been too long since I’ve made Mac-n-Cheese. I will occasionally add salsa to it, also. I haven’t tried that one since I started doing the Nourishing Traditions type cooking, though.
How many people does this feed? Looks so good!
Aimee — Good question! 2 ladlefuls each feeds 4.
Instead of the brown rice pasta, I was thinking I might try making either your soaked kamut noodles or your sourdough noodles and making a cheese sauce to go along with those. Have you done that very often?
I just learned how to make the EASIEST mac and cheese ever!
You mix 2 cups of DRY noodles in a 9 X 13 pan with 3 T of melted butter. Then add 4 cups of milk and 2 cups of cheese and BAKE for 45-50 min at 350 degrees. You can add bread crumb topping or meat if you want.
This is so easy that you feel almost embarassed about calling it “made from scratch, homemade.” It literally takes about 2 minutes to prepare and it’s REALLY REALLY good. I will never go back to the “other way!”
I made this and it’s going in my family cookbook. Going to try adding an egg yolk or two next time. My boys cleaned their plates and that’s saying something. Thank you!
I love, love, love homemade mac and cheese with a bit of cayenne pepper in it…but it’s too cheesy for hubby and one of the girls, to the point of where even the thought of homemade mac and cheese makes them feel queasy. I’ve tried different recipes and also lowered the cheese content, but it’s the same thing. So we buy the organic whole wheat version in a box, even though I’d much rather make it from scratch.
Even if I throw a handful of real cheese into the boxed mix, they can tell, and they say it’s too cheesy and makes them feel blech. Oh, well. At least I’ve tried! 🙂
Julieanne
http://www.JoyInOurJourney.com
We have dairy/cheese issues sometimes too and I have used nutritional yeast to help out the cheese flavor if I am limited on cheese inputs. It is suppose to be high in B vitamins and is not dairy related.
I’ve been trying to find a good “real” mac ‘n cheese recipe. I think what I’ve been missing is the butter. How many times have I said that in my kitchen these past few years… 🙂
I would love for you to come share this recipe on my link-up, Make-ahead Mondays, at Raising Isabella!
http://naturalparentingunnaturalworld.blogspot.com/2012/02/make-ahead-monday-6.html
Hope to see you there!
Oh my goodness this is good, Wardee!!!! I roasted a chicken with a whole head of garlic (salt and thyme to), had this recipe without the hotdogs and a salad for a side. WOW it was a good dinner. 🙂 The only other difference I had is we are still using regular white flour pasta when I can’t afford brown rice. I don’t make noodles often so I haven’t made the effort to switch pasta yet.
The egg yolks are a great idea! (we like those hot dogs for when we’re camping as well!)
I thought I’d add I looooooove sauerkraut with homemade Mac & cheese and hot dogs…yum! Thanks!
I have made this four times and it has only turned out right once! The cheese clumps up and turns to rubber. The only time it turned out was when my store was out of the cheese I normally buy (cheddar and a little swiss) so I purchased what the lady reccomended which was a pre shredded mild Swiss fondu mix. I tried adding the cheese before the cream, after cream, on a low temperature and on high. Each time is was clumpy cheese in buttery milk. I must be missing a basic technique for making cheese sauces. Please help!
Dinika — I have found it mixes in best the smaller the cheese — do you always shred it or sometimes cube it? It melts better shredded.
I always shred it.
Mine has turned to a taffy like consistency both times ive made it at well :/
If you cook rice pasta in chicken broth does it neutralize the phytic acid like when cooking rice?
Have you tried Trader Joe’s rice noodles? They are 2/3 the price and organic, and I think they actually hold up better than Tinkyada.
I was raised on homemade altho (after we stopped milking cows,) my mother used velveeta mixed with a can of evaporated milk for the sauce. what I really mean to say is I left my beloved Midwest in ’95 and moved to south central PA. you are hard pressed to find mac and cheese not served without being topped with stewed tomatoes. they also top perfectly fine cottage cheese with apple butter topping.
It was delish!! I used regular organic elbow macaroni, and the fam loved it. I spooned a big scoop of it over steamed cauliflower and a cut up organic, pastured hot dog. I did have a tough time getting the cheese to actually mix with the sauce. It was melty and gooey, but it wasn’t actually mixing. I finally just added the pasta and put the lid back on the pot and let it sit on the burner for a few minutes. That finally did the trick. I used raw cheddar…not sure if that is why. But it didn’t matter, my kids both asked for thirds. Well, they asked for 4ths and I said no! Thanks for an easy and delicious recipe!!
I add a dash of turmeric for color and switch up the cheese depending on what is available at a good price. The best combination so far has been part Gouda part Havarti. So creamy and zingy! We don’t normally add hot dogs, but will almost always add broccoli or cauliflower to reduce the carb count.
Fun post! I am so glad Mr. C asked the question. We have made homemade mac n cheese with brown rice noodles for years. Sometimes I make it with several different types of cheese to jazz it up. It’s a favorite comfort food.
I noticed the link to Applegate Farms is no longer valid. Perhaps this would help, it leads to the choice of their three varieties of hot dogs.
http://www.applegate.com/products/hot-dogs/category
I use some kind of whole (less processed) protein, bacon or ham usually. Also, I use spaghetti squash or spiraled zucchini. I’m not a fan of hot dogs of any kind, or of brown rice pasta. I find that cooking the spaghetti squash a little in advance and letting it sit cut side down in the pan they cooked in for at least 30 mins before scooping out the “noodles” makes the texture immensely better and very similar to al dente angel hair pasta. My cheese sauce is very simila to yours, using whatever cheeses and other milk products I have on hand at the moment. Like others, I use a variety of spices and egg yolks too. Turmeric adds a nice color and richness. As a cheese replacement, I tried boiled & creamed parsnips (creamed in a food processor, no milk products added) and it was good, but I probably won’t do that often until I grow my own because store bought parsnips are so expensive.
Call me a downer, but WHY are we trying to emulate the very foods we don’t want to eat? No matter what ay you slice this recipe it is a carb-loaded empty filler food. Let the kids eat this when they go visit their friends, or go to a restaurant, hopefully not too often.
This might seem like an off topic stretch, but for my diet it’s rather vital… Do you think it’s at all possible to make this dairy free? I know the idea seems silly bc of how much dairy is in it, but I can’t have lactose, but crave Mac & cheese!! Do you have any idea what products would be the most likely to hold up to the task? I know if anyone would have good ideas about this, you would!
Hi Julie,
We have a recipe in allergy-free cooking… but it isn’t quite the same 🙂
That ebook will be out in the next few weeks. Or the class is available. You can learn more here — > https://traditionalcookingschool.com/ecourse/
Millie
GNOWFGLINS Support Team
I was wondering what you feel comes the closest to traditional wheat pasta as far as kids are concerned. My boys are absolute carb addicts and I am trying desperately to get them off a little at a time any suggestions would be awesome! Thank you.
I thought I took a copy of the mac-n-cheese recipe you offered on Jan. 6th 2017 (about 8 weeks ago), but I didn’t. Was that recipe appreciably different from this version? Thank you!
Hi Anna,
It is this recipe. 🙂 Enjoy!
Millie
Traditional Cooking School Support
Thank you for the response! I made it tonight and it was wonderful!
i don’t mean to knit pick, but i was wondering about the rice noodles…are they soaked/sprouted? if not, i’d be interested in hearing wardee’s line of reasoning. while i try to keep carbs to a minimum, when i do serve them, i try as best i can to have them be as nourishing as possible; that’s why i’m wondering. =) TIA!
i don’t mean to knit pick, but i was wondering about the rice noodles…are they soaked/sprouted? if not, i’d be interested in hearing wardee’s line of reasoning. while i try to keep carbs to a minimum, when i do serve them, i try as best i can to have them be as nourishing as possible; that’s why i’m wondering. =) TIA!
completely understandable; thanks for your response! i mainly was curious if wardeh had been successful in finding a soaked or sprouted noodle, because that sounds wonderful for a healthy & quick convenience meal! =)
Hi, Joanna: While this recipe doesn’t specifically call for sprouted noodles, you could certainly substitute any noodle that you prefer for the ones in this recipe. There are some sprouted noodles available — a quick Google search will yield some brand names you can look into. —Sonya, TCS Customer Success Team
I would like to see the response given to Joanna n. About soaked pasta. Also, I love the taste of the Barilla protein plus pasta. Has anyone ever been successful in a copycat recipe? They use golden wheat, lentils and chickpeas to make them.
Hi, Debbie: Please see reply above to Joanna N. about sprouted pasta. A soaked pasta is also possible, but more labor-intensive. Let us know if you try to copy the Barilla pasta you mentioned! —Sonya, TCS Customer Success Team