Mac n' Cheese with "Stolen" Sauce: Cooking with Kids Update

I had mentioned in my recent Cooking with Kids post that the Rachel Ray recipe we used produced a lot of cheese sauce. I had already decided that the sauce would make for a great impromptu macaroni and cheese so that’s exactly what we did.

I reheated the sauce on low in a saucepan, adding a little more milk to thin it out. To the sauce I also added a teaspoon of red pepper flake, fresh ground pepper and about a teaspoon of garlic salt. Next, I boiled about ¾ of a box of whole wheat elbow-shaped pasta to just al dente (about 1 minute less than the recommended cooking time).

 

After draining the pasta, I added it to a deep casserole dish that I had sprayed with cooking spray. I poured in the heated and melted cheese sauce and combined it well with the pasta. I topped it with whole wheat bread crumbs and put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.

 

This was the side dish for my less than successful roast chicken but every member of the family ate it and enjoyed what my son calls “noodle mac n’ cheese”. The only future upgrade is to amp up the cheese flavor a little more as the additional milk did lessen the cheese flavor. However, not a bad way to use one recipe for two dishes!