Dannielle's Baked Macaroni & Cheese

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Another old, family recipe that was made over and over again while I was growing up. To me it's a simple recipe, that I think of as "comfort food" and I usually make this in cooler weather.

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  • 6
  • Average
  • 20 mins
  • 30 mins
  • Average budget

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of Colby or Colby Jack Cheese - shredded
  • 1 lb of Sharp Cheddar Cheese - shredded
  • 1 large onion - chopped into a fine dice
  • 1 large can of diced tomatoes
  • 1lb of Pasta - Any large "tube" pasta will do. Rigatoni or Macaroni (where available) or Cavatappi
  • Salt & Pepper

Preparation

Step 1

Cook the pasta per the direction on the box, leaving pasta a little more al dente then you would normally serve as it finishes cooking in the oven. Drain pasta, but reserve about a cup of pasta water.

Step 2

Once pasta is done cooking and is drained, mix pasta, diced onion, tomatoes and half of each cheese into a large dutch oven pot or large casserole dish. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the cup of pasta water that was reserved. You want the mixture wet but not soupy. Then top the casserole with the remaining cheese.

Step 3

Bake in 350* oven for about 30 minutes or until cheese on top is completely melted and bubbly.

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I like to use the diced tomatoes that have the onions in them as it adds an additional layer of flavor.

You can add lots of mix-ins to this recipe. My husband loves it with ham chunks. You mix them in with the other ingredients. Bacon is another great mix-in.

We always had this as a "meatless" main dish but this can easily do double duty as a side dish as well.

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