Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is one of my favorite foods.  I do not get to cook it very often as I have a husband and daughter who wont eat it.  (The husband doesn't like cheddar cheese and the daughter won't because she is very picky about the kinds of noodles she will eat.  I think it is a visual thing for her! -- She will eat the boxed kind all day long, but wont even touch a freshly baked homemade macaroni and cheese.

The above recipe is one that has been handed down threw my family.  My grandmother makes it and so does my dad, using basically the same recipe.  There is a story behind this recipe that my grandmother likes to tell.  My grandfather did not eat macaroni and cheese when he and my grandmother married.  She cooked it and he ate it, but he didn't really care for it.  When my grandmother had her kids, she had a young lady that would come help her out.  She would not eat the macaroni and cheese either.  My grandfather looked at the young lady on day as they sat down to dinner and told her, "You better eat it.  She'll keep putting it in front of you until you do!"

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
2 cups noodles
1/2 pound cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
10 plain crackers 
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Boil noodles until just done.  Drain.
2. While noodles cook, mix eggs, milk and crackers together.
3. Add butter and melt it into the noodles.  
4. Slowly add egg mixture.
5. Add cheese, leave a little aside to sprinkle over the top, and stir to melt cheese slightly.
6. Pour all into a greased pan and add a little cheese onto the top.
7. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Notes
You can make this ahead of time and set in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake it.  You may need to add more milk as the noodles will soak some of it up.

You can use any kind of cheese you like.  The one above was mostly sharp cheddar with a little bit of Mexican blend cheese that I had left from a taco night. 

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Is homemade worth it?

2 cups noodles = $.50
1/2 pound cheese = $2.99
2 eggs = $.28
1/2 cup milk = $.13
10 plain crackers = $.25
1/2 stick butter = $.25
salt and pepper = $.01

In total, this mac-n-cheese costs $4.41.  I feed 5 people with the above mac-n-cheese and had enough left over for 3 more servings. My father ate two servings. So, in total, this made 9 servings.  So, one serving costs $.49.  

You can buy a box of Kraft mac-n-cheese for $1.25.  You have to add milk and butter to this to make it.  So you will add $.10 for the milk and $.06 for the butter.  I can feed 2-3 people off of this as a side.  So, one serving costs $.45 if you assume 3 people are eating.

Summery
Homemade mac-n-cheese = $.49
Kraft mac-n-cheese = $.45

So it is still cheaper to eat out of the blue box... but homemade is SO much better!  And, if you are like me and get a box of noodles for $.19 with coupons and the cheese on sale for $1 off, then homemade would be cheaper!