Mac and Cheese for a Crowd

For my second recipe, I made Paula Deen’s Creamy Macaroni and Cheese.  This is a slow cooker recipe so I thought it would be perfect to bring to my end of the year hockey party! Here is a website if you would like to watch a video of how she makes it! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/creamy-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe.html Let me warn you, she makes it look a lot easier than it is. However, with a positive attitude, this is a recipe I’m confident anybody can make. 

The recipe calls for:
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8-ounce box isn't quite 2 cups)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stuck) butter, cut into pieces
2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

After reading the reviews, I took some people’s advice and put in one less egg and ½ cup more macaroni. During this process, I definitely ran into some troubles. First, I just started shredding the cheese thinking I can get some of the prep done. I obviously didn't read the recipe well enough because I just assumed 2 ½ cups meant 2 ½ blocks of cheese. After shredding for a while I noticed that I had quite a bit of cheese, checked the recipe, and realized my mistake.  In the end, we didn't actually have too much left over. I learned that after cooking the macaroni, if it sits too long then it will stick together so we had to put some butter in it to keep that from happening. This problem could have been solved if I had been smart enough to melt the cheese first and combine the eggs, butter, milk, and all the other ingredients before cooking and adding the macaroni. Also after cooking the macaroni and putting it in the crock pot, we decided that we thought we didn't have enough for the party. This created a lot of stress because we had to decide how many more cups of macaroni we wanted to make, and add more of the ingredients accordingly. After figuring all of that out and adding the sauce to the crock pot I thought, what more could go wrong? Sure enough, I ran into yet another problem.  When the melted cheese was poured into the crock pot it quickly set up and turned into a big, thick mass. We combined the rest of the ingredients and stirred, but the cheese didn't mix in very well. This left little chunks of cheese throughout the sauce--not appealing! We didn't think the low-heat setting of the crock pot would ever melt the cheese completely. To solve this problem, we poured the whole sauce back into a pan and heated it on the stove till the sauce was smooth. Then we poured it back in to the crock pot and added the macaroni.

In the end, it turned out really well! Everyone at the party loved it and I will definitely be making it again in the future. It is way better than any box macaroni and cheese I have ever had. Sorry there aren’t as many pictures as last time. Everything was very hectic while making it. I did, however, get a photo of the finished product!

For my next recipe I will be making an Easter themed dessert!