Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese

If you're thinking that it can't possibly be time for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal already, you're right.  I usually post with Group A, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the Group B blogger assigned to Jane's Adventures in Dinner could not do it - so I got to step in!  Lucky me - I am enjoying Jane's blog very much.

Jane is a Canadian wife and mummy who loves to cook and even trained as a chef at one time.  Then she discovered her love of teaching and became a teacher - a teacher who still loves to cook and feed everyone. Now she's got a small daughter and this blog full of amazing recipes and pictures to chronicle the adventures of it all. 

Once again I had a hard time choosing just one recipe.  There are so many to choose from, all with mouth-watering photos.  Here are some that made the short list, and that I will most likely be making soon:

• PB & J Muffins
• Cranberry Granola
• Cranberry Honey Oat Muffins
• Hot Chocolate Bread
• T'kill Ya Beef - (we tend to call call tequila T’ kill ya too, though not for the same reasons)

Don't those all sound yummy?  I finally decided on this Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese because I just had to see how it turned out.

Mix the cheese and seasonings together, mix it together with the macaroni in your slow cooker, pour some broth and milk on top, and let it cook.  Can it really be that easy?  Yes, yes it is! 

Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese 
from Jane's Adventures in Dinner

Ingredients

• 4 cups shredded cheese (a mix of mozzarella and sharp cheddar)
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 T ground mustard
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
• 4 cups uncooked pasta
• 1 L milk
• 1/2 L chicken stock

Topping:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (or cracker crumbs)

Instructions

1. Mix shredded cheese, cornstarch, ground mustard and paprika together. Place pasta in greased 5-quart slow cooker and mix in cheese and seasonings. Pour milk and stock over the top.
2. Cook on HIGH for four hours (at 3-1/2 hours, dot with butter and cover with bread crumbs).  OR Cook on LOW for six hours (at 5-1/2 hours, dot with butter, cover with bread crumbs, and turn heat to HIGH for remaining 1/2 hour).

Makes A LOT

This was perfect for dinner on a snowy winter's night.  Comfort food at its best!  I haven't had mac & cheese in ages - not since my kids were little, and then it was just the kind that comes in the blue box.  This is better!  And pretty much as easy.  Jane says the key is coating the shredded cheese with the cornstarch and seasonings.  So I did what she said.

At the end I had Mac & Cheese!  I ate way too much, and I still couldn't stop nibbling on the crunchy edges - though those might have been because I ended up cooking it for the full four hours before I added the topping, because I was out shoveling the driveway and didn't get back into the house.  Nope, just checked the picture, and there were already some crispy edges.  I really like those crispy edges.

Before the topping

Warning - this recipe makes a lot.  There will be plenty of leftovers, unless you're feeding a crowd.  This would actually be a great recipe to take for a potluck, especially if you have a few hours to cook it once you get there.  Mix your cheeses, spices, and macaroni in the slow cooker and take your broth and milk in a separate container.  Pour them in when you get there and turn on the slow cooker.  How easy is that?   It would probably also be perfectly yummy without the topping if you didn't even want to mess with that.  Though the topping does make it pretty -

If you're not feeding a crowd, be sure to visit Jane's blog to see what she did with her leftovers.  Me, I've been eating Mac & Cheese for lunch.  I also had to try it with ketchup.  I had never heard of such a thing, but Jane mentioned that she likes hers with sriracha but her daughter opts to dip hers into ketchup.  Sadly, I have no sriracha, a problem that I must remedy soon, but ketchup is really good with Mac & Cheese.  Who knew?  Did you know?

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