Help! Mother with Toddler, Incapable of Making Mac and Cheese

Seriously just get Kraft and move on....

I get the organic whole grain kind and that makes me feel less like a horrid mother for serving it :)
But we don't eat it often, so it is ok no matter what kinda I get.

I do the same as cookingmom but add garlic salt to taste and use any whole grain pasta I have on hand. I usually just mix my cheese sauce together with the noodles and eat it, skipping the oven. We've also added croutons or crackers (or bacon) for crunch.

This is super easy and as fast as the store bought stuff and much healthier (minus the bacon)!!!!

Good luck!

Super easy....forget any receipe that tells you to add flour. First boil noodles...any kind, whatever shape the kids like. Undercook them just a little bit. In other words make sure they have a little bite to them. Drain the noodles. Put them back in the pot and add some milk with the flame on low. Next add shredded cheese. Both Kraft and Sargento make some great blends. They even make blends that are Italian, Mexican, but Monterey Jack is a nice cheese to blend when you are picking one. Add the entire 2 cup package to the noodles/milk. You might want to pick up two- 2 cup packages depending on how cheesy you want the mac n cheese. The cheese will melt perfectly. You will have to play around with how much milk but start with 1/2 cup and add more if the cheese isn't melting. If you want to save the leftovers and reheat all you have to do is add some butter or marge to the mix and it will re-melt everything nicely. Also, the butter/marge work great if you make it too soon and it's sitting in the pot too long. Add a couple of tablespoons and it will bounce right back!

Great answers with recipes..but I think the problem isn't you..it's the cheese you are using. Some cheeses don't melt well.

I'm personally not a big mac n cheese lover so it's kraft or velveeta for my kids! Sorry...

Hi. Mac & Cheese can be tricky. I'm a Pampered Chef consultant, but I don't follow recipes (not good at that, believe it or not). I'll try my best to give measurements, although it's more important that you get the METHOD down. Gather all your ingredients (measure them out) ahead of time, because a cheese sauce waits for no one.

Boil your elbow macaroni for about 9-10 minutes in well salted water (nothing else should go in the water). If you taste the water, it should taste slightly salty before the pasta goes in. Drain the pasta when it's done cooking (DO NOT rinse it, just set it aside)
In the now-empty pot you boiled the pasta in - on medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons of butter (do not substitute anything else). When that melts and starts to bubble, add 3 tablespoons of flour and then stir it around and let the flour/butter mixture cook for about 1 minute on medium heat (don't burn it). That will cook the flour taste out. Add a good sprinkle of salt and pepper and maybe a tiny pinch of nutmeg. You can also add a sprinkle of garlic POWDER or onion POWDER at this point. I usually add a small squeeze of DIJON mustard at this point too and mix everything together.
While stiring the mixture at the bottom of the pot, slowly add about 3 cups of whole milk. Keep stirring and bring the mixture up almost to a boil. As the mixture heats up, it will begin to thicken (this will take a few minutes, but be patient). With the heat set so the mixture simmers - it will thicken into a white sauce that will eventually coat the back of a spoon thickly. At this point, add about 2-3 cups of shreded sharp cheddar cheese or combination of cheddar and any other hard cheese you like. I always add a little parmesan cheese too. Taste the sauce before you proceed and add salt if needed (but you should be OK at this point). Keep stirring - you're almost there! Stir until all the cheese melts and you have a smooth sauce. When that happens, turn off the heat and add the cooked macaroni. Stir until all the macaroni is coated. Dump everything into a baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. You can top with buttered breadcrumbs before you put it in the oven it you'd like. Enjoy!

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. My parents live in Cream Ridge and I visit them often. Not to shamelessly promote myself, but if you'd like to Host a Pampered Chef show (and get free products to cook with), I'll come to your house and show you and your friends exactly how to make this. Don't feel bad, a lot of people have no idea how to make mac & cheese. Feel free to visit my website: www.pamperedchef.biz/elainaskitchen
Good luck and let me know how it turns out.

Hello,
I am not sure if this suggestion will help, or if someone else as already suggested this but...I would just us the Kraft Easy Mac N' Cheese. I do not if your preschool will heat up your childs' lunch, but all you do is add water and BAM!!! Yummy Mac N' Cheese!!! I have one little guy who loves the dish (which I do usually make homemade but he does not seem to notice the difference!) and one who completely dislikes it! I love it and I LOVE Easy Mac.
Hope this helps a bit! Good luck!

I'm to the point that Kraft Easy Mac is the only thing I buy any more...the Triple Cheese flavor. In 3m 30 sec., it's all done and taken care of....and clean up's a cinch too.

I do not make the baked version, but my boys love this:

melt Velveta with a small amount of milk on medium low or low, stirring constantly. Once melted a smooth, pour over boiled noodles. Might not be the healthiest, but they love it, and sometimes I add in peas to make it a little better for them.

Try allrecipies.com, especially the crock pot recipes.
Don't feel guilty about using the store bought boxes, either! I use them a lot and always add extra ingredients to make them 'special' - like peas or corn for veggies, fresh cheese (string cheese, cheddar, gouda, whatever I have on hand), bread crumbs/panko or bacon bits.

I haven't tried this specific recipe, but this is from a no fail cookbook. Everything I have tried from them works, and is tasty. If this didn't copy well let me know. Now, if only I could get my toddler to EAT mac and cheese.

Stovetop Mac& Cheese
If you’re in a hurry or prefer to sprinkle the dish with crumbled common crackers (saltines aren’t bad either), you can skip the bread crumb step.

Ingredients
Toasted Bread Crumbs
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs from French or Italian bread
Pinch table salt
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
2 large eggs
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
2 teaspoons table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard , dissolved in 1 teaspoon water
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces sharp cheddar cheese , American cheese, or Monterey Jack cheese, grated (about 3 cups)
Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix bread crumb ingredients together in small baking pan. Bake until golden brown and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes; set aside.

2. Meanwhile, mix eggs, 1 cup of the evaporated milk, pepper sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, pepper, and mustard mixture in small bowl; set aside.

3. Meanwhile, heat 2 quarts water to boil in large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt and macaroni; cook until almost tender, but still a little firm to the bite. Drain and return to pan over low heat. Add butter; toss to melt.

4. Pour egg mixture over buttered noodles along with three-quarters of the cheese; stir until thoroughly combined and cheese starts to melt. Gradually add remaining milk and cheese, stirring constantly, until mixture is hot and creamy, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately topped with toasted bread crumbs.

If you don't want to do homemade, stouffers mac and cheese is amazing!

I think my recipe is just like working mom.. it is from a cookbook called
"The Perfect Recipe" by Pam Anderson I love this cookbook..
Here is a link.. It is on page 62.

http://books.google.com/books?id=poQZpC4g16AC&printse...

I make mac & cheese from scratch - my Aunt taught me. It is basically a white sauce (just like the recipe CookingMom gave) except I mix it with pre-cooked pasta and put sharp cheddar cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melty and the sauce is bubbly. My son prefers all the cheese on top and not mixed in.

The key is to practice making a basic white sauce - equal parts butter (never margarine) and flour until it is a thick paste. Slowly add milk - whisking the entire time until the flour/butter mixture is completely incorporated into the milk. And use a whisk not a spoon or fork. Once it is incorporated and smooth cook over medium to medium low heat, whisking occasionally, until the sauce coats a metal spoon when you dip the spoon in. At that point you can add anything you want. If want a cheese sauce use a good sharp cheddar, taste as you add, until you have it cheesy enough for you. You can also add jalapenos and such to make a cheese dip for chips. Or, you can add Parmesan and garlic and make an Alfredo sauce for pasta.

Anyhoo, once you get the hang of it you will be surprised how many variations that you can make. Just be patient and practice. I taught a girlfriend and my son how to make a white sauce - so trust me - you can learn it also.

However, as Tracy M. said - Stouffer's makes a killer mac and cheese and it comes in individual, medium, and large sizes. I love this one - it is pure comfort food.

Happy Cooking!!

Go with the Velveeta kind. yum it's my favorite.

I hear ya. My homemade mac and cheese attempts have always come out flavorless or flawed in exactly the same way you have described. So back to Velveeta shells and cheese I go.
I've tried a zillion recipes too and it ends up costing a lot more it seems and a total waste of time since it comes out crappy. Hopefully someone on here has some no fail recipes ;)

Hmmm...my husband grew up on velveeta...which grossed me out at first till I read the ingredient list...it actually IS real cheese and pasta...mostly, enough anyway (actual cheese, no food dyes, no high fructose) that I don't feel too bad about giving it to my preschooler :)

What I started doing is buying a small container at the deli counter at our supermarket. It has so much cheese that it's disgusting. So I just use a bit of that and add my own macaroni. That way it's fresh cheese vs out of a box (honestly not sure that's better though) and not expensive bc I use so little of theirs, and I get to limit the amount of cheese.