Kaylee's not-a-blog » Food » Meals » healthy Macaroni & Cheese, from "scratch"

I've posted this recipe in a few places online, however I had never used actual "elbow macaroni", and recently rectified that. :)
I was almost out of dehydrated/freeze-dried veggies, so as an experiment I used a regular (wet) can each of peas and corn, plus a dollar bag of baby carrots.

I was staying at a County Park for a week, so had access to (awesome!) running water, picked up ice (for the canned veggies) just before my first batch, and ended up making it three times.
Yup, it was just as good as any of the other batches! :)

Recipe:

Here's the recipe, scaled down for one person...

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces pasta
  (any kind you want - I have only ever made this with whole grain pasta)
• 1/2 cup milk (powdered is fine)
• 3/4 cups water
• (optional) vegetables (I usually use all of: green peas, sweet corn, carrots)
• (optional) meat (precooked)
  
  
• 2 ounces process "American" cheese, shredded or sliced & ripped
  
  
• 2 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded/etc
  
  
• (optional) Parmesan cheese
• (optional) panko bread crumbs fried in a bit of oil
• (optional) salt, pepper

Steps:

1. Measure pasta, milk and water into pot.
   (optional) Add vegetables and/or meat.
   Flame on, and bring to boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low (i.e. fluid is gently bubbling).
   Continue cooking, stirring regularly, until pasta is cooked, about 5 to 9 minutes.
3. Add process/American cheese, and continue cooking, stirring constantly for about 1 minute, until cheese is melted.
4. Turn off heat/flame, stir in cheddar (just roughly stirred - it's ok to be "lumpy").
   Cover pot, let stand for 5 minutes.
5. (optional) Fry panko bread crumbs with parmesan cheese in a bit of oil, add.
   Or just shake some shredded parmesan on at the same time you add the cheddar. :)

Note: there's no straining. :)

Technically, all the recipes I saw gave traditional instructions (i.e. bring fluid to boil, then add pasta), but when I was in a s&b, I experimented and could not taste any difference.
Starting with the pasta in the water+milk saves energy. Hug the Planet! :)

Pictures:

Here's real in-van pics (the best of the pics from the 3 separate batches, so some have pepperoni and some don't)...

All non-cheese ingredients (including powdered milk), before adding water:

I used about a quarter of a (regular) can of each of the peas and corn, and eyeballed about the same amount of carrots.
The pepperoni is a single pouch (0.875 ounces) of the Hormel two pouch kind sold for a dollar at many dollar stores.

After adding water and mixing vigorously (mainly to "make" the milk from the powder):

Ready to eat:

Closeup of the richly sauced pasta:

Version with pepperoni:

Notes:

Cost without meat is about $1.60, cost with meat is about $2.10.

While in s&b, I did make it with panko bread crumbs, which bumped up the flavor, but haven't bothered in my van.
A few shakes of Parmesan is a nice addition, but I often don't bother (or forget) and it still tastes great. :)

I've made it with a range of cheese, mostly cheddar (from "medium" thru "extra sharp"), and a few batches using a bag of mixed Monterey Jack & Cheddar.

The first few times, I meticulously measured everything.
Now, I just throw in roughly a quarter of a one pound box of pasta, add the veggies, eyeball the milk powder, then add enough water to completely cover everything.
Yes, it's that simple. :)