FAVORITE MAC & CHEESE

WARNING: not paleo 😂 I only make this on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, so I think we’ll be OK!

If you’re dairy and gluten sensitive but not allergic, popping digestive enzymes really helps with the lethargy and breakouts for me, so you may want to give it a shot when eating this gut bomb!

Our family’s secret ingredient is not Velveeta. It’s Cheddar Cheese soup and 32 oz of your favorite cheese (be creative!) We like Tillamook sharp cheddar but add whatever kind you want as long as it’s not pre-shredded (there’s cellulose in that- aka wood pulp- which ruins the texture).

My big sister Rhonda makes a version of this mac and cheese every single holiday. But when we moved to Oregon from Washington for a short time, the task fell to me. At first, I was making a cheese sauce from scratch, until one day over the phone my sister said, “Did you get the cheese soup?” I said, “Yeah, I made it.”

“Anna, no. I mean the canned cheddar cheese soup.”

The whole time I thought she was making the sauce from scratch! No wonder mine didn’t taste the same. This was the secret shortcut my sister had been taking all along- Campbell’s Cheddar Cheese Soup.

So, I saved myself the time and energy and started using the soup. THIS tasted like home.

Without further ado, here’s my family’s favorite mac and cheese. (It’s a lot of butter… don’t @ me, lol).

INGREDIENTS

2 boxes macaroni
32 oz of fave cheese, shredded
4 cans cheddar cheese soup
1 pack cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
2 eggs
1 TBS kosher salt (or less depending on your taste)
1 TBS Dijon mustard
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp seasoning salt
1 tsp paprika

DIRECTIONS

Pre heat oven to 375 F
I’m large stock pot, boil noodles in salted water to el dente, drain. Put back in pot.
While that’s boiling, in a large bowl, blend everything together (taste before adding the eggs so you can adjust spices and salt as desired) and mix in cheese at the end, setting some aside for the topping.
Add cheese mixture to noodles and mix well.
Pour into extra large baking dish
Top with remaining cheese
Cover with oiled parchment and tinfoil and bake at 375 for 35 minutes.
Remove cover and bake for an additional 20-25 min or until cheese is golden brown and bubbling on the edges.

I hope you enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas and every other day that you make this!