Homemade Broccoli Mac and Cheese

Homemade mac and cheese is one of those go-to meals for Jacob and I. It's cheap, quick, and oh-so-good. My Mom used to make big batches of mac and cheese when we were growing up.  It filled all of us kids up and didn't take much time or effort to put together.

A close friend of mine had a family crisis last week, so I threw together a big pan of this goodness and dropped it off. I made a small dish for Jacob and I to share that night.

I had some broccoli in the fridge that needed to be used up, so I decided to add some green to this cheesy dish. While doing so, I came up with a handy trick! Rather than steaming the broccoli in a separate pan, in addition to boiling the pasta and making the cheese sauce, I just left the broccoli in the strainer after I chopped and washed it, then poured the hot pasta that had just finished cooking over top of the broccoli. Voila! Perfectly cooked broccoli and drained pasta!

The cheese sauce was the same basic cheese sauce that I used for baked potatoes with cheesy black bean sauce, minus the black beans. Butter + flour + milk + cheese + salt + pepper.

Mix the sauce up with the cooked macaroni and broccoli, and top with bread crumbs. This could easily be gluten free with some rice or corn pasta.

Toasty, cheesy, creamy perfection.

A nice big salad on the side - mixed greens, tomato, cuke, red onion, almonds, and homemade lemon herb dressing.

A little cabernet sauvignon to round out the meal. More on my wine selection strategy in an upcoming post...

Homemade Broccoli Mac and Cheese Recipe:

Serves 2-4 people (2 as a main dish, 4 as a side)

- 1/2 box pasta (your pasta selection is completely up to you... Any kind will work just fine!)

- 1 large head of broccoli, trimmed into small crowns

- 3 tbsp butter

- 2 tbsp flour

- 1 and 1/4 cups milk (I typically use whole or 2% for this recipe, but skim would be fine too)

- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

- 1/4 cup bread crumbs

- Salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

- Boil pasta in salted water until al dente (just a little bit "chewy").

- Wash broccoli crowns in a large strainer.

- When the pasta is done, pour it over the broccoli to drain.

- Melt butter in a medium skillet.

- Once butter is melted, sprinkle the flour over top of it and use a whisk to mix it in. Cook on medium for one minute.

- Add the milk, whisking rapidly to avoid lumps from forming.

- Let the milk mixture cook on low/medium for 5 minutes or until it coats the back of a spoon.

- Add the cheese + salt/pepper to taste.

- Pour the pasta and broccoli into a greased oven safe dish.

- Pour the cheese mixture over the pasta and stir to incorporate.

- If the pasta seems too dry, add a splash of milk.

- Top with breadcrumbs.

- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until heated through and golden brown on top.