Uncle Philip's Macaroni & Cheese

My uncle first introduced me to this mac & cheese, and I love it. When I was making a list of meals to freeze for after baby comes, this was at the top of the list. It's been a long time since I made it because Patrick is a Kraft blue box mac & cheese kind of person. I had my share of Kraft blue box mac & cheese cravings during my pregnancy, but it's time for the real deal. I think it originally called for cream of mushroom, so I'm not sure if I made the change to cream of celery soup, but that's what I use. If you've read my blog for a while, you know that we don't like mushrooms at my house. You can also use cream of chicken if you want to mix it up a bit. The only other thing that I add that wasn't in the original recipe is minced garlic. Here's a pic of my Uncle Philip with Patrick and me at our wedding.

Patrick and I usually eat Kraft mac & cheese with hot dogs, so that's what we did with this mac & cheese. I have to say that I didn't really think they went well together. This mac & cheese doesn't taste like junk food the way the Kraft stuff does. It would go much better with grilled chicken and a nice salad. It's so good!

Uncle Philip's Mac & Cheese

• 12 oz. elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
• 2 cups milk
• 18 oz. grated cheese (Colby & Monterey Jack)
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of celery soup
• 2 Tbs butter
• black pepper to taste
• 3 gloves garlic, minced
• Italian style bread crumbs

In a bowl, mix together milk, soup, garlic, parmesan, and about 2/3 of the grated cheese.

Pour your cooked macaroni into a bowl. Normally, you can pour it right into the pan you will cook it in, but because I split it into two portions and froze them, it was easier to mix it in a bowl.

Add the butter to the pasta and mix until melted.

Add pepper to taste (and any other spices you like). You don't need any extra salt. Stir.

Pour the soup mixture into the pasta.

Stir to combine.

Pour the pasta into a greased rectangular baking dish.

Sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese on top.

Sprinkle bread crumbs over the cheese. Use as much or as little as you prefer.

This is the point where I covered the dish and put it in the freezer. Thaw for 24 hours before baking on 350° for 45 minutes.