Yep, here I am again with my Instant Pot. Mind you I might have picked one of the worst days ever to fix this pot of delicious creamy goodness given that it was over 100 degrees today. But what the hell, turn the AC down a couple of notches and pretend it is early fall and enjoy this creamy dish that is so easy that you will never buy that blue box again!
As a note – since I am diabetic Mac & Cheese is really not my friend so I do add a lot of meat to mine as well as eating a huge salad before tucking into this total carb-fest of a meal. – Pass the insulin and let’s get started!
1 box Elbow Macaroni ( 1 pound if you buy it in bulk)
1 can Evaporated Milk ( NOT condensed milk – lordy that would be awful!)
16 oz of extra sharp cheddar – shredded
4 cups HOT water ( like hot from the tap, no need to boil)
1 tablespoon salt
2 cans fire roasted tomatoes ( drained)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Pour pasta, salt and water into the Instant Pot. Set to manual and to 4 minutes. When done, do a rapid release and then open the pot. Turn on to saute feature and as it starts to heat up again put in the Evap-milk and the dry mustard and stir around. Handfuls at a time start adding the cheese and stir softly.. keep adding cheese as it melts until it is all incorporated. Throw in drained tomatoes and give another stir and check if it needs more salt. It should be getting thick, very quick at this point so I turn off the saute and add any variety of pre-cooked meat. ( hamburger or ham are my favorites)
Serve straight from the pot or get fancy and put it in a baking dish and top with breadcrumbs and a bit of butter and bake until crumbs are brown.
Why this works – the evaporated milk takes the place of making a homemade cream sauce and lets the cheese melt into a smooth sauce not icky and stringy like cheese alone and not day-glow orange ( fake) like the stuff in the box. TOTAL simplicity!
Still grooving on BadAss Quilter Recipes? If so please please leave a short comment and in the meantime I will be thinking of what to make next!
