Good Eating Monday: Slow-Cooker Mac & Cheese

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   Happy New Year!  May your 2014 be a year filled with good things!
I'll be taking New Year's Eve & New Year's Day off, so next blog will be Mama Kat on Thursday.
Today I'm making Chocolate Clouds, a delicious meringue cookie filled with chocolate chip goodness!
We always host a Pray-In-The-New-Year event annually at the Airman Center on base, featuring food, fun, movies & games until just about 15 minutes prior to midnight when we gather, share prayer requests, then pray over the hour into the New Year.
I'm taking the chocolate clouds. Plus I'm trying a new slow cooker recipe for mac & cheese.
I love trying slow-cooker recipes, since the appliance is more economic then the stove! 
Last week I tried a couple rounds of Slow-Cooker Rosemary Rolls, one with herb, the other without. I added that extra teaspoon sugar, extra 1/2 cup of flour and split the olive oil with half coconut oil and the second batch came out quite a bit better.
I have a few leftover we'll be having with beans and ham tonight. A Christmas ham means lots of stuff with ham! Really, Christmas is about the only time I have an actual a whole ham.


I've decided this is the year to upgrade my camera. (Not to mention the battery door recently broke). I need something with more zoom levels and better portrait capability. My 5 year old one has a 5x zoom---which if you look at my calenders of butterflies and flowers in my Zazzle store, you can see it's been doing an amazing job!  Imagine what I can do with a 42x zoom!
I found a good kit deal that not only included the camera, but also my choice of memory card and carrying case!  

Okay, today's featured recipe is the Slow-Cooker Mac & Cheese I'm planning on trying tomorrow!

One of the nice features about this particular recipe is it calls for real cheese and milk; not some can of yucky cheddar soup!

(I'll give you the exact recipe, though I'll be using a whole 12 oz box of elbows for mine and increasing the liquid slightly to accommodate.)

Ingredients:
8 oz box of elbow macaroni, dry
1 can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups whole or 2% milk (not less then 2%)
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine. (I use lite butter generally)
1/2 tsp salt 
Dash pepper
2 large eggs, beaten
5 cups shredded cheddar, divided. (You'll be saving 1/2 cup for top)
Dash Paprika

Directions:
In a large bowl combine dry mac with the milk, butter, eggs, salt, pepper and 4 1/2 cups cheese.  Pour this into a greased slow-cooker. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese on top and paprika.
Cook on low for 3 hours.

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After trying it: this is excellent! It's a keeper I'll make again!
Definitely delicious!
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Eat up, me hearties, yo-ho!

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