Godmother's Mac & Cheese Casserole (Plus Chicken & Broccoli)

N and I were looking to make something for dinner and we decided to make a mac & cheese casserole. Now, who makes the best mac & cheese casserole? My godmother. It is cheesy, creamy, and topped with buttery Ritz crackers.

The recipe actually comes from the back of the Prince elbows pasta box, however there is a secret ingredient! A tsp of ground mustard. Where did this addition come from? I have no idea. But this is a very easy dish that is great to bring to big family parties.

I doubled some of the recipe (typical me, I only had enough to double some of the ingredients). You can also find it on this blog as well.

I wanted to make this more filling so I added 2 chicken breast and a crown of broccoli.

I started with the cheese sauce. I combined 2 tbsp of melted butter with 1/4 c of flour, 1 tsp of onion powder, 1 tsp ground mustard, and salt & pepper. I let this all combine. Now I get creative. I added the (mostly defrosted) chicken and let that cook a little bit. Then I tossed in the chopped up broccoli. I didn't have enough milk, I used 2 cups of 1% milk. I also used 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. The recipe called for double that. However I didn't let that phase me and continued to stir until the cheese melted into a thick sauce. It looks like broccoli and cheddar soup!

 

I cooked the pasta according to the directions on the box. Elbow pasta was not on sale so I purchased rigatoni for $0.88 instead of elbows for $1.29.

I drained the pasta and put it back in the pot. I poured the cheese sauce over the pasta and stirred. I dumped the entire pot into my casserole dish and covered with another cup of mozzarella cheese.

Next is the cracker topping. I used my food processor to crush 15 Ritz crackers and combine it with a tbsp of melted butter.

 Baked it for 25 minutes at 350F.

Next time I would use the correct amount of cheese which is 4 cups. But everything cooked perfectly and made about 4-6 servings!

Godmother's Mac & Cheese
4-6 servings

1 box of pasta (16 oz)
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground mustard
salt & pepper
1 crown of broccoli
1 lb of chicken - 2 chicken breast, diced
4 cups of cheese
3 cups of milk

15 Ritz crackers, crushed
1 tbsp butter, melter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cook pasta according to directions. Drain.
3. Meanwhile, in a pot, melt butter, add flour, onion powder, ground mustard, salt, and pepper. Add chicken and broccoli (if using). Let good for a few minutes. Add milk and cheese. Stir until melted. 
4. Combine pasta and sauce. Pour into 9x13 baking dish.
5. Combine crushed crackers and butter. Sprinkle over the pasta mixture.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden and bubble. 

Enjoy!