Instant Pot Mini Monday — Mac and Cheese

Guys,  I am so excited!  I get to share the recipe I tested for Christina Lane with you today.  It’s Mac and Cheese in the Instant Pot.  I have to be completely honest, when I first saw this recipe I didn’t have any idea how the heck it was going to turn into mac and cheese with no milk and pasta made in the pressure cooker.  I thought this may be the second thing I found not worth making in the pressure cooker.  However, I trust Christina so I made the recipe just like we talked about.  I am so glad I did because this is awesome.   I have made this mac and cheese twice in the last week and I can’t remember the last time I made a recipe twice in one week.  The quality of the cheese you use is what makes this dish use the best you can afford.  I used my favorite Cabot extra sharp cheddar and Frigro block Parmesan cheese.

Christina Lane’s Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

10 Recipes Every Beginning Cook Should Know #1 Mac and Cheese

One of the things I like about my current job is the totally random conversations I get to have with customers while I am helping them. Yesterday I had  a random conversation with a fellow Dr. Who fan about how Christopher Eccelston is a totally underrated Doctor.

However, my most favorite random conversations generally revolve around food and cooking.  I was talking to  a customer about my blog and being a food blogger when she looked down at her cart of frozen dinners and jarred pasta sauces and said “You must think I am absolutely horrible.  I know I should cook from scratch with real food. I just don’t know where to start. It’s all so overwhelming.  If you were me where would you start?”

I assured her I didn’t think she was horrible.  I used to cook the exact same way.  As for the rest of the question I told her I would give it some serious thought because I had never thought of it before. I would give her an answer the next time she was in the store.

So after some serious thought I came up with 10 recipes that I think every beginning cook should know.  The recipes either are some thing people think takes a lot of time to cook from scratch but doesn’t or looks complicated to make but isn’t.

The first recipe I think every cook should know how to make is macaroni and cheese . It is one of those recipes that people think takes forever to make from scratch but really doesn’t. In fact, making homemade mac and cheese takes about the same time to make as a box of mac and cheese but tastes much better. I like simple things so I only use cheddar cheese in this recipe. I always have cheddar cheese on hand.  You could use any cheese or combination of cheese you like.

You could also add any spices, herbs or meats you wanted to to fancy it up a bit  but, like I said, I like things simple.

Macaroni and Cheese

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni

1 TBS butter

1 TBS all purpose flour

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Prepare the macaroni according to the package directions. Keep warm.  Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat; whisk in flour until smooth.  Cook, whisking for 2 minutes.  Gradually whisk in the milk and cook , whisking constantly, for 5 minutes or until thickened. Add the cheese mixture to the macaroni as well as the salt and pepper; mix well.