Everyone has their favorite type of macaroni and cheese. My favorite may not be the same as yours. That’s what makes cooking so fun – you can manipulate flavors and textures to your own liking. I have tried many, many, many different recipes for macaroni and cheeses. Some have been outstanding, most were mediocre at best. I make a variety of this dish, and I usually cater it to who I am making it for. We have the ridiculously picky eaters, who I generally categorize as “Childlike eaters”. That variation is simple, easy and a general crowd pleaser. I change it up for my own family, or if we have guests that have a really fun flavor palate(and for the record, those guests are the BEST kind to have, in my opinion).
I have had requests for my homemade mac and cheese recipe. I kept trying to figure out a way to incorporate this recipe on BBQ site. It was fairly challenging to figure out. Then, we decided to a do a ham. BINGO! Macaroni and cheese goes hand in hand with ham. Ask anyone. Well, except for my oldest son. He doesn’t believe foods should mix. But he DID like this macaroni and cheese!
For those of you who may already have my macaroni and cheese recipe, you will notice this one is slightly different. I felt the need to alter it slightly to better compliment the ham. Also, in my “Fun Flavored Palated Recipe”, I use a variety of cheeses – Roman, gruyere, white cheddar -the possibilities are endless, really. I just don’t use as much as the velveeta and cheddar when I add even more cheese in. But I will say that I think velveeta is vital. I know it’s not real cheese, and no one really knows what it is, but it is a great gluing…agent. And it gives the pasta really good texture. So if you’ve tried a bunch of recipes with little success and tried to get away from the scary processed cheese, but have had no little success, it’s because you actually do need a little bit of the scary processed cheese. You can cut down on the amount, but you need at least some of it.
One more thing – the addition of the double smoked ham. Wow. This REALLY changes the flavor of the beloved dish. In a great way! It tastes like a ham and cheese melt. I highly recommend you trying this. And if you tend to the childlike tendencies, maybe try to step out of the box and see if you like it. Everyone has to grow up sometime, right?
Leftover Smoked Ham Recipe: Kicked Up Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked elbow macaroni
- 12 ounces cubed velveeta
- 10 ounces cheddar cheese
- 1 stick of butter
- 3 tablespoons of flour
- 2 cups of milk
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1 cup of parmesan cheese divided
- 2 cups of diced leftover smoked ham
Instructions
- Cook noodles, set aside.
- Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour - create a rue. Pour in milk. Let the milk thicken, then add the cuded velveeta. Continue stirring and let come to a slow boil.
- Add in cheddar cheese, mustard, salt and pepper then parmesan.
- Add the diced leftover smoked ham, and combine with the noodles. It should have a soupy texture until after it bakes - it will thicken as it bakes.
- If you need more liquid, add more milk.
- Sometimes I top my macaroni and cheese with bread crumbs, crumbled potato chips, crumbled Ritz crackers, parmesan cheese, garlic salt, or a little of all of that.
- Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until edges are bubbling and the top is started to brown.