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Easy Homemade Mac and Cheese

Dairy that needs to be used today…

Good for using up
  • Pasta
  • Dairy
  • Cheese
  • Vegetables
  • Beans

surplus pasta, butter, milk, cheese, sweet potato, beans

A cook slicing butter into a pot on the stove, with bags of shredded cheese in the foreground.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb pasta (ideally small, like elbows or mini shells)
  • 2-3 tbsp butter (salted or unsalted, dairy or vegan)
  • 3-4 tbsp milk (dairy or vegan)
  • 1/2 cup cheddar cheese (shredded or cut into small pieces)
  • 1 small sweet potato
  • 1 15 oz can cannellini beans (or other light beans)
  • Parmesan, asiago, pecorino, or other similar cheese

Method

  1. Cook sweet potato until soft via preferred method (roast in oven, microwave, etc). Mash sweet potato once cooked.
  2. Bring salted water to boil and cook pasta according to package instructions. Save 1/2 cup pasta water in a heat-safe dish. Drain pasta in a colander.
  3. Dice butter into smaller pieces and add to the pot used for cooking pasta to melt it. You may need to turn the stove back on, on a low setting, to melt it if the pot does not have enough residual heat.
  4. Once butter is melted, add milk, sweet potato mash, and cheddar cheese to the pot. Stir to combine. The cheese should melt.
  5. Stir in pasta and beans.
  6. Grate/sprinkle parmesan/asiago/pecorino/other cheese and serve.