Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese

I do not have good luck with baked macaroni and cheese.

The cheese separates and looks curdled.

I don't know why this happens...all I know is that it's gross looking.

Tastes fine, but looks awful. There are a ton of recipes that call for canned cheese soup or Velveeta cheese to prevent this from happening, but that just seems like cheating to me.

I have read and heard many things about crock pot Mac and cheese and decided to give it a shot, because really, it couldn't be any worse. The thing about crock pot cooking is that once you've added your ingredients, you let the equipment do the work for you.

This is good in two ways. For one, it's easy. For two, it's hard to blame yourself if the meal fails when you've followed the recipe.

I had a hard time deciding which recipe to try because if there were reviews they were usually about 50% success and 50% curdled failure. So I decided to try one with no reviews to lesson my anxiety that it was destined to turn out horrible.

So, this recipe did have a bit of the curdling, but not as bad as others. Before I added the cheese to the top, the cheese in the sauce had started to separate, but I was able to stir the sauce and smooth it out.

It could be the quality of the cheese i used?

Next time I'll use a better cheese or I'll just cheat and use processed cheese!

I think I earned a participation medal for this one.

Ingredients

 1 8 oz. box elbow macaroni
1 cup medium cheddar cheese
1 egg beaten
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1 large can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter (softened)

Prepare macaroni as instructed on box, then drain. I cooked mine 1-2 minutes less than instructed to allow for the remaining cooking time.

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Add all ingredients to crock pot except for the 1 cup of medium cheddar cheese.

Once combined top with remaining cheese. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Bryn