Mac & Cheese In Your Slow Cooker – Gluten Free!

What could be better than coming home from work in the middle of winter, opening your door, and inhaling the fragrance of homemade macaroni and cheese? Try as you might you won’t find a cardboard box or foil-lined envelope covered with ‘cheese dust’. Nope you made it yourself and your first bite will be your well-earned reward. Creamy and full of cheese you will find yourself making this over and over. I love chopping up a bit of ham, or lots of slivers of pepperoni to toss in the pot to keep the Mac & cheese company. Don’t get me wrong; this Mac & Cheese is good just the way it is! When cooking macaroni slowly in a crock-pot or a low oven I always try and use gluten-free macaroni. It holds up better, freezes well, and I have yet to have it turn mushy. This makes enough for you and your family, or enough to scoop up into containers and freeze for future lunches. Anyway, anyhow, this is a delicious Mac & Cheese!

8 ounces, plus ½ cup of dry, gluten-free pasta. I like to mix shells and elbow pasta.

2 ¾ cup fat-free milk

4 tablespoons butter

2 ¼ cup shredded cheese – Sharp cheddar works great in this recipe.

¼ cup Parmassan cheese

4 ounces low-fat cream cheese

1 egg

1-teaspoon celery salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoon dried parsley

1 cup crushed potato chips or corn flakes – optional

Spray a 3-quart slow-cooker with cooking spray, sides and bottom

Place macaroni into crock-pot.

Heat milk on high in microwave 3 minutes or until very warm.

Chop up the cream cheese and stir into milk until it starts to dissolve. Crack the egg in small bowl and whisk. Whisk into milk and cream cheese mixture. Pour over macaroni in crock-pot. Cut butter into small pieces and stir into macaroni mixture. Add 2 cups of shredded cheese and Parmesan cheese to crock-pot and stir well.

Add ¼ cup shredded cheese to the one cup crushed potato chips and spoon over macaroni and cheese.

Spray a sheet of foil with cooking spray. Cover slow cooker with foil so the foil is right on the macaroni mixture and place lid on your slow-cooker.

*Set crock-pot to low and cook 6 hours.

*This is great to plug into an electrical timer that will turn your crock-pot off after 6 hours. Your Mac & Cheese will be warm when you get home, or it is easy to reheat in the microwave. Do not cook longer than 6 hours.