I added a few spices to make it a little more personal to our family (onion powder garlic powder little dijon mustard little Frank's Hot Sauce fresh ground pepper) but other than that I kept to the recipe. I did not try this myself but I was told by my husband that the kids really liked it. They both had seconds. My husband said it was good but a little thick for him.
I loved how easy this was. My daughter and husband loved it. It turned out creamy and yummy. They don't like cottage cheese, so I substituted plain yogurt. I really liked the fact that I didn't have to use flour and butter to make a roux. Not having to do that step saved me time in the kitchen. Great recipe! I will definitely make this again!
You dont actually need 2 bags of mild cheddar cheese comes out fine! Delicious!
Usually I make mac & cheese using a roux and then adding the cheese to that before mixing in with the macaroni. This recipe caught my eye because it is different and easier in that it isn't necessary to cook the sauce. Also, I had a container of sour cream that needed to be used. So, it was the perfect recipe. We loved this -- I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised the way it turned out as I was sceptical of no roux/cheese sauce. I followed the recipe for the most part, although I sautéed diced onion and a red bell pepper, also diced, to add to the mixture. I had some tomatoes that needed to be used so I chopped those roughly and included them (peeled them first). I did not have cottage cheese so I used plain yoghurt as another person did. We loved the flavour of the sour cream and yoghurt. It gave it a very subtle tang, not overpowering, but just so that you were like, mmmm, what is this I'm tasting? Very, very good. I used about the amount of cheese called for, maybe a little more. I did sprinkle some on top as called for in the recipe. I also sprinkled paprika all over the top. Not only did the dish taste really good, it looked terrific when I took it out of the oven. Because I made it ahead and had it in the refrigerator, before I put it in the oven, I put about a half a cup or more of milk in. I just poured some slowly over the top of the casserole. It worked perfectly and the macaroni and cheese was moist, not dry at all. Recommend this.
it was thick and creamy very good but I prefer a stronger flavor
12/29/2015 This recipe is a good starting point. One of the problems is that the dish ends up being a little dry and bland with taste. I added over 1 1/2 cups of milk to this recipe chopped up 1/3 onion and sautéed it. I also added Japanese Panko Bread Crumbs by sprinkling it on top. Cover dish while baking for the 25 minutes and uncover during the last 15 minutes. These added ingredients made this recipe taste better.
This was really good stuff. Very very rich however so don't think you'll be able to eat a ton of this at one sitting. (Which is really good because as good as it is just from the oven it's BETTER the next day.) Anyway I made a half recipe using GF pasta (Tinkyada penne since that's what I had). I subbed ricotta for the cottage cheese (what I had.) Used to much ricotta but had already added half the sour cream. Used a whole egg (not half.) It worked fine! Then for the cheese I used a scale and started with 1/2 cup grated parmesan then added a mexican mix to the 16 oz mark (then removed about 1/2 cup mexican mix for the topping.) I had to mix this with my hands it was so thick! Then putting the pasta in was difficult. However SO WORTH IT. Very forgiving recipe as you can see. I'll definitely make it again.
I liked it OK but next time I'd add all med. or sharp cheese one more egg and a half cup of milk.
This dish was very easy to make and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I did add a little bit of half and half because the cheese mixture is very thick. Turned out great though.
