I can’t even tell you the last time I had mac & cheese. I tried making it in the fall, but the result tasted like some sort of Italianesque appetizer hybrid. There was cheese, there were noodles, there was also a combination of seasonings that combined together form “Italian”, kind of like Voltron or the Power Rangers form… you know what, nevermind.
…I got a slow cooker. Finally. I’ve never cooked with a slow cooker before, but have been looking forward to it for ages. I decided to make mac & cheese because I only had ingredients for mac & cheese. I chose the recipe that best matched what I had around, but I still ended up modifying it.
It’s really hard to make mac & cheese without milk or soy, so you can imagine how pleased I was to have finally figured something out! Here’s the base: Carla Hall’s Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese – the chew – ABC, and below are the modifications I made. I’ve never seen this show. My mac does not look or taste like Carla Hall’s. The most obvious visual difference is that mine is creamy (out of the crock) and hers, you can slice. Mine is also bland by design. (Though, she is a famous chef and I’m not, so maybe you’ll like hers better). It was super easy & responded well to my mods, so I was happy!
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Crock Pot Mac & Cheese
Tool Modifications:
Measuring cup to 80s Garfield mug from fast food place.
(I literally did 2 cups & so forth. Why? Why not?)
No measuring spoons. Instead, a soup spoon, which I used to mash the cream cheese & for the mayo. Most things were just eyeballed.
Wisk to large knife because it was there. I have a wisk. I did not use the wisk.
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Ingredient Modifications:
Pepperjack to Muenster & Cheddar
Half & Half to Rice Dream Original
Paprika to Nutritional Yeast
Cayenne Pepper to a dash of red pepper flakes
Added one circle around the bowl of nutritional yeast (after the above mod)
Added a little less than one soup spoon of soy-free vegan mayo
Added more rice dream & shredded cheese by instinct, trying to get it to look like it would produce mac & cheese. (Sorry this isn’t more helpful, but hopefully we all know what mac & cheese ought to look like.)
I didn’t mix it up the way she suggests. Instead, I mixed it all in the bowl, then poured it into the crock pot. Her way sounds better.
Sprinkled with black pepper to serve
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Cooking Tips:
* Start the pasta prep first while you do everything else.
*I set the crock pot to LOW for 4 hours, but the center could have easily gone longer. The center was creamy, but the edges crusted over. After 4 hours, I ate some & stored the rest.
* My crock is 3 quarts. Hall doesn’t really address the size of the crock in her version.
* This became more solid after refrigeration. For this reason, I liked the leftovers better!
Enjoy!
Mac n’ cheese is a big favourite in our house but we make some adjustments too (not good with gluten!). Never tried it in a slow cooker but I imagine that’d be a winner….
I really loved this- I’ve been eating the leftovers all week! It was so nice to have the first thing I made in the crockpot turn out well. Gluten-free would also be cool!
That looks yummy! (And I LOVED that you used a Garfield glass – they were my favorite!)
Aren’t they the best glasses?
It was totally yummy!
I love homemade mac & cheese and this sounds so yummy and easy. My boys would love it! Thanks!
Yay! I hope they do!
I like the idea of making mac n’ cheese in the crock pot. I wonder how this would fare using Daiya cheese? Might have to give it a go!
It was so easy! I wondered about using Daiya, too! Please let me know if you do try it! Do you have a non-soy vegan cream cheese recommendation? Thanks!
The only cream cheese I’ve ever used is Follow Your Heart, which isn’t soy-free. I googled it, and it would appear your only option is to make it yourself. Unless you live in a city that sells Dr. Cow products, which can be found here: http://www.dr-cow.com/where-to-buy/
Otherwise, I think these are the two best recipes I found: http://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2010/09/vegan-cashew-cream-cheese-vitamixed/
and
http://dairyintolerance.org/archives/207/
I hope that helps! If you do try one of the recipes please let us know how it came out!
Thank you so much!
This was so kind! I probably should have mentioned that I’m also allergic to all nuts, but I really appreciate the time & effort you put into your reply!
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
What a fun idea! I need to start using the slowcooker as an alternative to the grill- since the oven is NOT an option right now, with this weather!
I really had a blast with the slow cooker. You get all of the aroma without heating up the kitchen. I love grilled food, but it’s such a production!
I am obsessed with my crock pot. I never even had one until recently! I started making my own black beans and “refried” beans in the crockpot and they are amazing. And so cheap!! This recipe looks amazing, thanks for sharing!
Aren’t crock pots the best? I just got mine this year, too! If you post those recipes, be sure to let me know, I love beans! I just loved this one and really need to make another batch. Thanks so much!
So delicious!
http://themoserfive.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/slow-cooker-refried-beans/
Oh, I forgot about this slow cooker recipe too!
http://themoserfive.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/spicy-kale-and-chickpea-stew/
Thanks, you rock!