Meatless Friday: Nonna's Super Cheesy Mac and Cheese

Sherry Hayes-Peirce and her grandchildren enjoy making her family's mac and cheese recipe together. Download our printable recipe card!

When I was a child, my mommy didn’t serve us Kraft macaroni and cheese. She always made us fresh homemade mac and cheese. So it has become one of my most cherished comfort foods and in recent years it’s become a family tradition to make it with my grandkids as a side dish for Thanksgiving. My grandkids Addie (5) and Cooper (7) now do the folding of the cheese in the noodles. Cooper folds while Addie pours the cheese in. 

Nonna’s Super Cheesy Mac and Cheese

Ingredients: 

Pepper
Salt 
Granulated onion and garlic
Paprika
Olive Oil
¼ medium sized purple onion
2 orange and yellow bell peppers
4 large cloves of garlic 
½ stick of butter
Small container of sour cream
1 small block of cheddar cheese
1 small block of pepper jack cheese
1 box of elbow macaroni 

Directions: 

Fill a medium boiler with water and add pepper, salt, granulated onion and granulated garlic and a couple of drops of olive oil.

Then chop a quarter of the purple onion, the bell peppers and garlic cloves in the Cuisinart. Pulse until really fine.

Sauté the chopped elements in olive oil.

Grate both blocks of cheese, leaving ⅓ of each for the crust on the top.

When the water comes to a boil drop the elbow macaroni and cook until tender or al dente. Pour the noodles into a colander to drain the water and then pour the noodles back into the hot boiler on a counter.

Drop a ½ stick of butter and the sauteed veggies into the macaroni and then take a large spoon to fold in the cheese as it is poured in gradually. Keep folding until the cheese is melted and sticky.

Then add two to three large tablespoons of sour cream.

Pour into a baking dish and place the remaining cheese on top. Sprinkle pepper and paprika on top of the cheese for color and taste. Place in the oven at 350 and cook for 25 minutes.