When my friends at Country Crock asked me to hack one of my favorite recipes, I knew right away that I’d work up an amazing new macaroni and cheese with ground beef and bacon, drowned in a homemade cheese sauce.
Country Crock is made with simple ingredients including delicious oils, purified water and a pinch of salt…no trans fat and no artificial preservatives. It’s easy to use Country Crock in place of other ingredients to add an amazing taste to your family’s favorite meals and baked treats!
I’ve used in this amazing homemade cheese sauce and the flavor is outta this world…
If you’ve never made a homemade cheese sauce, here’s what that looks like:
Melt the Country Crock in a large skillet.
Whisk in some flour until a paste forms.
Whisk in some milk.
Then stir in cream cheese, until it melts into the sauce.
Then add a little more milk and the Gouda cheese, until the sauce is to your preferences. (I prefer sauce on the thinner side, as it will loose a little more liquid when it bakes in the oven.
Then add the cooked bacon and ground beef.
Then dump over the pasta and bake for a bit.
Then try not to lick your plate clean.
It’s okay if you do, because I did. 😉
Now for this lick-your-plate-clean homemade mac n cheese recipe…
KEEP READING…Important Gift Card Giveaway Information After the Recipe!
Homemade Macaroni & Cheese with Beef and Bacon
Yield – 6 to 8 servings
Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 12 oz. small shell pasta noodles
- 1 lb. ground beef, browned
- 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (Try cooking bacon in the oven.)
- 1/4 cup Country Crock spread
- 3 Tbsp flour
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups milk (depending on how creamy you want the sauce)
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded Gouda cheese
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- bread crumbs, for topping
- about 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, for topping
- Side dish: fresh fruit or veggies
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Cook the pasta noodles as directed.
- Brown the ground beef and cook the bacon and then crumble it.
- In a large skillet make the homemade cheese sauce. Melt the Country Crock spread and then whisk in the flour until a paste forms. Quickly whisk in the milk and then the cream cheese. Swirl the sauce and cream cheese around until it melts into the sauce. Sauce will thicken as it heats. Stir in the shredded Gouda cheese and then add the garlic powder and onion powder. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir the ground beef and bacon into the sauce.
- Add the pasta to a 9×13 inch baking dish. Pour the cheese sauce over the top and gently mix it in. Sprinkle some bread crumbs on top and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Optional, add shredded cheddar cheese over the top before serving.
- Serve Homemade Macaroni & Cheese with Beef and Bacon and side of fresh fruit or veggies.
GIVEAWAY ALERT!
Use the rafflecopter below to enter to win a $50 Kroger Gift Card! Just let me know what recipe you would use Country Crock to make!
Disclaimer: Post sponsored by Lunchbox. Opinions are 100% my own.
My family loves fluffy scrambled eggs with fresh herbs for a quick dinner. I’d use it in that!
I used all ingredients and made this tonight for dinner! Thanks! 🙂
I would use it to make garlic bread ..so yummy.
i would love to try this recipe!