Your Daily Dish: Macaroni and Cheese Stuffed Shells

Take a bigger bite out of life! Every day is a holiday with BiteMeMore.com.

These Macaroni & Cheese Stuffed Shells aren’t just for kids. A fresh and fantastic take on a lunchtime classic, jumbo shells are stuffed with homemade mac and cheese and topped with a buttery Ritz Cracker crumble. Yes, everyone is going to be handing out straight A’s for this cheesy greatness.

Ingredients

2 cups tomato sauce

24 jumbo macaroni shells

8 oz macaroni noodles
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
3 cups whole milk
3 cups sharp cheddar, shredded
1 tsp kosher salt

Cracker Topping

15 Ritz Crackers, crushed
1 tbsp butter, melted

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 13×9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Spread tomato sauce evenly over the bottom set aside.

2) In a large pot of lightly salted boiling water, cook the jumbo macaroni shells according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water set aside. In the same pot cook macaroni noodles in lightly salted boiling water until tender drain, rinse and set aside.

3) While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, stirring continuously for 2 minutes, making sure it is free of lumps. Add milk slowly, continuing to whisk. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook mixture for 10 minutes, whisking frequently. Remove from heat and stir in cheddar cheese and salt. Fold the smaller cooked macaroni noodles into the cheese mixture. Spoon about 2 tbsp of macaroni and cheese mixture into cooked jumbo shells and place stuffed shells over tomato sauce in the prepared baking dish.

4) For the topping, in a small bowl mix together crushed Ritz crackers and the melted butter until all the crumbs are moistened sprinkle evenly over stuffed shells.
Bake covered for 30 minutes, remove cover and continue to bake for 10 minutes more.

Serves 8-10

For another reworked comfort food classic, check out this off-the-charts Bacon, Cheese & Potato Skin Sandwich.

Whether it’s cruising the aisles at the Dollar Store or experimenting at the stove, we believe that every day can be a holiday.