Barb’s Mac ‘n Cheese with Ham

Last night we dined on a glorious maple glazed smoked ham. One of the many benefits of cooking a ham is the leftovers! And tonight’s fare is my special recipe Mac ‘n Cheese with Ham. Without further adieu…

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of elbow macaroni
2 cups of white sauce
1 # grated Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese
1 to 1 1/2 cups cubed ham

Gather your ingredients

Fill a pot 3/4 full of water, salt added and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni,

Add elbow noodles to the boiling water

set the timer for 3 minutes and stir continually until the buzzer goes off. Then turn off the heat, cover the pot and set the timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, drain the macaroni and put it into your greased casserole dish. Cover. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Next you need to make your white sauce. You will need 2 cups. My white sauce is white sauce. Try a number of recipes to see what suits you. And, Joe – do not load it down with butter! Sorry, but I cannot divulge my trade secret white sauce recipe! But I can tell you that whatever white sauce recipe you choose, take your time in making the sauce. Remember that the cheese will thicken it a bit. I use about one pound of Tillamook Medium Cheddar cheese for the entire recipe. I use a few healthy handfuls in the sauce.

Second handful of cheese added

From the maple glazed rotisserie ham that I made the night before, I cut up slabs into bite sized cubes. Mix the ham into the macaroni

Mix the ham into the elbow noodles

and then pour your sauce over. Mix this well.

Sauce is mixed in with the noodles and ham

Then cover with the remaining cheese.

Sauce is mixed in with the noodles and ham

Bake for 30 minutes. The cheese should be slightly browned and bubbly. Once out of the oven,

Right out of the oven!

let this sit for five minutes, then serve!

Dinner is served!