Homemade macaroni and cheese is an American staple in most households, ours included. Though we are lovers of the basic box of kraft macaroni and cheese for those moments when we do not want to cook anything, there is also nothing better than homemade mac and cheese, and this recipe makes it easy. Hopefully, becoming your new family favorite. A great side dish for the holiday or a perfect comfort classic when it becomes the main event.

This recipe doesn't use heavy cream, half and half, whole milk, or beaten egg. The base of this creamy macaroni sauce is chicken stock (yes, you can sub veggie stock) and evaporated milk. You can make this creamy sauce with pantry staples and some cheese.

I have been making this saucy cheese recipe for 20+ years. If you want to save time, use pre-shredded cheese, but if you have time, freshly shred the cheese so you can skip all the anti-caking agents. You can use almost any combination of cheeses, but I find that sharp yellow cheddar cheese or sharp white cheddar cheese with a little pepper jack and some parmesan cheeses are a perfect cheese combination. If you don't like spice to your dishes, feel free to substitute the pepper jack with Monterey Jack cheese. You will want to add some good melting cheese to the different cheeses to bring it all together for a perfect cheesy mac dish.

You can use any pasta, but you want to pick one that can hold up to being baked in the cheese sauce. My favorites for this creamy cheese sauce would be elbow macaroni, rotini, fusilli, cavatappi, gemilli, penne, or any other style of short pasta. Be sure when cooking your pasta that you cook for two minutes less than the package directions and that you cook the pasta in heavily salted water. You want it to be on the edge of al dente, as the pasta will continue to cook in the creamy cheese sauce.

You can skip baking this macaroni and cheese casserole dish and enjoy it from the stovetop, but I find the extra step for a perfect creamy baked macaroni is well worth your time and effort. Give this mac and cheese a try. I am pretty sure it will become a part of your favorite recipes.

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