This post is brought to you by DairyPure milk and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.
I absolutely love cooking dinner for my family. Getting creative in the kitchen is a lot of fun for me and I always feel great when I feed my family and they love it! It doesn’t always happen {who knew kids didn’t like broccoli?} but when a recipe is a hit for the whole family it’s like my own personal victory.
Recently I took something that I knew our whole family loved- pasta- and elevated it a bit. I made my own homemade tomato cream sauce and added some mozzarella cheese and some panko breadcrumbs for a little bit of a crunch. The result was a delicious dinner recipe that went quickly!
Macaroni with Homemade Creamy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
1 lb elbow macaroni
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups DairyPure milk {I used 2%}
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
3 oz. tomato paste {1/2 of a small can}
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Panko breadcrumbs as desired
Nonstick cooking spray
Fresh cilantro to taste
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook macaroni for 6 minutes, until al dente.
2. While macaroni boils, make creamy tomato sauce: melt 2 tbsp of butter in a large {at least 6 qt} skillet over medium heat. Once melted, mix in flour, then slowly pour in milk and whisk. Continue to heat sauce while carefully whisking to break up flour until smooth. Simmer on low for 3-4 minutes, until sauce is warmed through.
3. When macaroni is done, drain it and add it to the skillet with the sauce. Stir well to cover all macaroni evenly.
4. Transfer to an oven-safe casserole dish. Fill evenly and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. Carefully remove dish from oven and add panko crumbs to your preferences- I put a light layer but you can always add more! Spray with nonstick cooking spray and bake for another 5 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and optionally add fresh cilantro to taste {our family loves cilantro!} or as a garnish. Enjoy!
This recipe was a total hit in our house, and it was super easy to make! The pasta actually tasted like the pasta my Italian aunt used to make- it brought me right back to my childhood. An added bonus is that this recipe reheats well, so you’ll be able to enjoy the leftovers, too!
I used DairyPure milk in this recipe because DairyPure milk is the only milk backed by an exclusive Five-Point Purity Promise. What does that mean? All DairyPure milk is free of artificial growth hormones, is tested for antibiotics, is continually quality tested to ensure purity, only comes from cows that are fed a healthy diet, and is cold shipped from your trusted dairy! That’s what makes DairyPure so delicious, whether you’re enjoying the whole, 2% reduced fat, 1% low fat or skim/fat free milk variety.
You can learn more about DairyPure products on their website- and be sure to check out more delicious recipes using DairyPure! You can find DairyPure milk products at grocery stores nationwide.
- 1 lb elbow macaroni
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cups DairyPure milk {I used 2%}
- 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
- 3 oz. tomato paste {1/2 of a small can}
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- Panko breadcrumbs as desired
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Fresh cilantro to taste
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook macaroni for 6 minutes, until al dente.
- While macaroni boils, make creamy tomato sauce: melt 2 tbsp of butter in a large {at least 6 qt} skillet over medium heat. Once melted, mix in flour, then slowly pour in milk and whisk.
- Continue to heat sauce while carefully whisking to break up flour until smooth. Simmer on low for 3-4 minutes, until sauce is warmed through.
- When macaroni is done, drain it and add it to the skillet with the sauce. Stir well to cover all macaroni evenly.
- Transfer to an oven-safe casserole dish. Fill evenly and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Carefully remove dish from oven and add panko crumbs to your preferences- I put a light layer but you can always add more! Spray with nonstick cooking spray and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and optionally add fresh cilantro to taste {our family loves cilantro!} or as a garnish. Enjoy!