My (almost) Outback Mac & Cheese

My tween is probably made up of ¼ part macaroni and cheese. He can eat it every day, all day… his favorite is the macaroni and cheese from Outback Steakhouse. He begs for it at least weekly since he was 3, he requests it for every birthday, report card, touchdown whatever excuse he can have his Outback and macaroni and cheese. He asked me the other day if I could find the recipe for it so I can just make it for him all the time. I wonder why I didn’t think of that before?? I searched online to find some general ideas and chose to go with a basic idea from Copy Kat Recipes here and add some variations to it. The result was yuuuuumy!

Here is what’cha need:

2 cups of penne past ¾ block Velveeta cream cheese, 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream, ¼ cup chopped sweet onion, 1/8 tsp pepper

Here’s what’cha do:

Boil pasta, cook, drain.. In separate saucepan melt Velveeta with cream and then add onions and pepper. Cook on med-high heat, stirring often, until bubbles start to appear. Remove from heat and add combine noodles and cheese mixture together until coated completely.

It is so creamy, cheesy and just absolutely delish, you just have to try it! I think that adding the onions does make this version distinctively different from the Outback version, more home-style tasting, but I thought it was AMAZING! However, tweenie was a disappointed in the onions, he said to me “Mom, next time don’t go above and beyond, just stick with the basics, ok?” ( I have made this again two more times (minus onions) since the first time and he LOVES It)

Next time I make it I think I will bake it and add some bacon and a crumb topping! Mmmmm!

Linked here