Southern Favorite

Since one of my 2011 goals was to "try new recipes", I'm going to post more on my blog!
Over break, I found so many great recipes that I want to try this year. Organizing ALL my Cooking Light recipes and finally catching up on my favorite food blogs helped me uncover some great ones.
I also "warned" Mike that I am going to try some new ingredients when cooking...hopefully we will find some new favorites!
In the mean time, here was the crowd pleaser over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Crock-pot Mac & Cheese

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat elbow macaroni
• 4 tablespoons light butter, cut into pieces
• 2 cups 2% shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup shredded Vermont white sharp cheddar
• 1/2 cup shredded Dubliner cheese
• 3 egg whites, beaten
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions
Boil the macaroni in saucepan until tender. Drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese (save some of the cheddar, white vermont & Dubliner to sprinkle on top at the end of cooking). Stir until the cheese melts. In your crock-pot, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard, garlic and pepper and stir well. Then add drained macaroni and stir again. Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Then sprinkle the remaining cheeses on top. Let cook for another 15-30 minutes then enjoy!

(credit- I adapted this recipe from one Paula Dean originally created)