Cheesy Homemade Hamburger Helper

Yesterday, we took Baby to our town's St. Patrick's day parade. She didn't seem to understand what was going on but once things got going, she enjoyed herself. We did leave a few minutes early because it was rather chilly but we were pleasantly surprised that she sat (well, in our arms) through an entire half hour of it! Then we came home and made dinner. I had decided on a homemade hamburger helper recipe. However, I changed a lot of things so really only the concept and steps are accurate. This is what I did.

Ingredients:

• one pound ground beef (but next time I will use half a pound. I found this to be way too much meat)
• 2 cups whole wheat elbow macaroni (from Ruby's Pantry!)
• 2 1/2 cups 1% milk
• 1 1/4 cups water (next time I will cut some of the water or the milk. It still ended up too liquidy for me. Not soupy so it would be fine if you didn't cut it. Plus, I'm talking about cutting maybe 1/4 cup)
• onion powder 
• garlic powder
• paprika
• a tiny bit of salt, smaller than a pinch (I think the cheese gives it enough salt)
• 3/4 tablespoon flour
• 2 cups cheddar cheese

Then I followed her instructions (brown meat, add in everything but the cheese, bring to a boil, simmer for 10-12 minutes or until noodles are cooked, stir in cheese). When I make homemade cheese sauce things, I usually get a grainy texture. I found out this is because I probably add the cheese at too high of a heat. To avoid this, in the last minute or two of cooking the noodles, I turned off the stove. Then instead of adding the cheese all at once, I added a handful at a time. I believe this cut back on the graininess and my husband didn't taste it at all but I still could a little bit. Definitely better than usual though.

We rate this a 7/10 but that's also what we'd rate the box stuff as. I, for some reason, still think the box tastes better but this is a very good substitute and I would gladly make this (for health reasons) in place of the box and never buy the box again. So I'm not saying this is healthy by any means but it is way healthier with much less sodium and preservatives than the box.