Frugal Meal Idea: Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

This is not the best picture, sorry.  It was taken with my ancient cell phone.  In an effort to use the pasta that has recently been on special at Kroger, I have been making many a pasta dish.  This is my frugal (reasonably healthy) take on homemade macaroni and cheese. 

Ingredients

• 1 box pasta
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1 T flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp. ground mustard or 1 T dijon mustard
• any veggies that you would like to add, I used chopped red peppers and a bit of spinach for this, it's whatever you have on hand that you think sounds good in pasta

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Cook pasta according to package directions and drain. 
2.  Meanwhile, melt cream cheese and then add flour.  Add milk.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens. 
3.  Add mustard to sauce and stir.
4.  Stir pasta, veggies and sauce together and put into casserole dish. 
5.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of mixture. 
6.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Enjoy!  I am certainly not a chef, cook, or anything close, but this is just another frugal idea to try.  You can tweak it however you want.  I think many people use butter, but I happened to have cream cheese, so I tried it and it worked out.  I think that the concept of being a "frugal" cook is to adapt what you have available to meet your needs.  You never know, you  might end up with something really yummy.  If not, it is only one night's dinner and everyone will survive it.