Pasta shells wrapped up in a blanket of 4 creamy cheeses. Delicious cheesy shells perfect for guests or family dinner.
Honestly, who in life can resist cheese? I certainly can not. I can name a dozen dishes that just wouldn’t be the same without cheese. And don’t even get me started on the varieties. I could be here all night. Plus I know there are dozens more that I haven’t even tried yet.
Not to go off on a tangent but I really would like to travel the world and taste cheeses. I want more cheese variety in my life. Is that too much to ask for? *wink*
OK. So travelling is expensive I just need to get my hiney to the cheese counter at Wegmans and go bold. That’s it. I’m going bold or going home (hungry and boring).
I need to expand my cheese collection. And I need to do it now. Who’s coming with me? I need some friendly pals to boost confidence and assist in my taste testing challenge.
My daughter just turned 10. And even though she hit the double digits she’s still my beautiful little lady. Her classic dinner request for the last 6 years has faithfully been mac and cheese. She makes my life so easy. One more reason to love her.
I served her up this variety this year and of course it pleased her birthday belly. I made my girl happy. She’ll probably sock it to me in about 6 years to make up for all her simplicity. She’ll start requesting things I’ve never heard of just for spite. But in the meantime I’ll be happy to keep serving up a classic by adding little twists here and there.
Happy day friends!
Melanie
xo
Creamy Four Cheese Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 16 oz package shell pasta
- 1 3/4 cups milk I use 1% or 2%
- 1 1/4 cups half and half
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon dried chives
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese divided
- 1/4 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded Muenster cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 inch baking pan with cooking spray.
- Cook shells according to package directions for al dente. Drain. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in flour. Gradually stir in milk and half and half. Stir continuously over medium heat until mixture thickens. Lower heat. Stir in cheeses and seasoings. Mix until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in shells. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Shared on: Buns in My Oven, Living Well Spending Less, Tidy Mom, Saturday Link Up Party
This is totally my kind of comfort food!!! PINNED!!
Me too. Thanks for pinning!
My daughter would LOVE this, Melanie – she adores cheese and shares your daughter’s love for mac and cheese, in fact, my daughter could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Yeah, my daughter too. 🙂
love how easy this is Mel – baked pasta dishes are the best, especially when they are cheesy like this one!!!
It is easy. Perfect for last minute guests!
Hahaha… traveling the world and eating cheese sounds like a beautiful existence! You would love the cheese shops in Paris. You go in and they really give you like a “cheese consultation”, asking you what characteristics of cheese you like and then sampling different ones until they find you the perfect one. It’s pretty amazing!
What a perfect birthday dish for your cute little girl! I love all that melty cheese. This makes me want to eat all the carbs!
It was perfect for her. She definitely agrees. 🙂
Oh My, look at all the cheese listed! AWESOME recipe!
Thanks Tahny!
YOu had me at 4 cheese and creamy. Sounds too yummy!!
Thanks Kathleen!
I love cheesy pastas! And love that there are FOUR cheeses! Pinned 🙂
This looks like such a delicious version of mac and cheese, perfect for a birthday girl! What kinds of cheeses do you like? I love to try new varieties. Be careful wishing to travel around and eat new cheeses though. When we travelled to Italy before we had kids (my only European vacation!) we got some goat cheese in a market there. I can’t not tell you how bad it smelled!! It was called chevre, which I thought I knew, but this was something… special. I think we had to go find an outside trashcan because we couldn’t leave it in the room! Wegman’s sounds pretty good now, right? 😉
Oh, you are talkin’ my language with this recipe. Yum!! Pinned:)
Thanks for stopping by Krista and for pinning!
It doesn’t get much better than cheesy pasta! Perfect way to celebrate a birthday!
Melanie, I wanted to let you know I made this recipe for my sister and brother in law tonight. We all loved it.
That’s awesome! Thanks for the feedback Kathy! Glad you all enjoyed it. 🙂
This needs to be on the menu asap! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
I dare say that I couldn’t live without cheese!! 😉 This pasta would definitely cure any cheese craving I might have! Yum!
This is a keeper! 1 question, though: how much half and half? It’s mentioned in the directions, but not listed in the ingredients.
Thanks,
Cheryl
Ooops. Make that 2 questions. When do the seasonings get added?
Thanks for catching that. I sometimes miss obvious steps. Thanks for being patient and kind in your request. Recipe has been updated. Thanks for stopping by!
I love that this dish is so versatile. You could eat this in every season because it’s hearty enough for the cold months, but its flavors are light enough for warm weather. Can’t wait to try this!