Ham & Broccoli Mac-n-Cheese

My husband is not hard to please. He will eat anything. (Well, almost anything. He does NOT eat couscous and he prefers to pick off olives, but that's it.) But he LOOOVES cheesey mac-n-cheese and requests it all the time so I try to revamp my mac to make it interesting. This one is by far is favorite and he insisted I take his picture eating it so everyone would know how much he loved it. (My son did too).

I'm still using up the rest of that ham from Christmas so I pulled out a ziploc bag of sliced ham from the deep freeze and whipped this up.

Ham & Broccoli Mac-n-Cheese

1 large bunch broccoli (about 2 c. florettes)

2 c. diced ham

3/4 lb macaroni or other short-cut pasta
3 T butter

1/2 an onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 c. flour
2 1/2 c. milk (I used 1%)

1/2 tsp dried mustard

1/4 c. parmesan

8 oz cream cheese

1 c. swiss cheese

2 c. colby jack cheese

1/3 c. extra sharp cheddar cheese

1 1'' slice velveeta cheese, cubed
salt & pepper

drizzle of truffle oil

1/2 c. panko

1/2 c. parmesan

Boil your pasta, when the pasta is a couple minutes from being al dente (don't overdo the pasta!) drop in your broccoli. Drain the pasta and broccoli all together and dump it, along with the ham into a 9x13'' pan. In the meantime, melt the butter in a large skillet. Saute the onion and garlic until soft, sprinkle in the flour and cook a few minutes, stirring constantly. Add in the milk and combine well cooking until bubbly and getting thick. Add in the dried mustard, 1 1/4 c. parmesan, and other cheeses. Melt and stir constantly adn season with salt & pepper to taste. Drizzle in the truffle oil (optional, I guess.) Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni, ham and broccoli and mix well. The mixture will be thick. Sprinkle the panko and parmesan over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.