Ham 'n' Cheese Bow Ties

This is another recipe from my latest Taste of Home casseroles booklet (and can be found online). It was fairly simple to put together, and the cheese melted quickly! I used the Rachael Ray (where I've seen it anyway) trick of a microplane for the garlic so there aren't any chunks. The only pre-shredded Colby cheese I could find at the store was a Colby-Jack blend, so I went with that. It is *so* cheesy that I would say that you probably don't need to bother with the extra half cup of cheese (since the packages are labeled approximately 2 cups), although I haven't tried it to be sure. I now have 1 1/2 cups of shredded colby-jack to find a use for though. The only other thing I would do differently is to make the ham a bit more bite sized as my julienned strips were a bit longer than I liked in hindsight. We had green salad alongside to balance out all the cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
• 2-1/2 cups (10 ounces) shredded Colby cheese
• 2 cups uncooked bow tie pasta, cooked and drained
• 6 to 8 ounces fully cooked ham, julienned
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

• In a large saucepan, saute garlic in butter for 1 minute. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Stir in mustard and Colby cheese; cook and stir until cheese is melted. Add pasta and ham; stir until coated.
• Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 4-6 servings.