I have a confession to make: I like to eat macaroni and cheese from the box. Not Kraft, and not the stuff from Trader Joe's (not cheesy enough), but this organic macaroni and cheese that comes in white cheddar and cheddar. I forget the name of the brand. Anyway, I like to make mac and cheese from the box when I feel lazy and don't want to cook. I have it all down to a science now. I can't eat the whole box, and the leftovers are gross, so I toss out about 3-4 large handfuls of the noodles prior to cooking. This ensures a super cheesy cheese to noodle ratio, and its a pretty perfect serving size.
Upon hearing of my weakness for boxed mac and cheese, one of my friends was appalled and told me that I really need to quit the boxed crap and make the real thing. (I'd like to point out that this is a vegan friend) I knew it was time to kick my mac and cheese habit, especially when it's a vegan telling me to ditch the powdered "cheese" and replace it with the real thing.
Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I got this recipe for Blue Cheese Macaroni and Cheese posted by one of my old college friends. I made this last night, with a few adjustments. I cut the recipe in half for starters. Because I wanted to cut down on calories, I used half and half instead of the whipping cream and 2% milk instead of the whole milk. I added 3 cloves of crushed garlic to the sauce. Then I added almost an entire bag of frozen broccoli. This made a lot of cheesy sauce, and I had enough to go around even with the veggie addition. The blue cheese wasn't overwhelming and it provided a nice kick. The mac and cheese was nice and creamy, and I bet it would taste really good with some crumbled bacon.
This mac and cheese recipe is pretty quick and easy, though you do have to be patient while it cooks in the oven. Even though I do find its powdered "cheese" slightly disturbing, I probably won't kick my boxed mac and cheese habit. But, it's nice to have a good recipe for the real thing when I'm feeling ambitious.
Upon hearing of my weakness for boxed mac and cheese, one of my friends was appalled and told me that I really need to quit the boxed crap and make the real thing. (I'd like to point out that this is a vegan friend) I knew it was time to kick my mac and cheese habit, especially when it's a vegan telling me to ditch the powdered "cheese" and replace it with the real thing.
Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I got this recipe for Blue Cheese Macaroni and Cheese posted by one of my old college friends. I made this last night, with a few adjustments. I cut the recipe in half for starters. Because I wanted to cut down on calories, I used half and half instead of the whipping cream and 2% milk instead of the whole milk. I added 3 cloves of crushed garlic to the sauce. Then I added almost an entire bag of frozen broccoli. This made a lot of cheesy sauce, and I had enough to go around even with the veggie addition. The blue cheese wasn't overwhelming and it provided a nice kick. The mac and cheese was nice and creamy, and I bet it would taste really good with some crumbled bacon.
This mac and cheese recipe is pretty quick and easy, though you do have to be patient while it cooks in the oven. Even though I do find its powdered "cheese" slightly disturbing, I probably won't kick my boxed mac and cheese habit. But, it's nice to have a good recipe for the real thing when I'm feeling ambitious.
1 comment:
Is the brand name Barbara's? With a bunny on the box? Because that's good boxed mac and cheese.
I hope you're not throwing the noodles away that you don't use! You can put them in your blue cheese mac and cheese next time. You could always use fat free half and half and/or a can of evaporated milk if you don't have cream or whole milk on hand. I use those all the time with baked pasta recipes and I can't tell the difference.
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