After another visit with the chiropractor and being sentenced to one-two weeks without ANY exercise other than walking (ug), I decided I would conquer my boredom and try out another recipe (after I cleaned the apartment and went for a “walk”).
Before I go on about this macaroni and cheese, I just wanted to begin by saying, I have never enjoyed watching Ellie Krieger on the Food Network. I think she’s one of the most boring women to watch on that channel and that makes me unenthused about any of her recipes. Well, that is until I came across a site where a woman basically worshiped Ellie’s creations and raved up and down about how great they all were (can’t remember the site). So I ventured over to FoodNetwork.com and thought I would see if Ellie was all she was cracked up to be. I started with one of the hardest recipes to make healthy and taste GOOD: Macaroni and Cheese. I wanted to put old Ellie to the ultimate test.
When you start by forming squash and milk into a frothy sauce, I was feeling mighty negative. The color is extremely bright orange, looks worse than Velveeta cheese, and since I was cooking for Brandon, I hoped it wasn’t going to taste as bad as it looked. But I followed the recipe religiously…I’ve tried creating my own healthy version of mac n’ cheese and trust me, nothing close to delicious. So again, stuck very closely to the original recipe. My only alteration was omitting Monterey jack cheese because cheddar was all I had on hand.
Before putting this casserole in the oven, I sampled a few noodles. Not bad and surprisingly more cheesy than I would have thought! Promising Ellie…promising.
I pulled the casserole out of the oven when it had that golden crusty top, but it was really hard to photograph. The color is REALLY orange from the squash and for some reason my camera hated photographing this casserole (hence the awful pics and that’s also disregarding the fact that I am NOT a photographer or anything close to it).
Brandon and I rated the dish an 8 out of 10, kudos Ellie! It is definitely not traditional macaroni and cheese but it comes pretty darn close and is at least better than Kraft (although I know that isn’t saying much).
I am interested to know what other opinions of this recipe are though. I liked it and can say I would go back to Ellie for future recipe needs! A bonus? The portions are HUGE for just 280 calories per serving! Looking forward to leftovers in my lunch! I would appreciate any links to healthy Mac n’ Cheese recipes that anyone else might keep on hand! I just might feature another recipe! Thanks!
Macaroni and Cheese
By Ellie Krieger at FoodNetwork
Makes 8 servings
1 lb whole wheat macaroni shells
2 (10 oz) packages frozen pureed winter squash
2 cups 1% low fat milk
2 cups shredded extra-sharp Cheddar
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp powdered mustard or 1 T prepared mustard
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 T grated parmesan cheese
2 T Italian breadcrumbs
1 tsp olive oil
Directions:
1. Preheat 375 degrees. Coat 9 x 13″ pan with cooking spray
2. Cook noodles until tender but firm, drain and transfer to bowl.
3. Meanwhile, place milk and semi-thawed squash in pan and cook over low heat until squash is completely defrosted, stir occasionally. Once defrosted, turn up heat to medium and cook until mixture is almost simmering, stirring occasionally (looks thick and frothy). Remove from heat and stir in ingredients from cheddar through cayenne pepper. Pour the cheese mixture over the noodles and pour into prepared baking dish.
4. Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan, and oil and sprinkle over top. Bake 20 minutes. Then broil ~3 minutes or until top is crisp and nicely browned.
*I only made half the recipe and placed it in a 9 x 5″ pan so we would have a thicker crust on the macaroni.
Nutritional Profile: 280 calories, 12g fat (7.5g sat), 38.5mg cholesterol, 591mg sodium, 28.2g carbohydrate, 3.8g fiber, 15.3g protein
Vitamin A = 110%
Calcium = 38%
Potassium = 370mg
Manganese = 45%
Selenium = 35%
