Healthy Baked Mac N' Cheese
Well, healthier. It’s true! I got this recipe from my mom, but I don’t know where she got it. Mom, if you know, comment and let the good people know the source of the cheesy goodness in this post.
Anyway, I am kind of obsessed with mac n’ cheese. I posted a decidedly not-so-healthy version a while back (but oh man, was it good…) but this is a much lighter version that weighs in at only 356 calories per serving (divided into 6 servings total). And that’s opposed to…probably about twice that (at least) for most other versions of baked mac n’ cheese. So it’s a nice alternative, and it actually tastes good! Imagine that! No seriously, it’s really good. Onto the recipe!
4 cups cooked elbow macaroni or other pasta (about 2 cups uncooked)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
3/4 nonfat or lowfat sour cream
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons grated fresh onion
1-1/2 teaspoons reduced-calorie stick margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
Vegetable cooking spray
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon reduced calorie stick margarine, melted
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Combine first 10 ingredients; stir well, and spoon into a 2 quart casserole (I only had a 3-quart dish…it did no harm) coated with cooking spray. Combine breadcrumbs and next 2 ingredients; stir well. Sprinkle over casserole. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 5 minutes or until set. (I actually broiled it for the last few minutes just to get a nice bubbly crust on top).
Easy, right? It really is! It only takes a few minutes to put together. Here’s the proof:
Your cast of characters. Not shown: sour cream. It was behind the cheese and I forgot to move it. :( I just grated my onion with the large-holed side of my box grater. It only took about an eighth of the onion to get 2 tablespoons. Please don’t leave the onion out even if you’re not a huge fan of onion. I served this to two boys who don’t like onion and they both loved it. The onion is really important to the overall flavor and if you grate it, there won’t be big chunks and onion-haters won’t even notice!
The first order of business is to cook your pasta. Start this before you start anything else, and everything should be ready to put together at about the same time.
While the pasta’s going, prepare and combine your first 10 ingredients (cheddar through egg). You can stir this together now or wait for the pasta to come to the party.
Stir everything together when your pasta is done (al dente, this is very important as your pasta will continue to cook a little in the oven, and you don’t want it to be all gross and soggy, do you? I usually don’t even just do it al dente, I leave it slightly undercooked. I hate overcooked pasta! It’s the worst of all food sins!).
Pour the mixture into your cooking-spray’d casserole dish. Then mix up your topping (I used my fingers to mush the breadcrumbs with the butter—otherwise it would’ve been quite clumpy).
Sprinkle the topping over everything, then cover it with aluminum foil and put it into your 350 degree oven.
It’ll eventually come out looking like this. Yummm.
There’s a weird tint to this picture, but please ignore it and focus on the cheesy goodness.
And that’s it! Super easy, no? What could be bad about a healthier version of a dish that everybody loves? Nothing!
