Bacon, Chicken & Ranch Mac N’ Cheese

Hi there. It’s been a while. Let me explain. In early October, I began a quest to lose weight. Since then, I’ve made several key changes. First of all, I exercise more. That’s a given. Second, I don’t bake nearly as much (which is very sad indeed), but when I do, I make a concerted effort to use recipes that are healthier versions of foods I already love. If I really want to make a recipe that isn’t the healthiest thing ever, I do my best to swap ingredients and lighten it up. Sometimes it’s a taste failure; other times, you can barely tell the difference.

Another change is that I cook more, but I use more discretion in the recipes and ingredients I use. I count calories now, so I calculate the nutritional data of every recipe I make before I make it. If it’s not up to snuff, I either change it or choose a different one.

Basically, I stopped blogging because first of all, I didn’t think anyone would be interested in hearing about this and second of all, because I thought “light” recipes would just get boring and no one would care. However, after some feedback from readers on Twitter, I changed my tune. Turns out, people actually do want healthier versions of tasty foods—not tofu-and-granola health food, but not artery-clogging slop either. And once I realized that the food I’m making now is just as delicious as it was before, I wondered why I had ever stopped blogging.

I’ve hardly become a health nut…I’ve never been a vegetable lover and there’s no way I could live without cookies every now and then, but my attitude about food has changed. You may not notice a difference in the type of food I post from now on, but you might notice different ingredients, more attention to portion sizes, alternative food and brand recommendations, and you’ll definitely notice the nutrition facts I’ll post with each recipe.

For those of you who are like me—trying to get healthier, lose weight, and still enjoy food, I hope you’ll enjoy what’s to come. And for those of you blessed with a high metabolism and an enviably casual relationship with food, I think you’ll enjoy these recipes too. I’m proud to say that since I started this adventure, I’ve lost over 30 pounds. I obviously don’t guarantee the same results for you just by reading my blog and making my food, but I hope I can make your journey a little tastier. Onto the food!

This recipe comes from this month’s Cooking Light (my Bible). It’s creamy, decadent, and delicious, but as you’ll see in the nutrition facts at the end of the post, it’s not a diet-buster. I love recipes like this because it uses absolutely real ingredients and is real food, and it feels like an indulgence but it’s really not—especially when compared to most mac and cheese calorie counts.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 2 cups)

Ingredients

• 8  ounces  uncooked elbow macaroni
• 1  slice applewood-smoked bacon
• 8  ounces  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1  tablespoon  butter
• 1  tablespoon  all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2  cups  fat-free milk
• 1/3  cup  condensed 45% reduced-sodium 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 3/4  cup  (3 ounces) shredded six-cheese Italian blend (such as Sargento)
• 1/2  teaspoon  onion powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  chopped fresh dill
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• Cooking spray
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) shredded colby-Jack cheese

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.

2. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings in pan. Finely chop bacon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add chicken to drippings in pan; sauté 6 minutes or until done.

3. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; sprinkle flour evenly into pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Combine milk and soup, stirring with a whisk; gradually add milk mixture to saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes or until sauce cools to 155°. Add Italian cheese blend, onion powder, garlic powder, dill, and salt, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in pasta and chicken.

4. Preheat broiler.

5. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with reserved bacon and colby-Jack cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts.

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No cast of characters this time…I forgot. Oops!

First, start your pasta a-cookin’. Here’s where I have an awesome recommendation, especially for carb-watchers. Dreamfields pasta is absolutely amazing. It only has 5 grams of effective carbohydrates per serving (41g total carb - 5g of fiber - 31g protected carbs = 5g effective carbs, which is the amount that your body actually digests, which spikes your blood sugar and goes straight to your thighs, etc.). I was absolutely shocked to see that they started stocking it in my grocery store recently, because I’d been wanting to try it forever. It also tastes like regular pasta, which is hugely important. For anyone who is a major pasta lover (like me) but is dieting or diabetic, you’ll love it. Anyway, enough with the testimonial.

I used penne rigate instead of elbow macaroni because I wanted to. So there. Just make sure it’s 8 ounces and you can use whatever shape of pasta you like.

Then, while that’s going, cook your bacon. My grocery store didn’t have Applewood-smoked (what’s up with that, Kroger??) so I used center-cut bacon, which is a leaner cut of bacon anyway.

Take the bacon out and chop it up, then set it aside. You’ll use it later.

It’s such a small amount of bacon, but it makes a huge difference. And that’s the key to healthier cooking—you can still use stereotypical “unhealthy” ingredients, like bacon and butter, but in moderation.

Now, start cooking your chopped chicken in the bacon drippings. I cut my chicken cubes a little too big I think—next time I’d go a bit smaller. More bite-size.

Mmm, raw chicken. Appetizing, no? Cook it through and set it aside. Around this time you might also want to start preheating your broiler.

Now, in a saucepan, melt your tablespoon of butter (or margarine if you so choose). Then sprinkle in your flour. You’re making a roux here, the base to a good mac and cheese sauce. Your roux might be a little dry or chunky because you’re using a relatively small amount of butter, but it will all work itself out when you pour in your milk and soup mixture. I used 1% milk because we didn’t have skim and the world didn’t end, so use whatever you like.

Mix it together well with a whisk, then bring it to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. It should reduce by about half and look something like this:

Now, stir in your Italian cheese mixture and your spices. I didn’t feel like spending $4 on fresh dill, so I left it out. If you use it, it will help add to the “Ranch”y taste of the mac and cheese. The end result was perfectly delicious without it though, so do what’s in your heart. You could also use dried dill, but add a bit less because flavor is more concentrated in dried herbs than in fresh.

Mmmmm, cheesy. I would not be on a diet if I couldn’t still have cheese.

Now stir in your cooked pasta and chicken.

Then, spread the mixture into your prepared baking dish…

…and top with your Colby-jack cheese and bacon.

Now, stick it in the oven underneath the preheated broiler for a few minutes until it looks bubbly, slightly browned, and delicious, much like this:

Mmmm. I wish I still had leftovers of this; it was so good.

A serving is one-fourth of the recipe, so it’s pretty easy if you used an 8x8” baking dish. Just divide it into fourths and serve. A serving of pasta (about 2 oz.) is a lot less than most people think (I blame it on restaurants), so if you’re watching your waistline, make sure you watch your portions. In a recipe like this it’s stupid-easy to control, but for single-person recipes, it can be a lot trickier. I purchased a kitchen scale in December and now I don’t know how I ever lived without it. It’s a good investment.

Here’s what a serving looks like:

You guys, this is really delicious. You should all make it right now. It’s mac and cheese elevated to new heights. Trust me on this.

Here’s what I calculated for the nutrition facts. Cooking Light’s counts were quite a bit higher, so I made sure to calculate it for the brands and types of ingredients I used and it makes a huge difference. This recipe nutrition-calculator website is my new best friend. Remember, all these counts will change depending on what ingredient swaps you make.

PER SERVING (1/4 of recipe)

Calories 406
Fat 11.6g
Saturated Fat 5.9g
Cholesterol 55.3mg
Protein 27.7g
Sodium 756.3mg
Carbohydrate 50.8g (only 15.5g effective carbs using Dreamfields—subtract 31g of protected carbs and the 4.3g of fiber in the recipe, listed below)
Fiber 4.3g
Sugar 6.3g