“It’s comfort food; it’s heavy food; it’s food for days like today.” -Jason Rogers
Sadly though, mac and cheese has gotten a bad reputation, which doesn’t surprise me. Many restaurant chains take a simple dish like macaroni and cheese and add calorie-dense pastas that create disastrous meals. California Pizza Kitchen’s Curly Mac & Cheese is 1,088 calories and The Cheesecake Factory’s Macaroni & Cheese is 1,2010 calories – and these are only the kids sizes! Then there are other restaurants creating new dishes using mac and cheese as a base (the mac and cheese quesadilla & the mac and cheese hamburger) I mean – really? Mac and cheese is delicious on its own, it doesn’t need to be jazzed up. It also doesn’t need to be made into a caloric catastrophe.
The best thing about this recipe is that no one I served it to guessed it was from Cooking Light! The cheese sauce is what makes this mac and cheese so good. After melting the butter in a saucepan, the flour is sprinkled on top and cooks for about 1 minute. The next step is adding in the milk, and since the flour has been cooking previously to this step it will expand in the milk creating a thick sauce. The recipe called for rigatoni but I only had penne on hand and it tasted delicious! Turkey bacon can also be substituted for center-cut bacon in this recipe.
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Sadly though, mac and cheese has gotten a bad reputation, which doesn’t surprise me. Many restaurant chains take a simple dish like macaroni and cheese and add calorie-dense pastas that create disastrous meals. California Pizza Kitchen’s Curly Mac & Cheese is 1,088 calories and The Cheesecake Factory’s Macaroni & Cheese is 1,2010 calories – and these are only the kids sizes! Then there are other restaurants creating new dishes using mac and cheese as a base (the mac and cheese quesadilla & the mac and cheese hamburger) I mean – really? Mac and cheese is delicious on its own, it doesn’t need to be jazzed up. It also doesn’t need to be made into a caloric catastrophe.
The best thing about this recipe is that no one I served it to guessed it was from Cooking Light! The cheese sauce is what makes this mac and cheese so good. After melting the butter in a saucepan, the flour is sprinkled on top and cooks for about 1 minute. The next step is adding in the milk, and since the flour has been cooking previously to this step it will expand in the milk creating a thick sauce. The recipe called for rigatoni but I only had penne on hand and it tasted delicious! Turkey bacon can also be substituted for center-cut bacon in this recipe.
Bacon and Broccoli Mac & Cheese
Adapted from, Cooking Light Magazine April 2012
- Yield : 4 servings
Ingredients
- Broccoli Florets - 3 cups
- Uncooked Rigatoni (or penne) - 8 oz (approximately 3 cups)
- Butter - 1 tablespoon
- All-Purpose Flour - 1 & 1/2 tablespoons
- 2% Reduced Fat Milk - 1 & 1/4 cups
- Reduced Fat American Cheese - 2 oz, cut into pieces
- Green Onions - 1/4 cup, thinly sliced
- Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
- Black Pepper - 1/4 teaspoon
- Center-cut Bacon - 2 slices, cooked & torn into pieces
- Extra-sharp Cheddar Cheese - 2 oz (approximately 1/2 cup packed)
Instructions
- Steam broccoli for five minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain, pat dry and keep warm.
- Cook pasta in boiling water in a large pot (approximately 8 minutes or until al dente) drain and keep warm.
- Wipe down pan with paper towels and return to medium heat. Melt butter in pan. Sprinkle flour over melted butter; cook for 1 minute and stir constantly with a whisk.
- Gradually add milk to flour mixture, bring to a boil and continue stirring with whisk. Cook for 1 minute or until mixture is thick; remove from heat.
- Add American cheese; stir until smooth. Stir in sliced green onions and the remaining ingredients.
- Stir in broccoli and pasta; serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts (from cooking light magazine): Serves 4 (serving size 1 & 1/2 cups) CALORIES 413, FAT 13.3 g, PROTEIN 19.6g, CARBOHYDRATES 53.4g, FIBER 3.8g, SODIUM 772mg,
2 Comments
I love your blog because the recipes aren’t intimidating, and everything looks sooooo good. You may convert me from take-out pizza.
Thanks Sarah!
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