tofu mac & cheese
I read an article on a cooking site a few months ago about healthy versions of comfort food. I made a few of the recipes, but one that stuck was a "healthy" mac & cheese recipe. At some point over the past month, I had the possibly brilliant idea to make it but dump some tofu in it, so it would be a protein-loaded comfort food. So I bought roughly the ingredients I remembered, plus a container of silken tofu.
The problem with listing this as a recipe is that I didn't exactly follow one, so if you make it....good luck. I also forgot to do several steps, but I'll include those for you.
Ingredients:
Bread crumbs (I used panko)
1 package spinach
1 pint milk
Flour
Shredded cheese
Silken tofu
Salt
Pepper
Box of pasta
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450º.
2. Boil water. Pour in entire small box of pasta. Cook pasta about 2 minutes short of fully cooked (yeah, good luck with that).
3. Pour about half of the milk in a large saucepan. Let it heat until it is steaming. Whisk in a small amount of flour and some more of the milk. Dump in the silken tofu and whisk until it is blended.
5. I used too much milk, so the sauce never really thickened all that well, but it should thicken. Remove from heat and keep stirring.
6. Add cooked pasta to cheese mixture and mix thoroughly.
7. Here's a step I forgot: GREASE THE CASSEROLE PAN.
8. Pour half of the mixture into the pan. Put down a layer of spinach and then cover with the rest of the mixture. (Note: I completely forgot the spinach here).
9. Top with the rest of the bag of cheddar cheese and some hearty shakes of bread crumbs.
I also put the mixture in a casserole pan that was far too big, so it ended up being about an inch high. It was pretty delicious, especially once I topped it with some grated parmesan cheese. The next time I make this, I'll remember the spinach, grease the pan, and will use about half as much milk. Fortunately (for me), it's hard to go wrong with noodles, cheese, and an oven.
The problem with listing this as a recipe is that I didn't exactly follow one, so if you make it....good luck. I also forgot to do several steps, but I'll include those for you.
Ingredients:
Bread crumbs (I used panko)
1 package spinach
1 pint milk
Flour
Shredded cheese
Silken tofu
Salt
Pepper
Box of pasta
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450º.
2. Boil water. Pour in entire small box of pasta. Cook pasta about 2 minutes short of fully cooked (yeah, good luck with that).
It is important to use a whisk with a mad face.
4. Dig out all the half-full bags of shredded cheese in your fridge (I had mozzarella, mexican white, and cheddar). Add and stir, add and stir. Also add some salt (I used garlic salt because it was closer) and pepper in here at some point.
6. Add cooked pasta to cheese mixture and mix thoroughly.
7. Here's a step I forgot: GREASE THE CASSEROLE PAN.
8. Pour half of the mixture into the pan. Put down a layer of spinach and then cover with the rest of the mixture. (Note: I completely forgot the spinach here).
9. Top with the rest of the bag of cheddar cheese and some hearty shakes of bread crumbs.
You can see in the background I also forgot to preheat the oven until just now.
10. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until brown and crispy.