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Monday's Made-Over Mac & Cheese

All throughout the weekend, I craved!!!  I craved salty, I craved sweet, I craved fried and greesy, ahhhhh!  The madness has to stop!!

Yesterday, while I was with my mom, I said, "I'm getting hungry for a snack, like Taco Bell." Normally we are not very good together and love a good cheat. She said, "well there's one close and I'll take you, but I'm not going to get anything."  Well, thanks for the peer pressure!!  I didn't want to be the only one consuming a double calorie dose, so I declined. But seriously, it was the best peer pressure!  I was grateful for it. 

It didn't make my craving go away though. I came home and thought of what to make for dinner. And a meal that I put in my challengers meal plan this week hit me. Mac & Cheese!!

I made it my own and it turned out pretty good. Next time I will make sure to use a sharp cheddar for more flavor. And I'll add broccoli (as I do in the recipe below) to get in more veggies. 

Made-Over Mac & Cheese

1 bag frozen cauliflower
1 box whole wheat pasta
1 bag of sharp cheddar cheese
1 bag or bunch of broccoli
Spices you like

Boil pasta and cook cauliflower. You can heat broccoli in the microwave or cook that on the stove top as well. Preheat oven to 375. When noodles are done, take about a 1- 1 1/2 cups of the pasta water and put into a blender. Then drain pasta. In blender, add in the cooked cauliflower and some pepper (along with any other spices you like- mustard/onion powder, rosemary, etc). Put top on blender and a kitchen towel over it. Blending hot ingredients can cause the top to pop off. 
After the caulifower and pasta water is blended, add in 1 1/4 cups cheese. Blend and pour over noodles. Stir so that noodles are coated and add in broccoli. Combine and pour into a casserole dish. 
Top with 3 tbsp of Italian bread crumbs and the remaining cheese. Bake for about 15 mins until cheese on top is melted and a little browned. 

I got my comfort food craving satisfied without so much guilt!!  My husband loved it and Owen, as usual, ate as many bites as I told him he needed to eat for dinner. He never complained though!  SCORE!!!!

With the broccoli, I would count this as 2 yellows, 1 blue, 1 green. 

That's face painting from the church picnic today :)

Have an awesome week y'all!!!

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