Did you know January 20 was National Cheese Lovers day?
I don’t tolerate moo cow dairy, however, there are some amazing choices from the goat and sheep family that are so tasty and do the trick. They have less lactose and I have zero intolerance to them so it’s a fun treat for me. In fact, the whole family joined me in avoiding moo cow dairy early last summer, and noone is worse for the wear.
One thing I crafted for my kiddos a couple of years ago is a healthy homemade version of macaroni and cheese. A few years ago we would buy a box of Annie’s gluten free mac as a “treat”, then when I really looked at the ingredients and the fact that everyone fell apart after eating it, I knew that was no longer ok, even every once in a while.
One of my dear friends loves the comfort food of mac and cheese, though looks 5 months pregnant if she eats a box of Annie’s mac — this is a recipe she can eat and love and not feel bloated afterward.
As long as you can tolerate gluten or brown rice, you can use a brown rice or quinoa based pasta and goat cheese, and believe you me, everyone is happy.
It’s just really gouda, if you know what I mean!
Homemade Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 3/4 bag gluten free quinoa pasta
- 1 cup finely shredded goat gouda cheese
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
- splash almond milk
- bacon crumbles
Instructions
- If you don't have bacon, go ahead and start cooking a few slices.
- Cook the pasta until al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking, finely shred the goat gouda and crumble the bacon.
- Drain the pasta, turn the heat to medium-low and add a splash of almond milk (it may really be a few tablespoons, I have never measured this part — I just eyeball it), nutritional yeast, sea salt, butter and goat cheese, stirring to melt and blend.
- Once it's almost all blended together, I dump the pasta back in and toss until blended, serving with a spoon onto each plate and crumbling a bit of bacon on top.
- Serve with a side salad and you're all set.
- Now, I will say, in the past this would have been served as dinner with no side. To add nutrients, I would stir in either a can of shredded tuna, a pound of browned ground beef or ground turkey, and my kids also love when I add a bag of Cascadian Farms organic mixed vegetables. Another tasty addition is half a caramelized onion and garlic, whether to the protein mix above or just in the mac itself.
Now that I’ve shared how we make our healthy homemade macaroni and cheese, what is your favorite add-in? I’ll share my least favorite add-in, my mom always cut up hot dogs and put them in our mac and cheese growing up—that one was never a favorite of mine!
