Healthier, Yummy Mac n Cheese!

Who doesn't love Mac n Cheese? Comfort food at its best! But, man, the calories just get you :(

I've recently been craving the comfort of creamy, cheesy mac n cheese but, being very much conscious of all my recent weight gain (~sigh!), I wanted a healthier version with lower calories. I saw a few recipes, and came across a few suggestions like use only 1/3 of the pasta or reduce the cheese and that's definitely not going to do it. I saw these couple of recipes where they used butternut squash instead and that definitely made sense. So, here goes... my experiment with a healthier version of an old favorite!

Ingredients:
Whole wheat elbow pasta: 2 cups
Cubed butternut squash: 2 cups
Broccoli florets: 1 cup
Part skim, shredded mozzarella: 1 cup
Whole wheat bread crumbs: 3 tbsp
Paprika: 1-2 tsps
Salt: to taste

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F
2. Bring water to a boil in a big saucepan. Add salt.  Add the butternut squash and boil for 5-10 minutes until the squash is tender. 
3. Transfer the squash to a blender and add broccoli to the same water to boil for 5 minutes until tender. 
4. Blend the squash until you get a smooth, creamy puree. Add half the cheese to it and blend once more. 
5. Bring water to a boil in a big saucepan. Add salt.  Add the pasta and boil for 5-10 minutes until it is al dente. Drain and set aside.
6. Mix everything in a big bowl and add the rest of the cheese, salt, and paprika. 
7. Transfer to a oven safe casserole dish and top with bread crumbs. 
8. Bake for about 20 minutes until the crumbs have browned. 

Your dish is ready to be served!

Potato Casserole

Here's a simple recipe I made for lunch today. It is usually a side dish and takes about an hour to cook.

Ingredients:
Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes - 2-3 large, thinly sliced
Red or yellow onions - 1/2 thinly sliced
Carrots - 1-2 grated
Dijon Mustard  - 2 tsp; if using regular mustard, about 5 tsp
Olive oil - 3-5 tbsp
Low moisture, part skim mozzarella - 1/2 cup
Dried Oregano, thyme, basil - as needed
Salt, pepper - as needed
Red pepper flakes - as needed

Method:

1. Grease a lasagna pan with olive oil and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, add the Dijon mustard, olive oil and water and whip together until its a smooth, runny paste. Set aside.
3. Use a mandolin to thinly slice 2-3 potatoes. Set aside.
4. Chop onions lengthwise into thin slices. Grate carrots and set aside.
5. Pre- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Layer the pan with potato slices, top with onions and grated carrots. 
7. Spread 1/4 cup of grated mozzarella on top and add half of your seasoning. 
8. Spread 1/2 of the mustard paste across the potatoes.
9. Put in the second layer of potatoes, onions and carrots and top with rest of the seasoning,  mustard paste, and cheese.
10.  Bake it oven uncovered for about 15 minutes. 
11. Remove from oven and cover the pan with aluminum foil. Return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 30 - 45 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through. 
12. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack for about 15-20 minutes.

I served this with some Mexican rice and black bean/corn salsa. Just a mish mash of everything we had at home :) I used a tequila/jalapeno mustard instead of Dijon. 

Not a great picture again, but you get the idea -

Pasta with Tomato/Red Wine Sauce

I've been meaning to use wine in cooking for a while now, but never got around to it. But, a recent post by someone I know inspired me to finally do it... This recipe is actually my husband's creation, he is a budding chef himself :)

Ingredients:
Carrots - sliced into 1 inch rounds
Tomatoes - 3 or 4, diced
Basil flavored Olive Oil
Onions - 1/4
Spring Onions - 2 stalks
Garlic - minced
Oregano
Bordeaux Red Wine - 6 oz
Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

1. Cook the pasta according to directions, drain and set aside. 
2. Heat a pan and add the basil flavored olive oil
3. Once the oil is hot, add chopped onions and garlic and saute until onions have carmelized
4. Add carrots and spread them across the pan. Cover and sweat.
5. Add 1 oz of red wine to the pan and cover the pan once more
6. After about 3-5 minutes, once carrots are tender, add chopped tomato to the pan. Add 1/2 of the remaining red wine and cover the pan. 
7. Once the sauce starts to simmer, add the rest of the wine and continue to cook the sauce in the covered pan until the wine evaporates and the sauce thickens.
8. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce, toss and make sure it is evenly coated. 

Yummy pasta with red wine sauce is ready to serve!

It's not a great picture, but here's what it looked like - tasted great!

Grilled Vegetables

This is a really healthy lunch/dinner recipe. If you like veggies, but don't like them raw, this is a better way of cooking them instead of boiling (boiling loses nutrients in the process). You can use any vegetables in this recipe, I have used this combination of veggies to balance out the nutrients.

Ingredients:

Carrots: Vitamin A, K, Potassium, Niacin, Thiamin, Folate, fiber

Red Peppers: Vitamins A, B6, C, E, K, Folate, Niacin, Thiamin

Sweet Potatoes: Vitamins A, B6, C, Potassium, Fiber, Manganese

Potatoes: Carbs, Vitamins C, B6, Potassium

Zucchini: Vitamins C, A, protein and fiber

Olive Oil: 3 tbsp

Oregano: 1/4 tsp

Thyme: 1/4 tsp

Basil: 1/4 tsp

Rosemary: 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Cut all vegetables and put them in a large bowl.
3. Add the olive oil and spices and toss them well
4. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and scoop the veggies onto the sheet. Close the foil to form a pouch
5. Bake the veggies for about 20-30 minutes
6. After you remove the cookie sheet from the oven, cut a hole into the foil and let all the steam out. Be very careful as you can burn yourself with the steam.
7. Squeeze lemon juice on the veggies and serve.

Notes: I marinated the veggies for about 6 hours before I grilled them.

Achiote Vegetables

This was a recipe that was shown on PBS

1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 cloves
garlic
salt
achiote paste

Blend all these ingredients in a food processor and pour over vegetables/tofu to marinate.

In the meantime, make red onion relish in a separate bowl using the following ingredients and set aside

Thinly sliced red onion - 1
Habanero peppers - deseeded and sliced thinly
fresh lime juice - 1 lime
salt


Pour the marinated veggies into a pan and sautee.
Add cooking rum to the pan (very little, optional) and cook till the flames die down.

Serve on a plate with a side of onion relish

Pesto Pizza (healthy)

The reason this home made variety of the popular dish is healthy is because of the low salt pizza sauce/spread, you control the amount of cheese that goes on the pizza and this is an excellent way to get your daily portion of veggies as well!

Ingredients:

Basil Pesto or Sun Dried Tomato Pesto 1/2 cup
Whole wheat pizza crust Store Bought
Part Skim Low Moisture Mozzarella 1 cup
Frozen Veggies 1 cup
Spinach- shredded 1 cup
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) 3 tsp
Salt, red pepper flakes to taste

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Baste the top and bottom of the pizza crust with EVOO.
3. Use the basting brush to spread the pesto sauce evenly on to the top side of the pizza crust.
4. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of part skim mozzarella onto the pizza crust.
5. Spread out the veggies and shredded spinach on top of the cheese
6. Sprinkle some salt, red pepper flakes (optional) and the rest of the mozzarella cheese on top of the veggies
7. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, while constantly keeping an eye to make sure it does not overcook or burn.
8. Remove it from the oven and let it cool for about 2-3 minutes. Use a pizza cutter and cut it into 6-8 pieces and serve.

Mixed Vegetable Curry

This recipe was reproduced on Recipedelights.com website.

Ingredients:

Diced Vegetables 2 cups
Onions(finely cut) 1 cup
Tomatoes 2-3
Cloves 2-3
Cinnamon 1 stick
Bay leaves 1-2
Ginger-garlic paste 1 tsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp.
Turmeric Powder 1 tsp.
Mustard seeds as required
Cumin powder as required
Extra Virgin Olive oil 2 tbsp.
Salt as required
Coriander leaves chopped


Method:
1. Make a paste of the tomatoes and 1/2 cup of onions in the food processer.
2. Boil all the vegetables in a pressure cooker and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan.
4. Fry mustard, jeera, and all the spices.
5. Once mustard splatters, fry the onions till light brown.
6. Add tomato-onion paste and saute until oil separates.
7. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala, cumin powder and salt.
8. Add the vegetables and cook on low flame for 7 - 8 minutes.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot. Can be served with rice or chappathis.

Spicy Dal Curry

This is my first post in this brand new blog - I am reproducing one of my original recipes - tried and tested from the days of experimentation in the kitchen!

Spicy Dal Curry

Preparation Time : 10 mins Cooking Time : 10-15 mins Serves / Makes : 4

Ingredients

Moong Dal: 1/3 cup Channa Dal: 1/3 cup Toor Dal: 1/3 cup Dried Red chillies: 10 Coriander leaves (cilantro): a handful Garlic paste: 1/2 tsp. onions (chopped): 1 (optional) Tomatoes( sliced into 4): 2 Oil: 2 tbsp Salt to taste

Method

1. Cook all the dals with a little amount of salt and turmeric powder. 2. Grind the red chillies and the garlic paste together with very little water. 3. Heat oil in a kadhai and fry the onions. 4. After the onions become translucent, add the ground paste. Fry it for 1 minute. 5. now add the cooked Dals and the tomatoes. 6. Bring to a boil. 7. add the coriander leaves

User Comments & Tips

For lesser spice, decrease the red chillies.