Want to slip at least one light(er) side dish onto your Thanksgiving table? Give this one a try! Every bite is so gooey and perfectly chewy that we doubt anyone will even notice the lack of heavy cream and extra cheese.
Just as Good! Lighter Mac and Cheese Casserole
Recipe Review
This recipe comes from chef Emma Nowell's personal food blog (her husband takes all the gorgeous pictures!):
• Baked Macaroni and Cheese from The Chef and The Photographer
This recipe substitutes a mix of cottage cheese, sour cream, and low fat milk in place of the traditional roux and heavy cream (much like another favorite: Heidi Swanson's Mushroom Barley Casserole). This might sound like an unlikely mix, but these ingredients add a richness to the casserole and make each bite surprisingly creamy. A single egg binds everything together and two cups of cheese make the casserole gooey enough to satisfy any mac and cheese lover.
You can substitute whole wheat pasta for the white pasta, and low-fat ingredients for the regular versions. We also think that you could cut down the amount of cheese if you used a high-quality, richly-flavored cheese instead of a milder supermarket brand.
We threw some sautéd mushrooms and onions, wilted spinach, and diced sausage into our casserole to make it a more complete meal. Given all the extras, we baked our casserole in a 9x13 and were able to stretch the number of servings from six to eight people.
Verdict: delicious! For Thanksgiving, the pasta mix could be prepared the day or two ahead and then baked off just before you sit down to eat while the turkey is resting. We're also definitely adding this to our regular rotation of quick, make-ahead dinners!
Related: Eating Light: 8 Rich Yet Lighter Pasta Sauces
(Image: Emma Christensen)
Comments (9)
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This caught my eye because of the kaleidescopic colors - not normally seen in traditional mac n cheese!
The fact that it's healthier, too, makes it twice and beautiful ;).
Peas Love Carrots
view maebybaby's profile
That looks delicious, and I love all those colors!
view Hannah - Honey & Jam's profile
What's the red I see? Diced red peppers? roasted red peppers? This looks fantastic- it will be on my family's table this Thanksgiving!
view betheats's profile
this is fab. i struggle all the time with my winter creamy food cravings while still wanting to fit into my clothes. can't wait to try!
view DC Sarah's profile
this is actually a recipe from the Moosewood Low Fat cook book... It's one I have practically memorized. And it is *great*.
view FromTheFuture's profile
@betheats - Yes, you see roasted red peppers! I forgot about those. I threw all the odds and ends from my fridge into this one!
view EmmaC's profile
Another option - possibly even more appropriate to the season - is to replace the roux with a pumpkin (or other squash) and low/non-fat milk purée - mix about 3 cups of chopped, peeled, winter squash to 2.5 cups of milk (or whatever amount you need, in those proportions). For 8oz of pasta, a purée made with a small pumpkin (about 9" wide) was fine. You can also use a mixture of milk and broth instead of all milk, but using all milk makes it easier to cut down on the cheese further and still get a good creamy taste.
This makes the mac & cheese creamy, a fabulous color - which would work well with the red and green of the peppers & spinach in this recipe! - and you can't taste the pumpkin - as noted by my rather picky nephews. I think the idea came from a Martha Stewart recipe at some point, but I rather lost track of it.
view knit2day's profile
Unlike the others here, I think this looks like a hot mess, with too many discordant flavors and textures. Please don't call it mac and cheese.
I'd rather have half a serving of the host-to-goodness mac and cheese than a full serving of this "healthy" stuff.
view aychihuahua's profile
OT, but I thought you were going to start deleting comments that have personal blog links in the comment text?
view lyrabella's profile