Cooking After Class: Veggie Mac & Cheese

When the kids came into the kitchen, they were very excited to see this Veggie Mac & Cheese ready to be served. They said it looked and smelled delicious! I typically lean towards healthier recipes and there is no way that this would be considered healthy…at all! It was, however, a good fueling meal for Lexie (pasta is always on the menu the night before a competition).

I should have taken the time to read through the whole recipe before beginning and planned a little better. I had prepped these beautiful brussels sprouts and cauliflower only to boil them…ugh! If I make this again, I will definitely be steaming the veggies instead and then adding them to the cooked pasta.

Lexie said this recipe was really good but it may be missing something (not sure what though). Xander said that he’d like the brussels sprouts cut into smaller pieces and maybe add some chicken (tends to be a theme with him :)). Kenxie ate everything on her plate and went back for seconds! Enough said there…she isn’t a big eater so when she goes back for seconds, you know she really liked it. In fact, after making a huge pot of this pasta, there was only about a half cup left. Seriously…these children can eat!

Not having closely read the recipe first, I didn’t realize that I was making extra cheese sauce…1 1/2 cups extra. I would have altered the recipe had I realized that up front. Now I’ve got some cheese sauce to figure out what to do with. I’m sure we’ll be able to find something…I just wasn’t planning on it when I made next week’s menu.

Substitutions/Additions for Veggie Mac & Cheese:

used 8 oz of Penne because I had some in the pantry

Tips for making Veggie Mac & Cheese:

consider steaming veggies rather than boiling them with the pasta to preserve more nutrients
be careful not to over boil/steam brussels sprouts or they will get mushy
if you don’t have a use for the extra cheese sauce (about 1 1/2 leftover) adjust the recipe to make less sauce

RECIPE: One-Pot Mac & Cheese with Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts