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Friday, November 14, 2008

Warm-You-Up Meal in TX...Not Quite Right







Terrible photo, yummy mac & cheese with tomato-basil soup! This time of year I usually make fun of the southern folk who, as soon as November hits, don their sweaters, furry boots, and scarfs NO MATTER WHAT temperature it is outside. Well, now I did basically the same shameful thing but with food. I decided to make a cozy comfort dish sure to warm me up, but seeing it was a 75 deg day, it was totally inappropriate. But no less delicious! For the soup I had an interesting time trying to get the soup to stay in the blender and not splatter hot liquid all over the place. This is the first time I've made anything but smoothies in my new blender, so there must be a trick to it. One thing that helped was pureeing only 1/2 the mixture at a time.


REVIEW: Mac & cheese to me is kinda boring. It's noodles & cheese made for picky kids who refuse to eat normal food, so what? Haha. This gourmet version from Cooking Light totally changed my mind. I paired it with a creamy tomato basil soup (also Cooking Light) that my bf and I could not get enough of. Would've been perfect on a cold night.

RECIPE (3-cheese mac & cheese):
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups 1% milk
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
3/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese, shredded
2/3 cup low-fat mozarella cheese, shredded
2/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
2 cups whole-wheat pasta (I used mini shells)
salt & pepper
olive oil
Sautee onion and garlic in skillet with olive oil med-high heat for 8-10minutes. Add flour and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk and bay leaf, bring to boil. Cook 2 minutes until thick, stirring constantly with whisk. Stire gorgonzola and parmesan until completely melted. Discard bay leaf. Preheat oven to 375F. Cook pasta in boiling water until almost tender, drain, then add to cheese mixture. Coat baking dish with cooking spray, spread mac & cheese in pan. Sprinkle breadcrumbs, pepper, and parmesan on top. Bake for 25 minutes. Makes 6 servings. (per serving: 321 cals, 10g fat, 41g carbs, 17g protein)
RECIPE (tomato-basil soup):
4 large tomatos, peeled and seeded
4 cups tomato juice (low sodium if you can find it)
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped fine
1 cup 1% milk
4 oz low-fat cream cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Bring tomatos and tomato juice to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 mins. Puree tomato mixture and basil in blender or food processor. Return puree to pan, stir in milk, salt and pepper, cream cheese. Whisk and simmer med-high heat until cheese is melted and soup is thick. Serve with crusty bread. Makes 8 servings, 1 cup soup 1 slice bread for each. (per serving: 133 cals, 4.4g fat, 19g carbs, 5g protein)