Shannon's Ohhh So Good For You Mac & Cheese

Here is the recipe I was talking about all the time when I talk about making my home made Mac and Cheese.  It is really easy to change up for whatever needs you need to meet…

Pasta Mixture
1 box of mac noodles
1 tbsp of garlic powder
¼ cup salt
1 tsp of red pepper flakes (opt).
Large pot of hot boiling water

Sauce
1 tbsp of butter- unsalted
1 tbsp of flour
1 can of chicken stock (I use reduce salt and fat free ones)
1 cup of milk (whatever you have on hand)
1 block of cream cheese
1  16 oz package of shredded cheddar cheese
3 piece of bacon cooked and crumbed
2 eggs
2 cups of left over chicken (opt).
½ cup pepper jack cheese- shredded (opt).
Salt and pepper to taste
1  9x13 baking dish- sprayed with PAM

In the large pot of hot boiling water add salt, garlic powder, and if you want the red pepper flakes.  Stir in the mac noodles. To change things up and make it more fun for Lorelei I also have tiny little star/flower shaped pasta and will mix the 2 together.  Cook until done- for us it is about 15 mins.  Drain and set aside to make the sauce.

In a non stick sauce pan add the butter and flour and cook until combined and the roux starts to change color slightly.  Then slowly add in the chicken stock.  Then stir in the cheddar cheese and mix until it is melted in to the chicken stock sauce.  Then slowly add the milk, sometimes you need more, and sometimes you need less milk.  Once the milk is added in stir in the crumbled bacon, cooked chicken bits, and the drained pasta.  Once everything is mixed in pour into the baking dish and let it cool for a few mins.  In a small bowl beat the 2 eggs and once the mac and cheese mix has cooled for a few mins stir in the eggs into the baking dish.

Bake at 350 for about 20 to 30 mins or until golden brown on top.  Pull out of the oven for a few mins to sprinkle the pepper jack cheese on top and then put it back in the oven for a few mins until the cheese has melted.

The red pepper flakes and the pepper jack cheese adds a very very small amount of heat.  Lorelei is 2.5 years old and loves this…

If I have left over veggies like carrots I will toss them in with the pasta to get soft… and if I have onions and garlic I add it to the sauce.  If you want to use beef- change the chicken stock to beef stock... and if you want it to be a veggie dish- use Veggie stock and toss in some chili beans.  You can also use this sauce as a fondue cheese sauce.  It tastes like a full fat mac and cheese without any of the badness lol… btw- for WLS peeps serving size is 1/2 cup if you don't add the chicken... if you have chicken 3/4 cup serving size.

My fave chicken dish

We eat a lot of meat in this house.  We are a high protein family since I had gastric bypass 4 years ago.  So, over time I have had to reinvent favorite recipes to cut down carbs and fat.  One dish I had just before WLS was Hunter's Style Chicken.  It was amazing, but high carb and fat.  So this is my take on the dish for my family now.

This dish feed my family of 4 (2 adults, 2 small children)

3 skinless chicken breast- split and bone in
corn starch or arrowroot for coating the chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic sliced
1 pound of mushrooms sliced very thin
2 tsp of rice vinegar with garlic
1 cup of chicken stock- reduce sodium
4 tbsp of tomato paste
1 cup water
2 tsp of dry oregano
1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy)
salt and black pepper to taste

In a large nonstick skillet put in the olive oil and 2 gloves of garlic on medium heat.  Coat the chicken with the corn starch and shake off the excess.  Before placing the chicken into the oil pick out the garlic and save for later.  Cook the chicken until browned.  Now put in all the garlic, the mushrooms, and tomato paste.  Once the tomato paste is cooked out it's raw flavor add in rest of the ingredients making sure everything is combined.  Cook for 45 mins, but if the sauce gets too thick add part water/part chicken stock a little bit at a time.

I serve this with a little salad on the side.  If you don't have to watch your carbs you could have this with mashed potatoes as well and a little garlic bread.

A meal Popeye would be proud of...

Spinach.  One of those leafy green "things" that are hit or missed in most households.  I know I didn't like spinach until I started to fix it for myself... and made sure it didn't smell bad or look like wet grass clippings.

For me the key was buying it fresh and wilting it down myself. I could also control the flavor and fat.  Now this is one meal that I can get the girls to eat with spinach in it, which makes me super happy!

4 boneless skinless chicken breast- cooked and diced
1 bag of fresh spinach
3/4 cup of reduce fat sour cream
1/2 cup of reduce fat mayo
1 cup of mozzarella shredded
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tbsp of diced garlic
1/2 a sweet onion finally diced
1 egg- beaten
black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.  In a mixing bowl toss in all the ingredients and mix well making sure everything is well coated.  In a greased 9x13 baking dish spread the mixture and pat it down.  Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes then take the foil off and turn the boiler on and brown the top till golden brown.

Set aside and let it cool for about 15 minutes and then cut and serve.