Easy Macaroni and Cheese

I was still craving macaroni and cheese today so I decided to make some for lunch. Pardon my pasta, I didn't have any macaroni but I figured rotini would be just as good. This is a recipe that I've made several times before and not only is it easy, but it's really tasty -- you can find the original here.  Because this recipe is so easy it's a great macaroni and cheese to add mix-ins to, I was hoping to make some carmalized onions to add in, but I had no onions -- maybe another time.

Ingredients:
-12 oz uncooked pasta, elbow macaroni or other small shape (about 3 cups)
-1/8 tsp table salt, for pasta cooking water
-2 cup(s) fat-free skim milk
-1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
-3/4 tsp table salt
-3/4 tsp onion powder
-1 cup(s) low-fat shredded Cheddar cheese, sharp-variety
-1/8 tsp hot pepper sauce, or more to taste

First boil water for the pasta and add salt if you like to (I personally do). Once the water is boiling add that pasta and cook until the pasta is at the desired softness, I prefer mine al dente so I only cook it for five-seven minutes.

While the pasta is cooking add the flour, milk, onion powder and a little salt to a saucepan.

Stirring frequently bring the combination to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until thickened.

Once the pasta is removed from the heat and drained, add the  thickened sauce from the other  saucepan.

Add cheese.

Stir.

Add hot sauce to your desire.

Stir and serve.

This is a great recipe that can easily be made low-fat if you're watching your weight (it is originally a Weight Watcher's recipe) and because it's such an easy recipe it's a perfect way to make a homemade dinner on a day when you don't really want take-out, but you don't really want to cook. 

Vegetarian Chili

This is another recipe from Weight Watchers.

Ingredients:-1 tsp canola oil
-1 clove garlic, minced
-14.5 oz stewed tomatoes
-15 oz kidney beans
-15 oz yellow corn
-15 oz tomato sauce
-1 tbsp chili powder
-1/2 tsp oregano
-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
-1/4 cup dehydrated onion flakes
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-4 tbsp cheddar cheese

For my chili I made a few variations --
I substituted the canola oil for vegetable oil,
I substituted the oregano for Italian seasoning
I substituted the onion flakes for 1/2 tsp of onion powder

Heat oil and garlic in a large pot over medium heat until the garlic is aromatic.

Add all of the vegetables and seasoning.
Stir.

Bring the chili to a boil and cook for five minutes. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.

Server garnished with the cheddar cheese.

This recipe was cheap to make and took less than fifteen minutes to cook. My roommate and I both enjoyed the chili, when we make the chili again I plan to leave out the stewed tomatoes and add more tomato sauce -- there was nothing wrong with the chili with the tomatoes, personally I don't like large pieces of tomatoes and prefer more liquid in my chili.

Spring Asparagus and Lemon Fettuccine

Ingredients:
-1/2 pound uncooked fettuccine
-2 tsp salted butter
-2 tsp olive oil
-1 pound uncooked asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
-1/2 tsp table salt
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-1 large egg
-1 cup fat-free half-and-half
-1 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
-1/4 cup parsley, fresh, chopped
-2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
-1 Tbsp lemon zest
-2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cook the pasta like you normally would (I like mine in a pot of salted water).

In a skillet start melting the butter. Then add the olive oil.

Make sure your skillet is large enough because it will eventually hold all of the ingredients including the pasta and asparagus.

Add the asparagus and cook for about five minutes until the asparagus is tender.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

The next few steps complete the dish, but they also need to happen quickly so make sure all measured out ingredients are on hand.

The recipe calls for the asparagus to be removed from the pan, but I just left mine in the skillet.

Combine the egg and half & half in a bowl. Whisk.
Cream can be substituted for the half & half; I used in cream in this recipe.

The egg/cream mixture goes in the skillet. Followed by the cornstarch/water mixture. Stir until thickened like a sauce.

Removed from the stove and add the asparagus (if you removed it) and the pasta. Stir until everything is coated with sauce.

Add the lemon zest & juice as well as the parmesean cheese. Rather than adding 1/4 cup of fresh parsley, I just added a shake of dried parsley. Give the dish one more stir to combine the last ingredients and then serve.

If there was asparagus and pasta in the same bite this dish was really good. However, the sauce paired with just the pasta was bland. If I made this dish again I would either add more asparagus or add more lemon juice to the sauce to give it more flavor.

This recipe also came from Weight Watchers and I paired it with the Broccoli with Lemon-Garlic Crumbs in the previous post.

Broccoli with Lemon-Garlic Crumbs

In honor of Spring finally arriving Weight Watchers provided me with some light, but very tasty recipes a few weeks ago that I finally got around to trying.

Ingredients:
-1 lb uncooked broccoli
-1 tbs butter
-1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
-1/2 cup bread crumbs
-1 tsp lemon zest
-1/4 tsp salt

The first step is to steam to broccoli using a steamer, we used the microwave by placing the broccoli in a large Tupperware container full of water. The broccoli was cooked on high for 30 seconds at a time until it was steamed.

While the broccoli is steaming, melt the butter. Then add in garlic and heat in the butter for about 30 seconds. Then add in the bread crumbs and toast in the butter/garlic. The recipe calls for 2-3 minutes, ours were in for about a minute.


Remove from the heat and add the lemon zest and salt.

Add the crumb mixture to the broccoli.

The crumb mixture on top of the broccoli gave it a nice crunch, but I don't think the lemon flavor was noticeable at all. If you'd like more of a lemony flavor with the broccoli I'd recommend adding some lemon juice to the water used to steam the vegetable.