Healthier Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Submitted by justcallmetoni

"This dish was developed for the *Make it Healthier Game* and based on 3KillerB's Recipe #208573. My sister in law's mother also makes a custard based macaroni and cheese so I was interested in the chance to work on a version that while not low-fat, certainly lower than most dishes of this sort. Use the sharpest cheddar or other cheese you can find for best results. The zucchini is a nice way to add extra volume to the dish without adding calories. If your family is averse to green, peel the zucchini first."

 

• Ready In: 57mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• cooking spray
• 1⁄2 lb whole wheat macaroni
• 1 cup zucchini, peeled and cut into 1 inch by 1/4 inch sticks, leaving out the seedy center
• 1⁄2 lb reduced-fat cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 tablespoon non-fat powdered milk
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1⁄4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 3⁄4 cups skim milk
• 7⁄8 cup egg substitute (1 cup minus 2 tablespoons)
• salt
• fresh ground black pepper

directions

1. Cook macaroni according to package directions but two minutes less than suggested by the directions. Add the zucchini bites and cook an additional minute. Drain and rinse.
2. Place 1/4 cup of your skim milk into a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the powdered milk and dry mustard until there are no lumps. This step enriches the milk without adding fat. Now whisk in the corn starch until there are no lumps and the milk is warmed but not hot. Add in the remaining milk and turn off the heat. Mix in the egg substitute. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Guessing paprika, onion or garlic powder might be nice here as well.
3. Prepare a 9 inch square pan with a coating of butter flavored cooking spray.
4. After grating the cheese, reserve 1/4 of the amount for the top.
5. Place 1/3 of the pasta and zucchini into the bottom of your baking dish. Cover with 1/2 of the remaining cheese. Repeat, with a second layer of pasta and cheese. Place the final third of pasta on top and cover with the reserved cheese.
6. Pour custard into the casserole dish. You want this liquid to come within about 1/2 inch of the top of the pan. The shape and size of the dish may require more or less -- just keep the proportion of 1/2 cup egg substitute and 1 tablespoon dry milk for each cup of skim milk.
7. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean of custard (it might be a bit cheesy).
8. Tip from 3KillerB's: this is apt to overflow a little if you got the custard too far up to the top. Best to bake it on the upper rack with a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any drips.

Reviews

[Tea Jenny]

I love, love, love, macaroni cheese and since I became diabetic I was unsure about eating it, so when I saw this, I thought yes! I can have this it's nice and healthy, I then went to my larder and found I had no macaroni, so I had to use w/wheat pasta spirals and it worked, but next time I will use macaroni. I cut the recipe by half other than that I followed the recipe, that is until I had to bake it, I just thought maybe I could do this in my Crockett. I put it on high for one and a half hours and then under the grill to brown the cheese on top, it was fantastic. Oh! I also sprinkled a bit of cayenne pepper to give it a bit of a kick, Mmmm it was very tasty. I didn't think it would be as good as it was as sometimes low fat things can feel like it's lacking in something, but this never felt like it lacked anything. Thank you for posting. Made for healthy hearts February 2011

 

[ellie_]

This was okay but next time I think I'll cook it for less time - maybe 35-40 minutes - I cooked it for the full 50 and should have cooked it for less time. I will also add in the additional spices as suggested in #2. Thanks for sharing!