Low fat/low cal mac and cheese. whitout adding vegetables ?

BUMP!!

There is no substitution for mac and cheese. Sadly my best suggestion is just a smaller serving. Eat it slowly and really enjoy it.

I found this recipe on line, but I didn't try it, so don' shoot the messenger. I would use whole grain pasta, instead of the regular one.
Since the portion is for only 1/4, I guess that we will need to serve it as a side dish with lean protein and vegetables.


GUILTLESS MAC AND CHEESE

Ingredients
8 oz elbow macaroni, dry
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup fat-free milk
4 oz fat-free shredded cheddar cheese
2 tsp dried mustard
salt and pepper
1 ½ cups fat-free cottage cheese small curd
3 tbsp fat-free dry bread crumbs
3 tbsp fat-free grated parmesan or romano cheese
non-fat cooking spray

Method
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with nonstick spray or nonstick pan and set aside.
3. In a large pot, cook macaroni according to directions on package. Drain but do not rinse; set aside.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together flour and 2 tablespoons of milk.
5. In large saucepan, heat remaining milk until steaming.
6. Gradually whisk in a little hot milk into bowl with milk flour mixture, just enough to warm mixture up. This will help when whisking flour mixture into pan with hot milk. Pour mix into pan with hot milk and stir over medium heat about 1 minute, or until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat.
7. Stir in fat-free cheddar cheese, mustard, salt and black pepper; set aside.
8. In a food processor or blender, puree fat-free cottage cheese until very smooth.
9. Stir into cheese sauce. Stir in the macaroni. Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish.
10. In a small bowl, stir together breadcrumbs and parmesan/romano cheese.
11. Sprinkle over top of macaroni and cheese.
12. Bake 40-45 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

Yield: 6 servings – ¼ cup or 2 oz each

Nutritional Information:
Calories…………………..260
Fat…………………..........1 g
Protein……………………20 g

Oh, another trick that I have done for portion control is to make a large batch of the cheese sauce, but portion it out into single servings and freeze. Then when I have a craving I can make a smaller batch as homemade mac and cheese is a trigger food for me, so me planning on making a larger batch for lunches usually turns into me having a large dinner.

I've been subbing out the pasta part for this
http://www.house-foods.com/Tofu/tofu_shirataki.aspx
(it's a low-cal, low-carb tofu-based subsitute) - if you use lower-fat cheese it sorta balances out.

trader joe also makes a "guiltless mac & cheese" - it's pretty good & i keep it in my freezer in case of mac & cheesemergency

I have never tried this recipe before so I am not sure how it tastes, though I do know a friend that has had the original and said it was very good.
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/not-yo-mamas-mac-n-cheese-10000001823309/

I altered it a little to make it a bit more healthy.

Servings: 8 - 10
Calories per serving: Smaller portion (Serving of 10) = 242 / Larger portion (Serving of 8) = 315

Ingredients:
1 cup Kikkoman Panko (Optional! Without it will remove 220 calories from the entire dish)
2 cups whole wheat penne
8 Tbsp Light I can't Believe It's Not Butter!
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups skim milk
2 1/2 cups Cabot 50% reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz reduced fat smoked gouda cheese
12 tsp Kraft shredded parmesan cheese
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Bake breadcrumbs in a single layer on baking sheet. 5 - 7 minutes until golden stirring once after 2 1/2 minutes.
3. Cook pasta following package directions.
4. Meanwhile, melt butter in dutch oven (Or something similar) over medium heat.
5. Gradually whisk in flour until smooth. Continuously whisk for 2 minutes.
6. Gradually whisk in milk, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Continuously whisk for 12 - 14 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.
7. Remove mixture from heat and discard the bay leaf.
8. In a large heat proof bowl add 16oz of cheddar cheese reserving the rest for later. Add gouda and parmesan cheese.
9. Gradually pour white sauce over the cheese whisking until the cheese is fully melted and mixture is smooth.
10. Stir in pasta until blended.
11. Pour mixture into a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish.
12. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs (Optional!)
13. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until bubbly.

If you want this to be a no-bake mac and cheese remove the breadcrumbs and prepare as directed above on stove top. Stir pasta and cheese into the white sauce until heated, then serve!

Fiber Gourmet makes a decent mac and cheese. Can order online. I now Amazon sells it, and delivers to Canada.

Looks good indeed !

I'll save the recipe... I don't think we have I can't believe it's not butter here in Canada... Any idea for a substitution ?

We do! At least we do in Manitoba. It's just margarine flavoured with buttermilk to give it that buttery taste. If you can't find it in a store use any margarine, but a butter-flavoured one would mimic the taste best. They make a buttery Becel, for example. The calories and fat are no different than any other margarine.

Oh wait. I see the recipe calls for light I Can't Believe it's not Butter. Eh. I'm not a fan of light butters/margarines. But again, any "light" spreadable margarine would do. I find them watery, though.

Boil pasta of your choice until just tender (8 mins or so). Toss with half fat creme fraiche, herbs, black pepper and a little dijon mustard. Put in an oven proof dish. Sprinkle the top with parmesan (mixed up with breadcrumbs if you happen to have some), and bake for about 20 mins, until browned. Enjoy - I love it with a tomato salad.