Hello everyone,

Are you gluten intolerant? Lactose intolerant? Trying to lose weight? Have a heart condition? Trying to avoid developing a heart condition in the future? If any of these apply to you, stop reading immediately! If none apply or you simply don’t care, read on!

I’m sure you have all tried recipes that boast healthy substitutes: applesauce for sugar, cauliflower for a carbs, greek yogurt for sour cream. Warning … this is NOT one of those recipes.

There is something like seven cups of cheese to three cups of macaroni in this recipe. SEVEN!

For this recipe, I started with Best of Bridge’s gourmet mac and cheese recipe and did my best to make it better. I made such substitutes as cheddar and jalapeno Havarti in lieu of velvita, and I spiced it up a little with garlic powder and cumin.

Apart from the calcium in the dairy, there is NOTHING healthy about this recipe. No fibre, lots of fat and white carbs, and cheese cheese cheese and more cheese. I suppose you could argue that using ricotta instead of more cheddar cheese makes it slightly healthier, but that’s like saying you made your triple chocolate sundae healthy by adding nuts instead of chocolate chips. Don’t kid yourself, you’re eating like a zillion calories in one scoop of this stuff. But let me tell you, they are glorious, magical, comforting, gooey calories that are well worth the spare tire that this mac n’ cheese will create around your waist line.

TIPS:

• One recipe probably feeds 6 people or more if you are using it as a side. I divided mine into two smaller pans and froze one before cooking for future mac n’ cheese cravings
• Try using different types of cheese and different spices if you like. I wanted to keep the classic macaroni and cheese thing going so I didn’t go too crazy on the spices but have fun spicing this one up if you like!

Maybe plan to have a salad for lunch or perhaps a jog the day you eat this mac n’ cheese.

Bon appetit,

Julie

Click here for printable Word version of recipe:
Macaroni and Cheese

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Macaroni and Cheese
Inspired by Best of Bridge

Feeds 6 as a meal, 8+ as a side
Try dividing into 2 dishes.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups macaroni (uncooked)

4 Tbsp flour

4 Tbsp butter

2.5 cups milk

1 tsp salt

1 Tsp sugar

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp paprika

Pepper

150g cheddar cheese, grated

100g jalapeno Havarti

(Havarti + cheddar roughly 3 cups)

2/3 cup sour cream

1 1/3 cups Ricotta

1 cup old cheddar cheese grated

½ cup jalapeno Havarti grated

Bread crumbs to sprinkle

2 Tbsp butter

DIRECTIONS:

Cook and drain macaroni and place in large baking dish.

Melt butter over heat and mix in flour, mix well and then add the milk and cook  stirring constantly until thickens.

Add salt, sugar, spiced, and  150g grated cheddar, 100g grated Havarti . Mix well

Then add sour cream, Ricotta

Pour over macaroni and mix well. If you are using 2 smaller baking dishes, divide cheese and macaroni mix into the pans. I used disposable baking pans.

Sprinkle cheddar cheese, Havarti  and bread crumbs over top. Dot with butter and bake at 350 for 45 minutes,

Alternatively, divide into two smaller pans and freeze extra pan before baking.