Last night, while the brown rice was cooking for my big bowl of black beans, I decided to give Pioneer Woman's Spicy Mac and Cheese a try. I really liked the addition of all the veggies. I modified it quite a bit to make it a little healthier and to accomodate what I had on hand. Here's my adaptation of her recipe.
PW's spicy mac and cheese gone healthy
Ingredients:
1/2 lb cooked whole wheat fusilli or cavatappi
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced vidalia onion
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1 finely diced small pablano
1 4 oz can chopped green chilies
1 cup frozen corn
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 cup heavy cream + 1/4 cup skim milk
1 cup grated Pepper Jack cheese
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large skillet, add olive oil and saute garlic and vegetables over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add in canned chilies and stir around. 
Drain pasta and add it to skillet. Pour on cream and milk, add cheese, then add salt and pepper to taste and stir over medium heat until desired thickness. At the end, add butter and stir more.
I put this in a plastic storage container and allowed to cool before covering. We'll be eating it tonight, probably with some chicken, but I did do a lot of taste-testing last night and I was quite pleased.
2 comments:
How did it taste?
I've only made the Cowboy spagetti at the Pioneer Womans site, it was okay but I'm not a huge fan of adding canned soups to my food so need to come up with my own version. I'm curious about this Mac & Cheese though!
Because I used poblano chiles instead of jalapenos it was mildly spiced. The cheese flavor was subtle. It was really good. I love veggies in my pasta and I like sauces that aren't too heavy. With the removal of part of the cream and butter, it was lighter then the original recipe.
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