New Year New... life! Healthy Mac n Cheese!!!

I am attempting to be more committed to this blog this year. I have so many new ideas and we have been through so much. And I have invented the healthiest, best, allergy free mac n cheese ever.

 No, seriously, all four of my children and my husband, ate it. i practically threw a party. That is why it got its own line. ALL.FOUR.KIDS. For 5 meals (judge if you will! we have a newborn and three nights of dance a week! plus homeschooling)

So we had a new guy in November 11/11, after a very strange (for me) end of pregnancy. He's so sweet and the kids try to maul him (i just told the 2yo three times to stop honking his nose) . It also appears he doesn't like something i eat. cue biased food allergy parent fear.... In case anyone's interested, i apparently was the only person ever to be veganish (still eat pastured free range, local friends when we can, eggs. cant force my husband to give them up, he's given up his entire way of eating) and unable to eat dairy ever at the hospital i gave birth at. i came home after 24 hours plus a few of labor very hungry!

The day after my first fuzzy baby (Tazzy cat) died. Thank you hormones for making that more traumatic!

With so much going on, I was thrilled i had made a big batch of mac and cheese that i had frozen to help us after the baby. I was always slightly jealous of the meal trains that people get after big events. With food allergies, you cannot accept those acts of kindness.

Mac and Cheese

Here's what i do.... my measurements aren't so exact but this is forgiving. My family likes a very saucy mac and cheese, feel free to change amounts if yours does not!

Cook: pasta *( any kind, gluten free, wheat, etc. between 1-3 pounds depending on your family and if you are making to freeze)
set aside

Steam: (or cook somehow until easily blend-able) I use same pot as the pasta, and then blend or puree very well with the rest of the water used to cook! (unless your kids like veggie chunks)

1 large (or 2 small) heads of cauliflower

1 sweet potato

3 any other potatoes

carrots (a handful of baby carrots, or about 3-4 big)

any squash

handful of greens (the big sneak! next time i'm adding broccoli)

Sauce:

Melt butter or oil (about 2-4 tablespoons, or so....)

add flour or thickening starch about 1 T per cup of liquid (i tend to use almost a quart of milk and about 1/4 of flour or potato starch)

stir until bubbles

add: (to taste)
a good bit of salt

a large squirt of mustard

garlic and onion powder (a teaspoon of each)

stir briefly and then slowly add milk of choice. ( i use unsweetened unflavored flax milk, but have used others. I wouldn't use vanilla but...to each his own) whisk until thick.

here i add:

a bunch of nutritional yeast

two packs of whatever cheese you want (i generally use daiya Cheddar block and a shredded mozzarella, or whatever has been in there longest, isn't green and needs to be used)

Add the pureed vegetables, and then fold in pasta until you are happy with the ratios. re-season (you added a lot of vegetables)

At this point you can eat as is or put into a dish and bake it. At the beginning i added buttered bread crumbs and more cheese to fool my kids. As it turns out, they actually eat it anyway. Who knew! Take that sensory issues! 

*would also be good to make this using bite sized cauliflower, or broccoli instead of pasta for grain free and almost no carbs. however, my kids eat all those so i just deal with the pasta as vegetable transportation.