Jogging My Memory

Today has been, well, uneventful if you discount the 11 mile run and Jamba Juice this morning.

I ate lunch around 3 (not really lunch at that point). I had a Noah’s Everything Bagel with 2 fried eggs, 1 oz cheese, and a little I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter on the bagel. Breakfast at 3pm is fantastic!

Between lunch and dinner I snacked on some Harry & David’s Neopolitan Malted Milk Balls, and a plate of Back to Nature Organic Stone Ground Wheat Crackers with Tribe Spicy Chipotle Hummus.

I also made some of my new Strawberry Vanilla Tea. It had a very subtle strawberry and vanilla flavor to it. I didn’t add any sort of sweetener and still enjoyed it. Is this not the cutest package – I think the tea is for kids, but I don’t mind.

I used the insulated mug for fun, even though this wasn’t loose leaf tea. Fun, economical, and good for the environment : )

I didn’t eat dinner until 8…oops. The plans to go out to dinner fell through since we’re all pretty tight on money and time. Instead I got a little creative. I was feeling some mac and cheese, but I didn’t want to open up a box of Annie’s because I had some cheese that was starting to get moldy and needed to be used (minus the mold of course).

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli was born!

Ingredients (for a single large serving)

• 2.5 oz whole wheat pasta (I would cut it back to 2 oz – a normal serving)
• 1 cup frozen broccoli
• 1/3 cup unsweetened soymilk (I would use regular milk if you have it and only use 1/4 cup)
• 2 oz shredded colby jack cheese (I would use a more flavorful cheese next time such as a sharp cheddar and possibly cut it back to 1.5 oz)
• 1 Tbs. Wonder Mix (for making gravies and sauces) or flour would work as well probably
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions: Cook the whole wheat pasta according to directions (I boil mine for 12 minutes). When the pasta has 3 minutes left, add the frozen broccoli in). Drain when finished.

In another sauce pan over low heat combine the milk and Wonder mix whisking to get out any lumps. Add in the shredded cheese and salt, and continue heating, stirring frequently, until the cheese is melted and incorporated into the sauce.

Add the drained pasta and broccoli to the saucepan and stir to thoroughly coat the pasta and broccoli with the sauce.

Garnish with a little extra shredded cheese (I didn’t, but you definitely can!) and serve.*

*I added a little extra kosher salt on top, because I like my mac and cheese with salt – maybe I’m weird?

This turned out pretty well for a first effort. The whole wheat pasta kind of dominated the cheese and broccoli flavors, but I think there are ways to make the cheese flavor pop more. In the future, I would do what I recommended above which is:

• less pasta
• milk not soymilk and 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 cup
• more flavorful cheese (maybe even two different types), and possibly less of it – experimentation is highly recommended here

I was pretty impressed by my own first efforts at making a cheese sauce. If anyone makes this recipe, please let me know if you do anything different that helps or not.

Dessert was another half of an Alternative Baking Co Colossal Chocolate Chip Cookie that I warmed up in the micro for 15 seconds…Like it was fresh from the oven!

And a few more malted milk balls – these are going to be gone quickly – oops!

In other news,

I’ve decided to jump a little further on to the twitter bandwagon…I’ve had an account for awhile, but didn’t update it very often. I’m working on getting a link for the sidebar, but in the meantime feel free to follow me at JuliaJogging

I’ll be updating more than once a week now haha!

Have a great Sunday!

Tags: Alternative Baking Company, homemade macaroni and cheese with broccoli, hummus, malted milk balls, recipe, Tribe, twitter