Kitchen Experiment

Abbie loves macaroni and cheese. It’s a staple of her diet. It might as well be one of her food groups.

The problem with macaroni and cheese is it’s not the healthiest meal. It’s high in fat, salt, and other things that make it taste good. The only way to make it less healthy would be to deep-fry it, a preparation method Abbie would probably enjoy.

I’m trying to make macaroni and cheese healthier. I’ve cut the butter used in half, and that lowers the fat content significantly while lowering the taste content imperceptibly. I’m trying to go lower, though.

Tonight I tried a recipe using processed cheese instead of the powder stuff that comes in a box. The processed cheese isn’t a nutritional improvement, but the homemade recipe allows me to use my pasta of choice, specifically a whole-wheat macaroni. That adds a little fiber to her diet, a nutrient that’s missing from her other staple of Goldfish crackers.

I whipped up the recipe using reduced fat processed cheese, and plopped it on Abbie’s plate. Abbie poked it, noticed the strange consistency in the cheese, and asked for a cookie. Then she demanded a cookie.

Experiment failed. Next I’ll try mixing squash into the powder cheese mix.