Cauliflower Spinach Mac and Cheese

With extra protein from cottage cheese and extra creaminess from Laughing Cow triangles, this cauliflower spinach mac and cheese is a tasty delight! And a somewhat healthier comfort food dish. 

When we lived in Paris back when our daughters were little, I used to buy La Vache qui rit - Laughing Cow - cheese as snacks for them because 1. It was creamy and delicious, and 2. The little triangles came individually wrapped which made handing them to small children a breeze, plus 3. They didn’t need to be refrigerated if I was packing them for a trip to the park. Bonus: They are high in the calcium needed for growing bones.

Nowadays, you do find them on display in the refrigerated section of the supermarket but the official website assures me that they are actually shelf stable due to the high temperature at which they are created. 

When I was developing this recipe, I was looking to up my protein intake and cottage cheese came to mind. But cottage cheese, even blended till smooth, isn’t all that creamy and that's when I remembered the triangle cheese and how it's made!

According to the website, “The Laughing Cow cheese is made by mixing milk powder (which is blended with water to bring it back to milk), cheeses and butter with emulsifying salts. The emulsifying salts simply play the same role as the citrate in fondue Savoyarde, stopping separation and creating a lovely creamy texture.” Who doesn't love a cheese fondue? It’s been made that way since 1921!

I also added a good amount of freshly grated Parmesan for more cheesy oomph! This was a hit with my husband who wanted to go back for seconds at dinnertime but restrained himself. But guess what he had for breakfast the next morning. Yep!

Cauliflower Spinach Mac and Cheese

I used the lighter Laughing Cow cheese and low-fat cottage cheese but you can use full fat versions, if desired. I like the little bitty elbow macaroni for this but use whatever kind you can find. Just know that weight will be a more accurate measure than cups, if you do use a bigger macaroni. 

Ingredients

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

8oz or 225g cauliflower florets

8 1/3 oz or 235g baby spinach

6 oz or 170g elbow macaroni (a well-rounded cup)

Olive oil for greasing the baking dish

10oz or 284g low fat cottage cheese

½ cup or 120ml milk

2 tablespoons cornstarch

8 Laughing Cow (light) cheese triangles (120g)

3 ½ oz or 100g Parmesan, grated

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cayenne, optional

For topping:

1 oz or 28g Parmesan

3 tablespoons panko

Sprinkle paprika or cayenne, optional

Method

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil with the salt. 

Chop the cauliflower florets roughly and set aside. 

I'm picky about my spinach so even when the bag says "washed and ready to eat," I go through it leaf by leaf, tossing any bruised ones and pulling the stems off. If you aren't so picky, skip this step.

When the water comes to the boil, add in the macaroni and set a timer for four minutes less than the recommended time for cooking it al dente. 

When the timer goes off, add in the cauliflower. 

Cook for one minute less than the prescribed al dente time. 

My macaroni said 9 mins to al dente, so I boiled it 5 minutes to start then added the cauliflower and set a timer for 3 minutes: Only 8 minutes total cooking time for the pasta.  

Drain the macaroni and cauliflower in a colander, retaining some of the water for possible use later. Rest the hot pot off the stove so it can cool a little.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF or 180°C and grease a casserole dish with a little olive oil.

Blend the cottage cheese, milk and cornstarch in a blender or with a hand blender until smooth and creamy.

Pour the mixture into your pasta pot over low-to-medium heat. Cook for a minute or two, stirring well.

Add in the Laughing Cow and grated Parmesan cheeses. 

Stir continuously until the cheeses melt and the sauce is thoroughly heated through and bubbling. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn’t catch. 

Add in the baby spinach and give it a good stir. The spinach will wilt quickly!  

Add in the macaroni and cauliflower. Stir well to thoroughly combine.

Taste the mixture and add salt to your taste, as needed. With all that cheese, you may not need any. Add a few generous grinds of black pepper and a good sprinkle of cayenne, if using, and stir again. If it seems a little dry, you can add a little of the saved pasta water. 

Spoon the mixture into your prepared casserole dish. 

Mix together the topping ingredients.

Sprinkle them evenly on top with some paprika or cayenne, if using.

Bake for 30 minutes in your preheated oven or until the dish is hot and bubbling and golden on top. You can put the broiler/grill on for the last couple of minutes to get the top more brown, if you’d like.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for everyone’s favorite comfort food, mac and cheese! Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Baked Penne and Cheese from A Messy Kitchen
• Cauliflower Spinach Mac and Cheese by Food Lust People Love
• Gruyére and Emmentaler Macaroni and Cheese with Ham and Sourdough by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Instant Pot Chicken Mac and Cheese by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Keto Roasted Cauliflower Cheese by Sneha's Recipe
• Spicy Cheezy Orzo by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join. 

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Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese Bundt #BundtBakers

This bacon broccoli mac and cheese Bundt is a delicious main course made with a wonderful cheesy sauce that includes heavy cream, extra sharp cheddar and five whole eggs.

I’m not sure why I did but when I decided to host this month’s Bundt Bakers event, I chose cheese as the main ingredient. Cheese means that both sweet and savory bakes are an option! This could not have come at a better time.

Like the rest of the world, we’ve been self isolating for several weeks because of the novel coronavirus. We don’t eat a lot of sweets so I really wanted to make something we would eat for a main course, rather than a dessert. Thank God for cheese.

Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese Bundt

This Bundt is much more than just baking your usual mac and cheese in a Bundt pan. The bacon, broccoli and eggs make this a full meal. Leftovers, if you should be so fortunate as to have any, are just as delicious the next day.

Ingredients
12 oz or 340g large elbow macaroni
5 1/3 oz or 150g small broccoli florets (no stems –about 1/2 small crown)
12 oz or 340g (7-8 slices) thick cut bacon
1/4 cup or 56g unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the Bundt pan
1/3 cup or 41g flour, plus more for flouring the Bundt pan
1 medium onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups or 360ml milk (I used 2 percent fat)
1/2 cup or 120ml heavy cream
12 oz or 340g extra sharp cheddar cheese (or a combo of your favorite cheeses), grated
1 teaspoon mustard powder (I use Colman’s)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
5 eggs
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese Bundt

While this recipe calls for only broccoli florets, don’t discard the stems after you’ve cut off the little florets. They are not only edible once you trim the hard outer stalk, they are delicious in a salad.

Method
Thoroughly grease and flour your 12-cup Bundt pan. I suggest using a classic design since we are baking with cheese, which can tend to stick. Bundt pans with too many nooks and crannies would be asking for trouble.

Cook your elbow macaroni in salted boiling water, according to the package instructions. Add in the broccoli florets for the last 3 minutes of cooking time. Drain the macaroni and broccoli florets and rinse with cool water. Set aside in the colander to drain completely.

Meanwhile, cut the bacon into pieces and fry them in a skillet until crispy. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on some paper towels.

Remove all but 1/4 cup or 60ml of the bacon fat and save in a clean jar for future recipes.

Add the butter to the skillet and once it has melted, Add in the flour and stir to create a light roux without any lumps.

Add in the onion and garlic and sauté till they are softened and translucent.

Turn the heat under your skillet right down to simmer and whisk the milk and cream into the roux.

Raise the flame a little and cook, whisking all the while, until the sauce thickens. This takes just a few minutes. You know you have the right thickness when a spatula pulled through it leaves a brief show of pan, then the sauce flows right back in.

Toss the mustard powder, smoked paprika and cayenne with the grated cheese then add it to the white sauce.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir until the cheese is melted. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the 5 eggs with salt.

Whisk your cooling cheese sauce into the eggs a tablespoon or two at a time, until it’s all mixed in.
You don’t want to add all of the warm cheese sauce at once since the heat will cook the eggs and you’ll end up with eggy lumps. No one wants that.

Sprinkle the bottom of the prepared Bundt pan with some of the bacon bits.

Stir the cooled macaroni, broccoli and the rest of the bacon into the egg/cheese sauce mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the Bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes in your preheated oven.

Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes and then loosen the sides and around the center hole with a wooden skewer. Invert on a plate to serve.

Enjoy!

Check out all the other lovely Bundts with cheese!

• Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Cream Cheese Bundt Cake from Making Miracles
• Cream Cheese Bundt Cake from Sneha's Recipe
• Cream Cheese Swirl Coffee Cake from Patyco Candybar
• Easy Peasy Cheesy Pull Apart Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mascarpone Lemon Cud Bundt Cake from Nunca es Demasiado Dulce
• Sausage Egg and Cheese Breakfast Bundtlettes from Palatable Pastime
• Strawberry Cream Cheese Bundt from Sweet Sensations

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our home page. c

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