"macandcheese" news and stories

Everyone's favorite comfort dish gets a tofu twist.

Macaroni and Cheese with Tofu
From: Moosewood Restaurant New Classics
Serves: 4-6

You will need:
12 oz. pasta (white or whole wheat)

Cheese sauce:
12 oz. low fat silken tofu
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1 up grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. yellow mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. turmeric

1/4 cup minced onions
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 bread crumbs mixed with 1/4 cup grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 2-qt. baking dish with oil.

Bring water to a boil, and cook pasta according to package directions.

Combine all cheese sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree.

Drain pasta, and mix it along with cheese sauce, onions, and pasta, into baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumb/cheddar mixture on top. Bake for 30 minutes covered, and then 5 minutes uncovered.

Back to home

Because so many parents cannot resist the convenience of boxed macaroni and cheese when it comes to feeding their kids, there will probably always be a market for it. Some of the options are just not appetizing, with clumps of cheez-powder and either crunchy or gummy noodles. But because it is a marketable product, not to mention a popular comfort food, more companies are releasing tastier versions of boxed mac and cheese and Real Simple sat down to taste a few in this month's issue. Their top three versions were Whole Kids Organic White Cheddar Cheese , Annie's Homegrown Creamy Deluxe Shells & Real Aged Wisconsin Cheddar and Back to Nature Crazy Bugs. Tasters liked the "authentic cheese flavor" of the Whole Kids brand. Annie's brand came with a packet of cheese sauce instead of a powder. The Crazy Bugs pasta is shaped like bugs (it doesn't include real bugs) and has a slightly sweet cheese. The magazine had kids taste the contenders, as well as adults, to get their feedback and all the kids loved these versions of macaroni and cheese. All three of the taste test winners are available at stores like Whole Foods, but may be available in your local grocery store, too.

Do you do mac-n-cheese? If you're reading any mainstream food media this month, chances are, you do. Today's Seattle Times Food & Wine section has a cover feature on macaroni & cheese. They must have been reading The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which did a cute "blue" variety of the dish earlier this month. Or the New York Times, where "Crusty Macaroni & Cheese" has been a top-five most-emailed story for a solid week. (They also did creamy, it wasn't nearly so popular.) Everybody's doing it.

But I think it all (obviously) started here. Sarah Gim did her macaroni & cheese liveblogging on Christmas Day. And in early January, mainstream media goes mad for mac-n-cheese. Coincidence? You be the judge.

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