Macaroni and Not Cheese

This is a recipe I got from my friend Jennifer, and it was really delicious! The children did not see me make this, and I called it mac and cheese, so they had no idea there was actually no cheese in this dish. The cheesy color comes from cooked and pureed carrots and potatoes. I chose to leave meat out this time, but you could easily add ham or pork for a meat flavored variety. The kids loved it! We had it with steamed broccoli and the rocky mountain muffins I made the other day. Yum.

I have to admit, it was a bit labor intensive. It took me an hour to get it in the oven, and then it had to bake for nearly an hour. But that could be due to it being my first time to make it. One redeeming factor is that the recipe for the sauce makes double, so I now have 4 cups of sauce in my freezer ready to go and next time it will just require boiling the noodles and assembling the dish.

Macaroni and Not Cheese Sauce

3+ cups potatoes
3+ cups carrots
1 cup potato water
3 cups milk (or 1 1/2 cups milk and 1 1/2 cups water)
2 T oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp Lawry's
1 tsp Mrs. Dash - original blend (I did not have either Lawry's or Mrs. Dash, so substituted with 2 tsp of my favorite "Possum" all purpose seasoning, which has no MSG)
4 T lemon juice (I didn't have any so left this out)

Peel, chop and boil potatoes. Cook carrots in steamer. When potatoes are done, reserve 1 cup of potato water. Drain the rest. Mix the milk, water, and oil with the potato water. In blender, alternate batches of veggies (cooked carrots and potatoes) and liquids. When all the veggies and liquids are blended, add the seasonings to complete the sauce. It will be quite orange in color but it tones down considerably in the oven! You will use approximately half of this sauce (3-4 cups) for one batch of this recipe. Freeze the rest for later use.

Macaroni and Not Cheese Assembly

Meanwhile, cook 3-4 cups of macaroni noodles. Drain. In a large bowl combine the cooked noodles, sauce, 2 beaten eggs, and meat if desired. Stir and pour into casserole pan. Cover with bread crumbs (or if you're me, your delicious Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Mix!) and drizzle one stick of melted butter on top. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes, depending on your oven temp.


Verdict: Fun to make (I love using my blender!) , loved by the children, and a good way to sneak in some veggies. A winner! Thanks Jennifer!