Saturday, December 24, 2011

Baked Mac and Cheese (our fav recipe so far!)

I found a recipe for Baked Mac and Cheese in my October issue of Cooking Light. I changed it up a bit since I thought the amount of cheese the recipe called for was way too little for me. (I know it's Cooking Light so I am sure that is the reason why the amount of cheese in the recipe is only one cup, but hey when I want mac and cheese I want it to be cheesy!)

Ingredients

3 cups (12 oz) pasta (I used the pasta that looks like a cork screw?)
1 (12 oz) carton 2% low-fat cottage cheese
2 to 3 cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano (recipe called for fresh parmesan but I had pecorino in my fridge that I had to use up and I found it worked very well in this recipe)
1 TBSP milk 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp basil or oregano
dash of nutmeg
3 TSP breadcrumbs/Panko

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Cook pasta according to directions on the box, omitted salt. Drain and place in large bowl. Then place cottage cheese in blender or food processor, process until smooth. .
Combine cottage cheese, 2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup pecorino romano, salt, pepper,basil/oregano,and nutmeg.
Add pasta to the cheese mixture, add milk and stir well. Spoon mixture into 11x7 inch glass pan. Combine breadcrumbs and rest of pecorino romano and sprinkle on top of the pasta. Add rest of the grated cheddar cheese.


Bake for 15-20 minutes