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Kids meal: real macaroni & cheese, minute steaks, veggies

This 3 ingredient macaroni and cheese is as easy to make as it sounds! You won’t want to buy the fake packet mac & cheese again!

Kids can be fussy eaters, especially when they are little, but there is one thing that ALL kids like: pasta and its kid-friendly incarnation of mac & cheese. You are probably wondering why I have emphasised that the macaroni and cheese in this recipe is real. Well, it’s because it is made out of real, unprocessed ingredients:

Real mac & cheese

Ingredients: pasta, milk, cheese (and pepper).

Unlike its fake counterpart: the packet stuff readily available from the supermarket. If I was to recreate the exact same flavour and texture of the fake macaroni and cheese, the ingredients list would look something like this:

Fake mac & cheese

Ingredients: pasta (wheatflour, water, colour), vegetable shortening powder (palm oil, glucose syrup solids, milk protein, mineral salt (340), emulsifier (470), anti-caking agent (554)), cheese powder, cheese, salt, maltodextrin, mineral salt (339), food acids (270, 330, 331), colour (annatto), yeast extract, hydrolysed vegetable protein, milk solids non-fat, thickener (1442), buttermilk powder, salt, mineral salt (341).

I’m no expert, but it’s pretty easy to spot the difference.  There is very little in that list that resembles anything remotely unprocessed and natural. And look at all the salt (339,340, 341, salt) – a serving of this stuff makes up nearly 25% of the recommended daily intake! Concerned yet?

I hope so, because the following recipe will help you make real mac & cheese with ease. It only takes a few minutes longer to prepare and I’m pleased to say that it passed the taste test with flying colours! Hopefully, you’ll think twice now about making the fake packet stuff…

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Kids meal: real macaroni & cheese, minute steaks, veggies

Forget fake packet macaroni and cheese full of nasty additives and preservatives. This 3 ingredient Mac & Cheese is as easy to make as it sounds!
Servings: 2 -4

Ingredients

For the Mac & Cheese:

  • 150 g macaroni pasta
  • 60 g grated cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper

For the Minute steaks and veggies

  • 500 g veal or beef schnitzel steaks
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 1 carrot sliced
  • 1 zucchini sliced
  • handful of green beans trimmed

Instructions

To make the mac & cheese:

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and drop in pasta.
  • Stir and cook for 8-10 minutes (or according to packet instructions). Drain then return back to pot.
  • Add milk, cheese and pepper and stir continuously until the cheese melts and sauce thickens.
  • That's it - mac and cheese is ready!

In the meantime, prepare the steaks:

  • Cut steaks into palm-sized pieces. Dust with flour.
  • Heat a little butter in a pan until bubbling.
  • Cook steaks for just under a minute on each side, they will cook further while resting and will remain soft and succulent.

To serve:

  • Serve mac & cheese as a side to your meat and veg, with an extra grating of cheese.

Notes

!#Tip:
I like to cook my veggies in the same pot to save on water and washing up. Remove veggies with tongs when the pasta is al dente. Drain away the water and return pot to heat.
!Recipe at Wholesome Cook
Tried this recipe?Mention @wholesomecook or tag #wholesomecook

 

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6 comments

chocolatesuze March 16, 2011 at 10:11 am

yum i do love a simple homemade mac and cheese!

Reply
Mez March 17, 2011 at 6:28 pm

Oh my stars now I want macaroni cheeeese!!

Yum!!!

Thank you so much for the comment on my blog :) :) :)

Reply
Mez March 17, 2011 at 6:28 pm

Now following you :) :) :)

Reply
Wholesome Cook March 17, 2011 at 7:46 pm

Yay! Thank you too – I enjoyed your writing and will be back :-)

Reply
eatmarvin March 18, 2011 at 12:12 am

Very good point Martyna. Fake Mac and Cheese is a bit of an anomaly. They shouldn’t be selling that. It’s so easy to make Real Mac and Cheese. And it’s heaps tastier too!

Reply
Heidi - Apples Under My Bed March 21, 2011 at 1:12 pm

Fabulous post! Go real, all the way :) I may make this for Ben tonight – he’s like a kid. Maybe add some paprika too!
Heidi xo

Reply

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