Low Fat Mac and Cheese with Broccoli

I don't have a normal food log today.  I do, however, have some meal ideas for you.  Coming up with something new for dinner can be a real drag when you are diabetic or dieting.  I have a few standards that I always go back to: Stir-Fry, Taco Salad, Chicken with Salad, Soup, and then I'm out of ideas.  While there is nothing wrong with this menu, it does get a little monotonous. This weekend I made a homemade Mac and Cheese that was WAYYYY lower in fat and pumped up in nutrition with the addition of broccoli, (FAMILY LOVED IT.) I also made a pork loin roast and celery with peanut butter.  I stuffed my fridge with fruits and veggies so that is mostly what we ate this weekend.  Snacks were cherries and strawberries. We ate watermelon until we were covered in red sticky juice, and we piled our plates with avocados and tomatoes.

This is pasta boiling in skim milk instead of water. Well actually only simmering.  If you let it boil, bad things can happen to milk.  Cooking the pasta in the milk allows the mac and cheese to get creamy without the standard white sauce.  (This is 3 cups uncooked pasta and 3 1/2 cups 1% milk.)

I didn't use the cream cheese photographed here, because the pasta was creamy enough and I didn't want to add any extra calories.  I only used about a cup of the cheddar cheese and then I used a few slices of reduced fat swiss cheese.  I am not a swiss cheese fan, but in a recipe like this, a bite of strong cheese is really helpful for adding taste with just a small amount of cheese. Yes I do add mustard, and that is some onion powder in front of it.

This is for the top of the casserole. It is a little less than a cup. You can skip this step.

I ended up adding double this amount of broccoli.  Just line your pan and spray it with cooking oil.  I used olive oil. Then add bite sized portions of broccoli.

I added the swiss cheese directly to the noodles and milk and stirred.  It is only 3 thin sliced pieces.

Then I added the cheddar and the mustard and the onion powder. (about 1 Tbl mustard and 1/2 tsp onion poweder.)

See how creamy.  You could serve it like this, but I wanted the broccoli in there.

So I dumped it over the top of the broccoli and then added a tiny bit (about 1/4 cup) milk over the top, to make sure there was enough liquid to cook the broccoli.

Crush a few of these.  I only used a very small few.  One handful is enough for the whole top of the casserole, and of course, you can leave this off.  You can also use toasted bread crumbs or panko.

I also added the last of the cheese.

bake at 375 for about 20 min. until the top is golden.