House Spouse

I made this slow cooker mac & cheese a couple weeks ago, and my reaction was mixed.

There’s not any dairy in this recipe which is interesting. The “cheese” sauce is made with white beans and cashews and while creamy and tasty, it doesn’t taste cheesy. For me, that’s a not-so-good thing. For others, I think the creamy texture is what they’re looking for in a mac & cheese dish.

This picture is actually the concoction that’s about to go into the slow cooker, which is unfortunate because I think this is when the dish was at its best.

I’m sharing the recipe because I do think this is one that’s worth trying. I will be tweaking it to my liking, because it could be a nice go-to for comfort food days.

Mac & Cheese Florentine
from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

Ingredients:
8 oz elbow macaroni
10-oz package frozen chopped spinach (cooked and well drained)
2 T olive oil
1 med yellow onion, chopped
1/2 c unsalted, raw cashews
1 3/4 c ater
1 15-oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 T white miso paste
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp dry mustard
pinch of nutmeg
salt
1/2 c dry bread crumbs

Directions:
Cook the macaroni until al dente. Drain. Toss in the spinach and set aside.

Heat 1 T of oil in a medium skillet and sauté the onion. Set this aside.

Grind the cashews to a powder in a blender or food processor. Add 1 c of the water and blend until smooth. Add the onion, beans, miso paste, the rest of the water, the lemon juice, mustard and nutmeg and season with salt. Blend this until it’s smooth. Pour the sauce over the macaroni and spinach and mix well.

Transfer this to a lightly oiled crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 3 hours.

Before serving, sauté the bread crumbs in the remaining oil for 3 to 4 minutes or until they are toasty. Sprinkle these over the top of the casserole.

So, as grumpy as I get about being on this diet, I do love the Allowance Points on Weight Watchers. They’re like the the roll-over minutes on my cell phone plan that re-set if unused!

I had some to use this weekend, so on Sunday, in kind of a celebratory mood, I made muffins. Cheese and onion muffins and lemon blueberry muffins. Because the best way to reward sticking to a diet is with food.

These muffins really are the best the day you bake them, so enjoy them as near to the time they emerge from the oven as possible. Using things like low-fat milk and reduced fat cheese really do help in the points department. Just tell your friends or family to slather on the butter while you enjoy them plain. I calculated both these recipes using WW tools and learned that the cheese muffins are 4 points each and the blueberry muffins are 3 points a piece.

The recipes are after the jump.
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Recently, Andrew and I decided to really hunker down and start penny pinching. We have some financial goals that we weren’t really getting any closer to.

One of the biggest money drainers for us has been take out. Sometimes we get home from work and school and we’re just so tired and unwilling to make dinner. One way I’m fighting off this culprit: peanut noodles. I’m obsessed. They’re so tasty and easy and cheap! Just cook and drain noodles (soba, whole wheat, regular spaghetti), steam some broccoli (or any other veggies you’ve got on hand) and toss with a peanut sauce.
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