Flax-a-roni and Cheese

There's something about comfort food that's so, well, comforting! One of my favorites is baked macaroni and cheese. It's so delicious, but don't dare consider the pounds and pounds of cheese or cups upon cups of heavy cream. You might gain 10 pounds just thinking about it. NEVER FEAR! Here you go, a recipe for baked macaroni and cheese, the healthy way but no less delish. Scout's honor!

The flax seeds are optional but they add a whole lot of fiber, and you really can't even taste them. Confession, I pretty much put them in because Austin came up with the cute "flax-a-roni and cheese" name.

What you need

For the macaroni
About 2-2 1/2 c. dry elbow noodles (I made more than I needed and then kept the rest for next-day leftovers)
3 Tbsp butter (I used low-fat butter spread)
2 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. parsley flakes

2 Tbsp. oil
5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. skim milk, let it  sit out for a few minutes so it gets closer to room temperature
1 c. cheese shredded or finely diced (I used a combination of cheddar and colby jack but use whatever you like)
1 Tbsp. milled flax seeds
3/4 c. sour cream


For the topping
3 or 4 slices of wheat bread (yields 2 1/4 c. breadcrumbs)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper


What you do
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add in the elbow noodles. Cook according to package directions. Once the noodles are done, drain and rinse them and put them in a bowl.


Preheat oven to 350F. Melt the butter and oil together in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and parsley and sautee for only a couple of minutes so you don't burn the garlic. Whisk in the flour. It gets gloppy. Like the picture below.

Once it achieves said gloppy consistency, whisk in the milk, 3/4 c. of the cheese and flax seeds and continue whisking for about 3-4 minutes or until it thickens to look like the picture below.

Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Pour over noodles in bowl, add remaining cheese, and stir to coat. Grease a 9x13 pan and pour in the mixture. Toast the bread slices in a toaster, cut off crusts and pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Stir in the salt and pepper and feel free to toss in some shredded cheese just for good measure. Sprinkle bread crumb mixture over macaroni and put pan in oven.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until bread crumbs are slightly browned and macaroni is set. Try to limit yourself to 2 servings. Trust me, this is not the easy part.