Hidden Veggies Make this Mac and Cheese Both Tasty and Festive!
Every year right before St. Patrick’s Day everyone likes to get a little Irish and you will see Pinterest flooded with green treats, four leaf clover and rainbow art, traditional Irish recipes, and everything Guinness. Since marrying and becoming an O’Meara I have a new appreciation of everything green. Normally to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day I would bake a treat full of Guinness or Jameson and we would try to make a traditional Irish meal. I wanted to come up with a way to include our wee little one in the Irish festivities, so we bought her a new book; How To Catch A Leprechaun but I still needed something more.
I was tempted to dive into the world of everything green. Unfortunately, majority of “green” recipes get their four leaf clover color through food coloring, and that wasn’t something I wanted to add to my daughters food. So I started to think a little outside of the box. And came up with a green mac and cheese that uses kale to turn it green, rather than food coloring.
I started with cooking the pasta just like normal. I choose to use a whole wheat pasta, but you could really use any pasta you want. Next time I plan on trying this recipe with Barilla’s green veggie pasta. Once the pasta was cooked, simply drain and toss with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to help the pasta from sticking together.
While my pasta was cooking I took the opportunity to shred the 8oz of cheese needed for the mac and cheese. You can buy your cheese shredded if you want, but I find it much more cost efficient to shred my own cheese with my food processor.
Once the pasta was ready and the cheese was shredded, I used our blender to puree the milk and kale together to make a green liquid.
The rest is quick and easy. Pour the green liquid back into the pot you used to cook your pasta and toss in the shredded cheese. Set the heat to a medium-high and allow to cook until the cheese is melted.
Remove from heat and toss with pasta in the same pot. Then transfer your mac and cheese to a glass casserole dish and bake.
Once finished baking top with some fresh grated parmesan cheese.
Then you can either serve it in the glass casserole dish or transfer to a more decorative dish. I like to transfer the mac and cheese to a smaller dish. That way we aren’t tempted to keep eating it, and so we have enough for leftover night!
I hope all of you have a day filled with green, a little luck, and I wish you all, Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!
St. Patrick's Day Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 Box of Pasta (13.25 ounces)
- 8 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese
- 2 cups Kale
- 1 cup milk
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Fresh Parmesan to grate over top.
Instructions
- Prepare pasta as directed on box, drain, and toss with extra virgin olive oil. Set off to side.
- Shred sharp cheddar cheese. Set off to side.
- Blend milk and kale until no visible chunks of kale remain.
- Over medium heat cook green liquid and cheese until cheese is melted. Stirring often.
- Toss cheesy green liquid with pasta and pour into glass casserole dish.
- Cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
- Top with fresh grated parmesan cheese.
Hi, I’m Tara. I am a military spouse and mommy of one. I love that recipes can be used as learning tools for children. A good recipe with lots of ingredients at deferent measurements is the perfect yummy addition to any math or science lesson! In my free time I enjoy spending time with my amazing husband, two crazy puppies and adorable little girl. I share our military life adventures, kitchen creations and kid friendly crafts over at An Aiming High Wife, come visit anytime! You can also follow me on Facebook and Pinterest!
Add Comment