I’m not sure what it’s like in your house, but sometimes it feels like we are celebrating National Mac ‘N Cheese Day every day in ours. My daughter loooooooves her some boxed mac and if we don’t have that, I make what we affectionately call “Mama Mac” – buttered noodles with a sprinkle of shredded cheese. I know, I’m a trailblazer.
Aside from all of this, I feel like I have been in a serious food rut lately and having trouble coming up with dinner ideas that are healthy and also kid-approved. It’s one of life’s unanswerable questions. However, I have found that some of our best dinners are ones that can be easily customized for each person. My husband and I can load up on veggies and the kids can eat as much (or as little) as they please.
Well, this is one of our favorites and I also get to sneak in some extra veggies for the littles. We probably do this at least once a month because it’s easy, everyone likes it, it’s relatively cheap, and there are always leftovers.
Mac Bar
- Elbow Macaroni
- Cheese(s) of your choosing
- Milk
- Flour
- Frozen Cauliflower
Use your favorite homemade mac ‘n cheese recipe or do the bare minimum like me! I just make a box of elbow macaroni noodles and a basic cheese sauce. I season with salt and pepper and call it a day. My sneaky veggie is a bag of frozen cauliflower that I steam in the microwave and then dump in the cheese sauce and use an immersion blender until it’s smooth. You could also dump the whole thing in the blender. However, I will warn that I generally use a little extra cheese to balance the extra water from the cauliflower.
And the best part… add the fixins’! We don’t have the same mix-ins every time and it depends heavily on what we already have in our fridge/freezer, but these are some of our favorites:
- Bacon
- Shredded Chicken
- Sauteed Mushrooms
- Spinach
- Roasted Broccoli
- Pesto
- Sundried Tomatoes
- Green Onion
- Frozen Peas
- BBQ sauce
- Literally, any leftover sauteed veggie that you have
Everyone gets to do their own thing and everyone enjoys it. I also don’t care how many veggies my kids are eating because I secretly know they are at least getting some in the cheese sauce. It’s a win for everyone.
I hope you and your family get to enjoy National Mac ‘N Cheese Day with a delicious Mac Bar and a dinner free of whining.
