Macaroni & cheese is a favorite of almost everyone I know. What’s not to love-tons of cheese and pasta too lol! It is a calorie bomb though and all the carbs and cheese aren’t really doing your body any good either. So I took a spin on it by using buffalo chicken as an inspiration. It is soooooo good! I truly urge you to make this easy recipe! It is lower calorie, lower fat, and lower carbs than traditional & has a healthy dose of protein too. It tastes rich and is very flavorful though so you won’t feel like you’re missing out at all 😉
Ingredients:
*4 ounces (raw) or 3 ounces cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
*Your favorite buffalo chicken wing or hot sauce (I like Franks)
*6 ounces (168 grams) of Barilla Plus elbow pasta
*16 ounces of 1% low fat cottage cheese
*1/2 cup 2% mozzarella cheese
*1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
Preheat oven to 350.
Boil chicken in water on stovetop until thoroughly cooked and white throughout. Skip this step if you’re using precooked chicken.
Place cooked chicken on plate or bowl and shred or chop it small. Then add chicken wing or hot sauce to taste. I used about 4 tablespoons.
Next cook pasta according to package directions for el dente (7 minutes).
(My pasta patiently waiting to bathe haha!)
Once cooked, drain it and set aside for now.
Next we are going to start working on the cheese part of this recipe 😉
To make cheese sauce you will need a blender or food processor. Place cottage cheese and mozzarella in blender and add 1 tablespoon of water. Blend and if you need to add an additional tablespoon of water so it will blend then you can. If 2 tablespoons of water isn’t enough to get the mixture moving then simply blend it the best you can with 2 tablespoons. Please do not add more than 2 tablespoons water maximum!!! The sauce should be super thick and creamy as shown below.
Grease a square pan well with nonstick spray. Dump pasta into baking dish then stir cheese sauce and add the cheese sauce and chicken mixture to the pasta and stir well.
Finish this off by adding the blue cheese across the top of it.
Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes or until melty ;).
I like to add a little extra chicken wing sauce to top and serve with a salad on the side. Yum!!!
Makes 4 servings
Per serving:
375 calories
10.5 grams fat
33.5 carbs
3 grams fiber
36.8 grams protein
This freezes really well too. Just defrost/reheat in microwave for a quick dinner on a busy day!
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