- Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hacks
- Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hacker
- Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hack With Ice
- Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hack Bar
- Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hack Cheese
I am by nature a “yes, and” woman. Especially when it comes to food. I embrace the full range of the spectrum, because yes, I love perfect thrice-cooked frites made with an organic potato cooked in duck fat and served with a white truffle aioli for dipping. AND I like a McDonald’s French fry, so hot out of the fryer it threatens the integrity of the roof of my mouth, dunked in classic Heinz ketchup.
Optavia Sweet Potato Cheesecake – Fueling Hack My mother had an idea to create a pumpkin pie out of the Honey Sweet Potato fueling. In a happy accident, it ended up being more like a cheesecake consistancy.
- Over the past 15 years, the pounds continued to creep up on me until I reached my all time high weight of 205 lbs. Since then, I have lost 45 pounds on the Optavia plan! Anyone who knows me knows I love to cook but my love for helping others and sharing recipes is greater!
- Visit CookingtoLose.com/mac-cheese-waffle for more info.
Which means I have a 'yes and' relationship with macaroni and cheese. I like a Classic Baked Mac and Cheese. I like a punchy stovetop macaroni and cheese. I like a slightly healthier mac and cheese that sneaks in extra vegetables, or one that sneaks in ham or chicken. Fancy ones made with smoked gouda, or down home versions starring Velveeta, all have a place on my plate.
I make a homemade mac and cheese so decadent and delicious that it made a convert of my traditionally mac-eschewing husband. He still doesn’t much like mac and cheese, but he loves MY mac and cheese.
But let’s be clear, I am also unapologetic in my adoration of both the frozen Stouffer’s mac, and my passion for the original blue box of Kraft. I don’t usually buy the Stouffer’s unless I am having that particular craving, but I always have one or two boxes of emergency Kraft in the pantry.
RELATED:We Tried 5 Brands of Instant Mac and Cheese and This Was the Best
What’s so wonderful about boxed mac and cheese?
Like many during these unprecedented times, I have been craving comfort foods—especially those that evoke memories from my childhood. In a time of uncertainty and when your baseline mental state is a hum of buzzing anxiety, food that evokes a time when you trusted the grownups to make smart decisions to keep you safe is a very good thing. So, it is no wonder that during my initial pandemic pantry stock-up, I bought a five-pack of Kraft Mac & Cheese, and am down to just one box left. As someone who tends to only eat it once or twice a year, four boxes in four months is a lot. But it has made me happy, soothed jangled nerves, and fed my soul as much as my stomach and for that I am grateful.
It has also led me to the single greatest mac hack I have ever discovered (and if someone else invented it first, don’t @ me).
RELATED:What's Actually in Kraft Mac & Cheese?
The ultimate boxed mac and cheese hack
Because for some weird reason, in an era when all I have is time on my hands, I really wanted to make my mac and cheese even faster and easier, and in doing do, accidentally made it better! Not wanting to wait for the pasta water to boil, or to add the step of draining, I gave my mac a one-pot makeover and I will definitively never make it any other way. Even better? I upped the creaminess while reducing the fat, and I did not add any additional ingredients to those listed on the box.
Here’s what to do:
1. Put 1½ cups of water and ½ cup of milk in a saucepan (this is twice the milk listed on the box but stay with me). Add 1 tablespoon of butter and the dry pasta. Yes, the pasta in the cold water and milk mixture, with a little floating butter nugget.
2. Turn the heat to medium high and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium and hard simmer, stirring every minute or so, until most of the liquid evaporates—about 6 minutes.
4. Add the packet of powdered cheese sauce mix and a second tablespoon of butter, stirring until the mixture thickens and the noodles are fully cooked—about another minute to 90 seconds.
5. Serve and be amazed at how creamy and delicious it all is.
The mac and cheese magic explained
Note that while the milk was doubled, I halved the butter in the recipe. (You can use whole or reduced fat milk per your taste, but if you use skim you might want to up the butter just a smidge more). Still, the mac was the creamiest version I have ever had, and the cheese sauce was luxurious and had fully merged with the pasta instead of just being a soupy slick on the outside.
The reason is simple: Like in any one-pot pasta, minimal liquid becomes intensely saturated with the starch coming off the cooking pasta, making your sauce silky and eliciting great texture. It amps up a creamy mouth-feel without needing to add so much butter. The fact that you then are at about an 8-10-minute bowl of mac, with only one pot and one spoon to wash, and no need to dig the colander out of the cabinet, is an extra little mac miracle.
So, whether you are having a once-in-a-great-while indulgence of a childhood fave or have a weekly mac attack; if you are cooking solo or for your kids; I bet once you try this version you may never go back… except for seconds.
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Jump to RecipeOkay I have got to share this Optavia Pizza Hack! I’ve posted a few pics on Instagram of my attempts. But I’ve finally got a nailed down recipe to share with everyone!
I love pizza, who doesn’t!?! My husband and I used to get pizza once a month regularly. Always the same order too. It was a go to winner when neither of us were up for cooking.
Once I started to eat healthier and try to lose some weight we tried all different kinds of pizza crust. Almond flour crust was pretty good. The cauliflower crusts pizzas were okay but always a little weird. Over all they just weren’t pizza enough!
Once I started the Optavia diet I thought my pizza days were behind me. I didn’t want to buy an expensive cauliflower pizza crust and fill up my freezer if I didn’t have to. Especially when I didn’t really like them anyway. The almond crusts had way too many carbs. There was no way I could fit that in my daily carb count. I definitely went through some pizza withdrawal.
Instead of throwing in the towel, I started experimenting with the Optavia bread hacks. I couldn’t get the Rosemary Biscuit to get crispy without getting dry. Luckily, the Garlic Smashed potato packet makes really great crust! It took a little bit of tweaking to get that balance of crispy crust and a doughy middle but I think we got it!
The technique to make this pizza crust is just another adaptation of the Garlic Potato Bagel recipe on Pinterest. (Click here if you haven’t tried those yet because they are delicious!) Typical to most Optavia hacks you need a liquid protein to bind everything together and some leavening to make it rise. The trick here is to get the bread crispy on both sides.
Since this is more of a technique than a recipe I created a video walking you through the process. I highly suggest watching that first. It will make the blind bake so much easier.
Heads up this is my first cooking video. And it’s sideways. I’ll get better!
Optavia Pizza Hack
Equipment
- 2 Baking sheets
Ingredients
Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hacks
Pizza Crust
- 1packetGarlic Smashed Potato Packet1 Fueling
- 2Egg Whites*1/7 Leanest
- 1tspBaking Powder**2 Condiments
Pizza Toppings
- 1/4cupPizza Sauce***1 Green
- 1/2cupSliced white mushrooms1 Green
- 3ozReduced Fat Shredded Mozzarella3/4 Lean
- 1.5ozGround Beef 1/4 Leaner
- 2Black Olives sliced1/4 Fat
Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hacker
Instructions
Bake Crust
- Mix together the garlic potato packet and baking powder.
- Pour batter onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Top with another piece of parchment paper and spread out the batter to a 1/8 of an inch circle.
- Top with second baking sheet so the crust is sandwiched between the two sheets.
- Bake for 8 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hack With Ice
Add Toppings to Pizza
Optavia Cheesy Buttermilk Cheddar Mac Hack Bar
- While crust is baking, brown ground beef in a saute pan, wash the mushrooms, and measure your toppings.
- When crust is done, pull out of oven put aside top baking sheet and peel back the top layer of parchment paper. Be careful as paper might stick at this step.
- Bake for another 8 minutes. When the pizza is ready it should slide right off the parchment paper and easily transfer to a plate.