Healthy Macaroni & Cheese Recipe _ Nikki Dinki's Kraft Style Mac & Cheese

Hey guys , it's Danny .

And today we are leveling up macaroni and cheese .

Now , full disclosure , I'm not a macaroni and cheese kind of girl , which is why it is taking me so long to get you guys a macaroni and cheese recipe .

But I was super excited the other day because I'm on Instagram and I saw the most mouthwatering craft style macaroni and cheese recipe that I you I had to bring directly to you .

Now , just for the record , this recipe was created by Nikki Dinky .

She was one of the finalists on the ninth season of the next Food Network star and I love all of her recipes , but this one was especially calling my name .

So if you want to print this recipe , make sure you head over to her website Nicky dinky dot com .

I will leave a link down in the description box below and you guys can print it out there .

Now , what is so cool about this recipe is that it is loaded with cauliflower and sweet potatoes and it has no milk or butter and about half the amount of cheese that you would find in a traditional macaroni and cheese recipe .

So it's jam packed with flavor and we've kicked up the nutritional value .

So you know what this means ?

Thumbs up .

So first things first you want to get all your ingredients prepped and ready to go .

So what you're gonna need is one teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil .

One small onion chopped up two cloves of sliced garlic .

A half of a medium head of cauliflower cut into big chunks .

So you're gonna need about three cups , one large sweet potato peeled and then cut into bite size chunks .

A cup of low sodium vegetable stock .

Some kosher salt , a little bit of pepper and four ounces of shredded cheddar cheese and four ounces of American cheese , which is six slices .

Now guys , American cheese is no doubt a processed cheese .

But this is the cheese that makes this recipe very craft .

Like if you don't want to do the process , American cheese , just sub it in with any type of cheese you want .

You might lose the box flavor and texture , but you still have a delicious macaroni and cheese .

So make it work for you .

And then finally your pasta .

Now I'm using 12 ounces of a brown rice pasta .

I really like the brown rice pasta .

It's gluten free and it's got a great texture .

But again , any pasta you enjoy is the pasta you're gonna want to use .

Now over on the stove , I've got this nice big pot of water coming up to a boil that's gonna be for our pasta .

And here I have a large nonstick skillet heating up over a medium heat .

Once the skillet's hot , I'm gonna add in my olive oil along with my garlic and my onions .

Give it a little pinch of salt and we'll let that go for about five minutes or so until they're nice and tender .

Then I'm adding in my cauliflower .

My sweet potato and my veggie stock along with one more pinch of salt .

I'm gonna turn up the heat , bring everything to a boil and then we'll reduce it down to a simmer .

Now , you want to pop a lid on this .

I don't have a lid that fits my pan .

So I'm just gonna make this one work point in case use what you have and make it work for you .

After about 15 to 20 minutes , your veggies are gonna be very soft and tender .

That's exactly what you want them to be .

And you should have a little bit of liquid left in the pan .

If you don't go ahead and just pour a little extra stock into the pan , then we're gonna shut the heat off and bring this over to the blender .

Once the veggie mixture has cooled down a bit so that you're comfortable working with it , you're gonna transfer it into the blender , leave the blender top slightly a jar just to let any steam out and go ahead and blend it up .

We want it to be nice and thick and rich and creamy .

If it's not blend easily , just add a little extra broth , a little extra broth until you've got it exactly where you want it .

This is what you're looking for .

Now , we're gonna transfer the veggie mixture back into the pan and then bring it over to the stove and just turn it on a really , really low heat .

Then I'm gonna pause for just a second .

Get my pasta into the pot .

Give it a stir and then set your timer for however long your pasta needs to cook .

This one's gonna take about eight minutes or so .

And then I'm adding my cheese into our veggie mixture .

So I've got that shredded cheddar cheese and then the good old American cheese slices just tear them up and add them in there and keep the heat nice and low and then gently start to fold the cheese in and you will see slowly but surely it will melt into the veggies and you will get this cheesy veggie packed sauce .

Once the pasta is done , you're gonna drain it out .

You want it to be al dente , have a little bite to it and then toss the pasta into the sauce and gently mix until all of the pasta is coated in your cheesy veggie sauce .

Hm .

Mm .

It's got really great flavor and the sauce is rich and creamy and comforting just like you want when you're having macaroni and cheese .

Now I have to tell you this , my friends is definitely the health version of a classic .

Now , I'm gonna be honest , I don't think any health version is gonna be quite like the box .

But if you are looking to level up your mac and cheese , this is your recipe .

So remember if you guys want to give this a try and print the recipe out , I'm gonna leave a link down in the description box below to Nikki's website .

Make sure to head over there and print it out .

And if you like recipes like this , you might want to check out her cookbook as well .

She has a book called Meat on the side .

And so the idea is , is that we eat a lot of veggies with a little bit of meat .

So she's got a lot of delicious creative recipes in there as well .

I'll leave a link to that as well .

But now I want to hear from you .

What do you think ?

Are you gonna give this recipe a try ?

Come on down to the comments below and let me know .

And if you do try it , snap a picture and tag me on Instagram and on Facebook .

So I can see all the clean and deliciousness that you're whipping up in your very own kitchens .

Thanks so much for watching guys .

I'm Danny .

I will see you back here next time with some more clean and deliciousness .

Cheers .

So this my friends is definitely a health version .

So this my friends is definitely a health version of a .

So this my friends is definitely a health versions .

Holy cannoli pal Fighted version of a classic .