Comfort Food

Anyone else out there have a food or food group that you can just never seem to get away from? No matter how hard you try, your willpower loses the battle and you pick taste over a flat stomach? For me, the answer is yes, without a doubt.

As long as I can remember, two foods have dominated my meal patterns.  Pasta. And. Cheese. Woof.

It just doesn’t get any worse than those two foods, especially when combined, huh?  So as the years have gone by and I’ve chosen to (attempt to) live a much healthier lifestyle, I constantly look for ways to trick myself into thinking I am eating my two favorite cellulite-causers. Clever, right? Too bad it almost never works.

So what is my point here, you ask? Well as I mentioned in Monday’s post, I cooked up a new, healthy recipe last weekend, which was a great step in my coloring strides. But what makes this even better, is that I was able to find a “healthier” substitute for one of those deliciously, fattening meals that I just love, oh-so-much.

Through my friends and co-workers, I’ve been hearing a lot lately about Quinoa and how you can use it in the place of any grain, which tickled my fancy and got my trying-to-look-good-for-bathing-suit-season brain stirring with possibilities. So I took it upon myself to do a little research and found a couple different recipes for Baked Quinoa and Spinach Mac and Cheese, and before I knew it, I was in my kitchen Saturday afternoon cooking away.

Here are a couple pictures and a breakdown of the steps. I feel like I should add a big, red disclaimer here that I am completely aware that this isn’t the healthiest meal of all time, (one of the cellulite-causers did rear its ugly head after all – cheese- ), but at least pasta was avoided, right? Baby steps.

Ingredients:

Whisk flour and butter together. Add in cheese, milk and spices to create a cheese sauce.

Add spinach to the cheese sauce and then combine with cooked quinoa. Add breadcrumbs and cheese to the top and then bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Taaa-daaa... and it was really delicious. Of course, it will never be as yummy as the original Mac N' Cheese, but perhaps more enjoyable, knowing you're eating for health and comfort all at the same time - and maybe a flat stomach? We'll see. 

Here's to a happy and healthy hump day!


P.S., one of my dear friends who actually inspired me to write a blog did a post on this as well. Check out her blog here.