Quick Mac and Cheese

Bet you never thought you’d see this again, huh? So creamy and delicious. Pasta covered with cheese sauce is pretty much the mortal enemy of the GFCF diet, the antithesis of everything it stands for. But it doesn’t have to be…

First, we start with an acceptable pasta: corn macaroni. There are several brands of rice pasta available as well. Generally we prefer the corn, but it depends on the recipe. Since the cheese sauce we’ll be making is rice-based, it just seems preferable to me to switch it up with the pasta ingredients. But they’re both pretty bland, so whatever floats your boat.

Get the pasta boiling, like you do with pasta.

Now, here comes the cheese sauce. These are Galaxy Foods Rice Cheese slices. Important note: NOT ALL Galaxy fake-cheese products are casein-free. Many fake-cheeses (of all brands) are aimed at people who only need to avoid lactose, and they are actually chock full of casein. Be extra, extra careful when buying cheese substitutes. This is the pepper jack flavor, but you may prefer the cheddar flavor–I think the peppers help to hide the not-cheese taste, but it definitely has a bit of a kick to it.

This recipe is extremely scalable, you can mix up enough for ten people or just one. I’m making three servings, so I’m tearing up three slices of rice cheese in my little bowl.

Now a little almond milk: 1/2 Tablespoon per serving, so for three servings, this is 1 1/2 TBS.

And fake butter. Use 1/2 teaspoon per serving, so 1 1/2 tsp for me. This stuff in a tub is nice because you can scoop out exactly the amount you need, and don’t have to worry about trying to cut skinny little slices off your sticks of fake-butter. (Once again, it’s important to note that not all of the Smart Balance “buttery spreads” are casein-free, and some of the packages look remarkably similar. I think this one marked “now with flax oil” might be the only one, in fact. Always check your labels!)

Microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time, until everything is melted. Why am I stirring this with a knife? I have no idea.

Then just add it to your drained pasta. Couldn’t be easier!

And hey, the yellow color of the pasta even makes it look like I used a yellow cheese! In the interest of full disclosure, I will tell you that I’m not personally in love with this recipe. It doesn’t taste bad by any means–it’s by far the best one we’ve tried–but I just can’t get past the fact that it still doesn’t taste “right.” This is why I generally advocate the philosophy of Avoid, Rather Than Replace. But all the kids love it, and so does the GFCFHusband, so clearly it’s just my own hangup. Sometimes the kids just gotta have their mac and cheese, you know? When they’re happy, I’m happy.

Happy Eating!

Quick GFCF Mac and Cheese (Makes one serving)

1/2 cup corn macaroni elbows
1 slice Galaxy Rice Cheese Slices (double check for casein-free kind!)
1/2 TBS almond milk
1/2 tsp GFCF margarine