Category: Macaroni

Macaroni Cabbage Salad

The Sunshine Inn Blog2 Comments

Macaroni Cabbage Salad

  • Servings: 10
  • Difficulty: Easy
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With summer finally here, macaroni salad seems to be a staple in the summer. Like everything else, if you always make it the same, it becomes predicable and ordinary. I always seem to have extra cabbage in the house so I thought, why not. It will give it a crunch. Also I was short on mayo so I thought I’d do oil and vinegar and lemon juice. Here is the end result.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 head of a medium cabbage sliced really thin
  • 4 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 1 large carrot chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper chopped
  • 1 orange bell pepper chopped
  • 4 medium branches of celery chopped
  • 10 oz (uncooked) elbow macaroni
  • 3 tbsp of granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup of lemon juice, fresh preferred but Realemon Lemon Juice is a good substitute
  • 1/4 cup of white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp of chilli flakes (optional)
  • 1 tsp of paprika
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook elbow macaroni to al dente.
  2. Once pasta is cooked, drain and immediately rinse with cold water until pasta is cool to the touch.
  3. In a very large mixing bowl put cabbage, garlic, onions, carrot, all three peppers, celery and cooled pasta. Mix well.
  4. In a smaller mixing bowl, put vinegar, lemon juice, oil, sugar, chilli flakes, paprika, salt and pepper and mix very well until sugar is dissolved.
  5. Pour over pasta and vegetable mixture and coat well.
  6. Chill for an hour and serve.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 197
  • Fat 6.3 g
  • Sugar 6.5 g
  • Carbohydrates 30.7 g
  • Protein 4.5 g
  • Fibre 3 g

Pot lucks, picnics, and BBQs just scream for macaroni salad. Well at least they do here. I’ve always worried about it being out too long because of the mayo and feared it would turn bad. This recipe put my mind at ease. Now of course, this is one recipe that you can play with a lot. You have extra avocados, throw that in, it won’t go black because of the vinegar and lemon juice. You want asparagus that you have left over in the fridge, in it goes. Same with broccoli. This is a great way to use up your left over veggies. The only one I would really want to cook is the asparagus (too tough if not cooked).

This recipe screams for you to have fun and make it your own.

Velvetta Tomato Mac and Cheese

The Sunshine Inn Blog2 Comments

Velvetta Tomato Mac and Cheese

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Mac and Cheese is very popular right now. You go to almost any restaurant and it’s on the menu. This recipe is actually quite old. I’ve used variations of this recipe for at least 40 years. It is economical, relatively healthy and can be modified in so many ways, we could probably fill up a whole recipe book with all it’s versions. You can use this as a base or as is.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of elbow macaroni
  • 300 g of velvetta light cheese chopped into small pieces (11 ounces)
  • 1 cup of low fat milk (I used almond milk)
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 1 can of tomato condensed soup (I used Alymer low sodium)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp of butter or margarine
  • 1 tbsp of cajun spices

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
  2. Cook pasta until al dente and drain (reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Set aside.
  3. In the same pot, melt butter and add onion. Stir until translucent and tender.
  4. Reduce heat to medium low, and add milk, water, tomato soup, and cheese.
  5. Stir until cheese is melted and this is a nice smooth sauce. If too thick, add a little milk. It might seem a little runny but don’t worry it will get absorbed into the pasta,
  6. Add spices, salt and pepper.
  7. Add pasta and stir to cover all of the pasta and make sure that the pasta is warm.
  8. Serve. That easy.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 437
  • Fat 8 g
  • Sugar 12 g
  • Carbohydrates 67 g
  • Protein 19.5 g
  • Fibre 5.1 g

So as you see this was easy peasy. This is a very economical meal. I looked at the prices for the cheese and the pasta vs Kraft Dinner. Mind you there is nothing wrong with Kraft dinner but there is more sugar, less calcium and vitamins and if you are not using generic mac and cheese, can actually be more expensive with Kraft Dinner. I’ve written a comparison between Kraft Cheez whiz, Kraft Velvetta light and Kraft dinner, see Economical Comparison of Velvetta, Cheez Whiz and Kraft Dinner. On the average you can make this for approximately 1.10 a plate. Now is the fun part, I was asked what about veggies. This is not a balanced meal and they were right. I suggested a nice green salad with this, or you can add spinach, steamed broccoli or streamed cauliflower. You can also add drained canned veggies or thawed and drained frozen veggies. All depends on your budget and/or tastes. If you want to add protein feel free to do so, including a very economical black bean or white kidney bean drained. This is where I tell you have fun and make it your own.