Who doesn’t like that ultimate comfort food favourite ‘Mac ‘n’ Cheese’? Chances are you did but have been avoiding it since WLS due to the high fat or tricky high-carb and hard-to-digest-sometimes pasta. Well now it can go back on the menu because here’s a great version that side-steps all the old problems with this classic dish.
We’ve re-formulated by using cauliflower instead of pasta (so it’s not quite ‘mac’) and made a great cheesy sauce with cottage cheese, yogurt and grated low-fat hard cheese that tastes just as good as the old original.
It makes a great vegetarian main meal (perhaps with a little salad) or side dish to accompany some meat, fish or poultry. Add some chopped cooked ham, bacon or other cooked vegetables to ring the changes and play around with your cheese choice too – cottage cheese comes in many flavours and there are low-fat variations of many traditional cheeses to add variety.
And while you’re at it make double quantities because it freezes beautifully – so you can enjoy it at a later date when time might well be at a premium.
WLS patients may well find they can also tolerate this at the ‘amber’ or soft food stage since the cauliflower florets do cook to a very tender consistency – but can also be fork mashed to the desired consistency.
BARIATRIC CAULI-MAC ‘N’ CHEESE
Ingredients
METRIC/US
1 cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets (about 450 g/1 lb)
1 x 300 g carton/1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
250 ml/1 cup low-fat Greek yogurt (I used Fage 0%)
1 egg, beaten
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp wholegrain or English mustard
½ tsp turmeric
100 g/1 cup grated low-fat or regular strong hard cheese (I used mature Cheddar)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F/gas mark 6.
- Cook the cauliflower in a pan of boiling water until tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
- Mix the cottage cheese with the yogurt, egg, garlic, mustard, turmeric, three-quarters of the cheese and salt and pepper to taste.
- Fold the cauliflower into the cheesy mixture then transfer to an ovenproof gratin or baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for about 25 minutes until golden and bubbly. Serve hot.
SERVES 4
WLS PORTION: ½
V suitable for Vegetarians
* suitable for Freezing
CALORIES PER PORTION: 195
PROTEIN: 31.1g
CARBOHYDRATE: 8.5g
FAT: 4.1g
Image copyright © of Bariatric Cookery (UK) Ltd
Janet says
Is it best to freeze before baking?
CAROL says
Yes it is Janet, although I have also frozen a leftover portion which worked well and I quickly zapped it in the microwave to reheat. C x
Kathy says
This says it serves 4. Is that the portion size, 1/4 of the recipe? (It also says wls portion 1/2. Does that mean 1/2 of the regular portion, or 1/2 cup?
CAROL says
Hi Kathy, when it says serves 4 this means it has 4 ‘normal’ (non-wls surgery) portions so that others can also eat the same food. The WLS Portion is then a fraction of this – say 1/2. This means the whole recipe would have 4 normal portions or 8 wls portions. It doesn’t refer to cup size. Hope this explains all you need to know. C x
shelley.evans22 says
Tried this for the first time today and it turned out ok I think! I’ve not eaten cottage cheese before now, but the dish was tasty! I’ve made some to freeze for future meals – thanks Carol.
CAROL says
Glad you have given something different a try Shelley, it helps to widen our food choices! C x