Recently, I was at an event where they had a bunch of food trucks out, and one of those food trucks was the Grilled Cheese truck. Of course, their entire menu looked absolutely incredible, but as is usually the case, they don’t have nutrition facts; and I’m sure if I asked them to weigh each ingredient as they prepared it, they would laugh at me. Or tell me to “live a little.”
Anyway! I took a picture of their menu so that I could go home and replicate these ideas in my own kitchen, with my own ingredients, with the food carefully measured so that I may know the nutrition facts. The result? Grilled Mac ‘n Cheese Sandwich. This post will offer two recipes, since I first need to tell you how to make my new Mac ‘n Cheese recipe; then I’ll go into the Grilled part of it.
So first, cook your pasta– I choose a wheat (mostly whole grain) medium shell pasta. I cooked a serving, which is 56g of pasta. While that’s cooking, you can exercise immense self control and prepare your bowl to accept the pasta by putting 4g of butter and 100g of cottage cheese in it.
Once the pasta is finished, put it into the bowl, and add 34 of colby jack cheese on top. Salt to taste (which if you’re me, happens to be a fair amount). Voila! Mac ‘n Cheese that is incredibly delicious!
This picture doesn’t quite do it justice. . .
Recap of Ingredients + Nutrition Facts for Mac ‘n Cheese
Ingredients: 56g Wheat Medium Shell Pasta; 4g Salted Butter; 100g Cottage Cheese; 34g Colby Jack Cheese.
Nutrition Facts: 425.5 Calories; 47g Carbohydrates; 20g Fat; 25g Protein.
Let’s take it one step further. . .
Oh yeah.
Two slices of whole grain bread and another 4g of butter with the previous ingredient list gives us our Grill Mac ‘n Cheese Sandwich. Butter two slices of whole grain bread and start your skillet at a medium temperature. Placing the butter side down, lay down a piece of bread, and place Mac ‘n Cheese on top, liberally. Place the other slice on top with the butter side up. Cook to the desired crispiness.
#NomNomNom
How was it?
I absolutely love my Mac ‘n Cheese– I think it’s incredible! My Grilled Mac ‘n Cheese needs a little refinement. It was incredibly delicious, but I feel like it needs a little bit more colby jack cheese added during the grilling phase. Next time I’ll probably add about 10g of cheese, but it was still fantastic!
Recap of Ingredients + Nutrition Facts for Grilled Mac ‘n Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients: 56g Wheat Medium Shell Pasta; 76g (2 slices) Whole Grain Bread; 8g Salted Butter, 100g Cottage Cheese; 34g Colby Jack Cheese.
Nutrition Facts: 635 Calories; 83g Carbohyrdrates; 22g Fat; 33g Protein.
Important note: Neither of these are low Calorie options; compared to their “real world” counterparts, they may be a better options, but they’re still incredibly energy dense. And filling. And delicious!