All About Annie's Mac and Cheese

                                                                 

I love macaroni and cheese, I could eat it everyday without complaint. Since I love mac and cheese so much, I often try and find ways to jazz it up. Above is an MS Paint rendering of the flavors that I have tried in the past month or so. Before I give you my opinion I think you should know a little about how I make Mac & Cheese, I seldom use milk or butter. If I use a milk product it will likely be Horizon organic half and half (1.79 for the pint at Target) , if I use butter it is Kerry Gold garlic butter ($1.99 a stick, I'll review this later). Mostly I just use Stonyfield plain yogurt. I don't use a certain amount. Each box of Mac has it's own mystical consistently based upon flavor and I find the eyeballing method is best. I even go so far as to use the utensils that we'll be eating with to mix it so I have one less utensil to wash. If I find the first dollop of yogurt was insufficient, I use other spoon to heap in the extra to keep the yogurt clean. This kind of noodle benefits most from being properly cooked. When you over cook the noodles it steals a lot of the flavor. In order to properly gauge cooking time I employ the slotted spoon and the cold water technique. Every minute or so I will steal a noodle douse it in cold water and eat it. When it is to your liking you strain and so on. The issue I find with every Annie's mac is that the powder mixes in really poorly, probably because they don't have a bunch of BS in it. It's a sacrifice I am willing to make. Now onto the flavors themselves. Left to right, top to bottom.

The Bunny Pasta is one of my all time favorites. I have along standing belief that shaped noodles make Mac taste a million times better. I believe it has something to do with surface area. The flavor is cheddar and it's much like it's processed Kraft companion a nice mild cheddar. I recommend pepper and maybe a little paprika in this one. I also thought mustard would be good if you liked such a thing, but I for one dislike mustard.

Cheesy Taco Mac, what can I say, YUM. It was made with sour cream and a little garlic herb butter, then garnished in fresh green onion. This was a hit in our house. It gave you a pretty bold taco flavor and I felt it would have benefited from some sauteed peppers and onions, and/or faux meat crumbles. It was satisfyingly junky like I was eating some Taco Bell. I realllllly enjoyed it and immediately regretted taking so long to try it. I will make up for lost time.

The Aged Cheddar and Shells is another epic flavor. I am a huge fan of a strong cheese and this flavor delivers. The noodles are really easy to keep from over cooking and offer a nice chew. This one gets my approval. I have jazzed it up using everything from green onions to zucchini.

The Organic 5-grain mac, it's not the best, their white cheese doesn't have much flavor, but if you jazz it up, it is good for you in the sense that  it's made from good for you stuff. It tastes healthy.

The Blue Box, this is the OG normal mac, it's good, but it isn't my first choice. It has a mild flavor and normal elbow noodles. If you miss Kraft this is a good bet.

Shells and White Cheddar, the white cheese in this one is better than the one in the 5 grain mac, it's not as bland, the shells offer a nice chew and the powder blends a little better than any of the others. It's pretty yum.


What's your favorite Mac and Cheese?

Organic and GMO free bar reviews

I am lazy, I'll admit it. I need fast easy food. I won't eat sometimes just to avoid having to prepare something. All of the bars I will be reviewing today came from Big Lots. Big Lots has lots of organic food for reasonable prices, however they don't always have the best flavors of said organic products.

Odewalla brand Berries GoMega superfood bars I have see them for 6 dollars a box, I picked them up at Big Lots for $2.50- Their texture is dense they are very fruity (which I shouldn't dislike, but I still have synthetic taste buds) They taste very very... healthy. I have to make myself eat one, but they are fairly good for you if you eat them as a meal which I believe is intended. (210 calories, 6gr fat, 36 carbs, 5gr fiber, 16gr sugar DV of A 10% Calcium and Folate 25% and E a whopping 50%). I felt like a child who was being forced to eat something they hated grudgingly ordering my teeth to chew and begging my throat to swallow. 

Health Valley Organic Strawberry Bars don't know the retail I purchased them $1.50 for 5 bars. They are dry like a pop tart is dry. They are like a nutri-grain bar. We also purchased these once upon a time in apple cobbler and found that flavor unpleasant. The strawberry is a hit, but I would recommend some almond milk to go with.

Lara Bar Chocolate Chip Brownie $8 for the 16 bar pack at Big Lots (see what I mean about big lots) that pack I believe to be in the $20 range. I had trouble parting with $8 for a box of bars we'd never tried, but they are fairly good. The first ingredient is dates, which you can taste, but is well masked by chocolate. I enjoyed the almonds and walnuts found throughout and though I believe the company is owned by another company that is disreputable, I am not displeased with my purchase. This tastes healthy without being off-putting, you aren't getting some processed fiber1 faux brownie, but it is one I would also call a meal replacement (200 calories, 9gr fat, 23gr sugar, 4gr fiber, 4 gr protien) No half bad.

Nature's Path Choconut and MMMaple Pecan at $2.50 a box are little heavenly dessert bars, I tossed the boxes and am too lazy to retrieve the nutrition facts so I will provide you with a link to their site http://us.naturespath.com/. These are freaking good. I could eat them all day. They have a texture like homemade rice crispy treats that you didn't let get cool enough before you ate them and they have killer flavor. We bought 3 boxes because I had a gut feeling we'd love them and there are only a few left in the bar bowl.

Big Lots is my jam.

Vegan" Bisquick" Recipe

If you're like me you love simple no muss cooking, but don't love the additives and extra cost. This is my recipe for healthier" Bisquick"

Equipment:
an air tight container (I love pyrex)
a food processor (by hand is not ideal)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups organic all purpose (unbleached)
2 tbs aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp of iodized sea salt (I also like pink sea salt)
1/3 a cup of organic coconut oil (or vegan shortening)

(this recipe can be double, but I usually leave it at 1/2 cup max coconut oil)

Combine all of the ingredients in the food processor and blend until everything is homogeneous equally, you may need to scrape the sides and continue blending
If you find your mix is too "wet" add flour until you get a nice powdery silky feel

Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months conservatively, you can also freeze this for at least a year, thaw before use

There are so many things you can do with this and I will be adding recipes that use it constantly as I find new and better uses for it. You can substitute it for any bisquick recipe you come across and believe me there are a lot of them.

If you are going the classic biscuit route these are my favorite vegan biscuits

Classic drop biscuit recipe with a vegan twist:
Oven 450 degree F

2 cups of our bisquick
2/3 a cup of organic coconut milk (or almond milk)

Mix for thirty seconds with vigor until it "comes together" and seems doughy
It's important not to over mix this will lead to a tougher biscuit

Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet until golden usually less than 7 minutes

This is super customizable for anyone

My favorite additives:
fresh chopped basil,
minced garlic
cracked pepper
muenster
morning star bacon crumbled up
agave syrup and orange zest (add stevia to sweeten up the mix)

I would love to hear ideas and how yours turned out