Mac and Cheese with Quinoa Noodles!

My friend posted a comment on Facebook the other day about making pesto for her son. She mentioned how she put this pesto over Quinoa Pasta. Quinoa Pasta??? I never knew there was such a thing! I love Quinoa and I have been looking for a healthier version of pasta. (my waist line....don't get me started....) so I thought I would like to try this out. I found some at Lucky's and cooked it right up. Quinoa Pasta

It LOOKED good! I liked how the noodles were larger than regular elbow macaroni. Now what to do with it? Should I make a Spinach Pesto? I swear I saw a recipe for that somewhere but couldn't for the life of me remember in which cookbook I saw it. I thought the last time I tried homemade Mac and Cheese I didn't use enough cheese and I wanted to try it again. ALSO, I had just bought Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. I knew you had to add flour to make it so I wondered, "Can I use Whole Wheat Pastry Flour? Would this further my desire to eat less flour and gluten?" Heck! Let's give it a try. I didn't have time to look up a recipe and my daughter was watching cartoons on the computer so I decided to wing it!! Here's what I did….

To make the pasta, I followed the directions on the box but used 1/2 water, and 1/2 chicken broth. (for more flavor) To make the cheese I threw a handful of shredded Mozarella (maybe 1/2 a cup), 1/2 cup of milk and then shredded maybe 1/4 cup of Muester cheese on top. As the cheese melted, I added in two tablespoons of the Whole Wheat Pastry Flour.

After everything was melted, I tossed in the pasta and stirred till all the noodles were covered. As a YUMMY last mintue touch I decided to cook up some Uncured Natural Bacon as garnish on top.

Now the real test! Give it to the 3 year old! Would she like the Quino Noodles? Would she like the cheese sauce? Would she eat it? The answer is YES! YES! and YES!

Lily liked it so much she ate it right up. She wouldn't even look at me for the picture. At one point she put her arm protectively around her bowl lest I try and take it from her.

The amazing news is, my stepson, Calvin came home from school. He was looking at my portion that I had set aside to take to work. I saw that he was curious. I asked if he wanted some? He said, "Yes." So, I got out my pots and started all over again. :)