If you don’t like mac-n-cheese, I don’t know if we can be friends! It might be my favorite food on the planet. I wanted to experiment with a new recipe for a few reasons. One, I recently went “semi” gluten-free and dairy-free (I am trying to limit the amount I have because it makes my tummy upset) and two, the boxed mac-n-cheese is full of preservatives, chemicals, and artificial food coloring. No thanks.
After searching for a few recipes on Pinterest, I came up with my own twist on two that sounded amazing. I made the cheese sauce with a secret ingredient: SWEET POTATOES! And instead of noodles, or even gluten-free noodles, I opted for quinoa to give the dish more protein, and added broccoli to “bulk” it up and give it a nutritional punch.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
INGREDIENTS:
2 sweet potatoes
1/2 onion
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cheese (any kind)
1/4 cup vegetable broth (low-sodium)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbs Ghee or butter
2 tbs flour (make a roux)
1/2 tsp paprika
3 cups quinoa (pre-cooked according to package instructions)
3 cups chopped broccoli (roasted or steamed)
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- I made ahead the quinoa and broccoli to save on time. It’s a meal prep tip that you MUST DO! I chose to roast my broccoli.
- Peel, dice and boil sweet potatoes until tender. Then drain and place potatoes in a blender. Let cool.
- While potatoes cool down, chop onion and peel and crush garlic cloves. Put 1 tsp of olive oil in a pan and cook until translucent. Don’t worry to much on the size of the onion because you’ll be blending it with the potatoes shortly.
- Once onions are translucent, add them to the sweet potatoes in the blender, along with 1/4 cup vegetable broth. Blend until smooth.
- In the pot you boiled the potatoes in, melt 2 tsp of Ghee or butter on low heat, then add 2 tsp of flour. Whisk together to make a roux, then add the milk and continue whisking. Once combined, add sweet potato puree and continue whisking.
- Add spices and stir.
- Once well combined, add quinoa and broccoli (reserve 1/2 cup chopped broccoli for garnish).
- Once well combined, transfer mix to a greased baking dish. Top with 1/2 cup broccoli and you can even sprinkle a little more cheese on top.
- Place baking dish in the oven until cheese is bubbly.
- Remove from oven, let it cool a bit, as it will be really hot. Serve and enjoy!