Quinoa "Mac" n' Cheese

So funny thing...I was home for three weeks, doing absolutely nothing but watching every Grey's Anatomy episode known to man and cooking. Literally. So one would think that a person with a food blog would be posting everyday in this situation. This clearly was not the case.

Apparently my body decided to switch into full-blown summer vacation mode for those 3 weeks and did not want to do ANYTHING. Even talk about food! Blasphemy! I suppose it just knew that that was the only bit of summer vacation I was going to get since I'm now basically working three different jobs for the rest of the summer, so it went into super vacation mode.

Or maybe I'm just really lazy. And I was too busy consuming unreasonable amounts of calories to actually post about it. I didn't even take that many pictures!

So anywho, I will share the few recipes I actually really liked and took pictures of with you now. And then maybe we can talk about the giant bowl of seafood mac n' cheese I treated myself to today in Quincy Market today as a "First Week At My Internship" present to myself at a later time. (Preferably after I am out of this cheese coma. But seriously.)

So onto the healthiest mac and cheese you will ever eat! While still being very very delicious. I found this on Pinterest awhile back and finally got the chance to try it after 4 months straight of being at school and not having a kitchen.

Quinoa "Mac" n' Cheese
adapted from AroundTheTableRI.blogspot.com
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa (dry + 2 cups of water to cook)
1 head of broccoli
1 head of cauliflower
1 clove of garlic
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of breadcrumbs/Panko
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook the quinoa according to package instructions.

2. Meanwhile, chop up the broccoli and cauliflower. Saute in a saucepan with cooking spray, the diced garlic and a few tablespoons of water so it steams them a little.

3. When quinoa is done cooking (all water is absorbed) and broccoli and cauliflower are tender, remove from heat.

4. Whisk milk and egg together in a separate bowl and then add to the quinoa. Fold in Cheddar cheese and veggies until cheese starts to melt.

5. Pour into a small, greased casserole dish.

6. Top with breadcrumbs or Panko and Parmesan cheese.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until breadcrumbs are golden brown. (You may need to broil for 30 seconds to a minute at the end of the baking process to ensure a nice golden crust).

Yum! It looks (and tastes) just like mac and cheese, only with an awesome(in my opinion) texture!

Serve it up with some whole wheat garlic bread and you've got classic, HEALTHY comfort food.

Enjoy!