Ever since before Easter I have had my eye on this yummy-looking macaroni and ham bake in the March Cooking Light magazine (page 204 if you're interested). I was all prepped and ready to go last Tuesday, but my sister and her husband took off for Ohio to look for a new house (they are moving in May) and my other roommate was at home in Puerto Rico for her spring break.
I was not about to bake a huge casserole for little ol' me. No way no how am I ever going to bake a casserole for me to eat day after day, for lunch and dinner. I just can't handle it.
So I didn't make it. I made my lovely twist-on-a-Hot-Brown instead. Which worked just as well.
So about this casserole -- I mean, Ham and Cheese Macaroni Bake with Peas. It looked very appetizing in the picture, hence why I wanted to make it, but it didn't quite turn out how I thought it would.
First off, I scoured the cheese bin, looking for a block of Swiss and I accidentally picked up the "Light" Swiss cheese. Everything was going just fine and dandy while putting together this recipe. Then enter the cheese. After hastily shredding my 2 cups of cheese, I shook it into the pan with the simmering milk mixture, and it completely globbed up on me. Even after lots of stirring.
I mixed the clumpy sauce into the noodles, peas, and ham and then tossed it in the oven, hoping some heat would help the issue. I was wrong. It was still clumpy when we were eating it, not all melty and gooey as I had hoped.
However, I will say, even with all the cheese globs, it was still pretty tasty -- three of us polished half of it off. I really liked the extra flavor the red pepper gave. So maybe next time I will try the "regular, full-fat" Swiss cheese, and I will have normal looking macaroni bake.
Ham and Cheese Macaroni Bake with Peas
1 lb. uncooked medium elbow macaroni
1 1/2 c. chopped lean ham
1 1/2 c. frozen peas
Cooking spray
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
3 cups 2% reduced fat milk
1 c. (4 0z.) shredded reduced-fat extrasharp cheddar cheese
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded Swiss Cheese
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
2 (1-oz) slices white bread
2 tbsp. butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook pasta in boiling water 6 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain. Combine pasta, ham, and peas in a large bowl.
Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add milk; bring to simmer. Remove from heat; stir in cheeses, salt, and peppers. Pour cheese mixture over pasta mixture; stir to coat. Spoon pasta mixture into a 13x9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Place bread in a food prcessor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 1/4 cups. Combine breadcrumbs and butter in a bowl. Arrange breadcrumb mixture evenly over pasta mixture. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Yield: 8 servings.
A few side notes:
Make sure to prep as much as you can ahead of time -- as in, don't wait until you are almost done cooking the onions to shred the cheese. Not that I did this or anything...
Use the white bread -- I used wheat and it had a pretty distinctive taste.
I used regular cheddar and "light" skim, as well as fat free milk. Chalk whichever one you want up to clumpy cheese.
| Nutrition Facts | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories 476 | Calories from fat 149 |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 16.6g | 26% |
| Saturated Fat 9.3g | 47% |
| Trans Fat 0.0g | |
| Cholesterol 57mg | 19% |
| Sodium 772mg | 32% |
| Total Carbs 56.8g | 19% |
| Dietary Fiber 3.9g | 15% |
| Sugars 8.5g | |
| Protein 23.9g | |
| Vitamin A 15% | Vitamin C 21% |
| Calcium 35% | Iron 17% |
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