How come 'Beans and Cheese' doesn't have the same ring as 'Macaroni and Cheese'?
I'm going to be honest here and some of you, maybe most of you, are going to think I'm absolutely insane but I've never, never EVER liked Mac 'n' Cheese. Not even as a kid!
Is that un-American of me? I mean, I do love cheese and I was raised on macaroni but put them together. meh.
Nope, Beef-a-roni was always my macaroni based comfort food of choice. I remember my mom making chili for dinner and sometime we would eat it over elbow pasta and I'd mix it all together. Deee-liscious!
Anyway, I digress. The other day I decided to make "Beans 'n' Cheese" inspired by "Mac 'n' Cheese" It came out great and maybe my new go-to side for taco night! I enjoyed mine alongside a quick quesadilla made out of leftover chicken and spinach. 
- ½ cup of your favorite salsa
- 1 ½ oz of cheddar cheese or 2 Mini Babybels White Cheddar grated
- 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
- 1 can of pinto beans drained and rinsed
- ½ of a green bell pepper diced
- ¼ oz Triscuits (7g) or some baked corn chips crushed
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Warm the salsa over medium heat in a small saucepan.
Grate in half the cheese (1 Babybel.)
Add the flour and continue to stir until everything is incorporated together. Shut off the heat.
Drain and rinse the beans.
Add the beans and bell pepper to the cheese salsa mixture. Stir, blending everything well.
Spray a small casserole or pyrex dish with non-stick cooking spray. Add the beans and top with the remaining cheese and triscuits.
Bake for 10-15 minutes.
Eat!
As I said, I used it as a side dish but it could easily be a main dish as well.
I tried eating only ¼ of the recipe to make 4 servings (pictured above) but it just wasn't enough. As a side dish 3 servings is more realistic. Although, I have to be honest, I could eat the whole batch easily in one sitting.
| Servings | Amt per Serving | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | ⅓ recipe ~ ⅔ cup | |||
| Calories | Fat | Fiber | WWPs | |
| 170 | 5g | 6g | old: 3 | new: 4 |
| Sugar | Sat Fat | Carbs | Protein | |
| 2g | 3g | 22g | 9g | |
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Good. Another side dish for me 🙂 The husband will not touch beans. Thanks Roni.
Hah! No mac+cheese love? Different strokes for different folks. I still find the very concept of putting chili over pasta completely weird. But then again, I'm a Texan and we have an entirely different chili philosophy. 😉
Oooo...I bet this would be good in a tortilla or as a dip, with corn chips...Hello football food!
I do think you're crazy for disliking mac n' cheese...but I think you're brilliant for this lovely little recipe. Beans, cheese and salsa has always been my go-to comfort food when I'm in need of something healthy but filling!
Yum!