Freezers are a Mom’s Best Friend: “Instant” Mac & Cheese

I don’t know what I would do without my freezer. From keeping teething rings cool, to freezing home-made babyfood in ice cube trays (the perfect portion for little ones), to frozen fruits and meats, my freezer is often so full I long for a second one.

This week’s tip concerns one of my favorite meals: Mac & Cheese. Oh, how I love instant Mac & Cheese – especially the kind where the cheese comes in liquid form! Alas, we are trying to avoid prepackaged, mystery-ingredient foods as much as possible to reduce our eco-footprints and keep our family as healthy as possible.

I’ve got two steps that keep my kid in nutritious Mac & Cheese, and keeps mommy from having to make home-made stuff on a daily basis. First, I found a great, easy and quick recipe from Real Simple Magazine: I call it “fake” because you don’t have to make a roux, and because it has an entire head of cauliflower in it - which my daughter actually eats! I also use whole wheat pasta instead of the usual stuff. It's pretty yummy.

Whenever I make it (about once per month) I take all the leftovers and freeze them in muffin tins lined in plastic wrap (so it doesn’t stick to the tins). I push the pasta into the muffin tins so that it freezes as one solid piece of casserole and cover with more plastic wrap. (Note, in this photo, I didn't to a great job sealing it, and you can see the freezer-burn ice crystals on it). Once they are frozen, I pop them in a baggie.

Whenever my toddler needs a quick lunch, I grab a Mac & Cheese “muffin” out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave and – tada! – instant Mac & Cheese!

Total cost: the cost of a casserole (any favorite casserole will do!)

Total time: Making the Mac & Cheese takes about 15 minutes prep and 30 minutes cooking. Freezing takes as long as it takes to put leftovers away. Defrosting/heating it takes about a minute per muffin.

Result: Less, prepackaged food with mystery ingredients; Instant, yummy toddler-sized lunches!

Oh, Sugar!*

I love to bake. I may not be the greatest cook, but when it comes to sweets, I’m actually pretty impressive. As my family tries to eat foods that are good for us and the planet, we were curious about all the different sugars around for baking: confectioners, brown, refined, etc.

Which would you think is the most environmentally sound sugar?

I thought brown sugar, then I read somewhere that brown sugar is merely refined sugar with molasses added to it! So, not only is it processed like regular sugar, it has an added step of adding molasses in it! Zut alors!

Consulting my favorite all-time baking bible (King Arthur’s Flour Baker’s Companion), I found out that in any recipe, you can substitute brown sugar for a combo of granulated sugar and molasses! Here’s the ratio:
Light brown sugar add 1 T molasses to each cup of sugar;
Dark brown sugar add 2 T molasses to each cup of sugar.

I tried it out and it works wonderfully!

Total cost: $0 (since my baking staples include sugar and molasses)
Total time: no time at all!
Result: less processed food, less energy used, cheaper pantry and yummy baked goods!

*Oh, Sugar! Is an ode to my mother, who used to say this a lot in place of cuss words. Now that my daughter is almost 2, I’m finding myself searching for substitutions for my usual potty mouth.