Waist-friendly Spinach and Ham Macaroni Cheese

One of my favourite meals last term was Heinz macaroni cheese. It wasn't that high in calories, it was creamy, warm and quick.

This isn't quite so quick. But it is still a good student dinner, because you can make this much and reheat it the next day, and I always have ham left over from during the week because I can't make enough blooming sandwiches. Also, it's delicious, beyond my wildest dreams (I dream about food and spend a lot of time thinking about it, planning meals, planning food shopping, reading food blogs, reading cookbooks...), though my food-dar probably isn't set that high :P But om nom nom nom nom.

I had to adapt this one quite heavily from the original because that would have been over 1000 calories a serving! Obviously you can use normal cheese instead (I opted for low fat) and the recommended serving of macaroni (elbow pasta) is 75g, not the 50g I opted for, but it's such a rich dish, with so many other bits in, that the quantities here were plenty for me. It would be lovely with some crusty bread if you did want to bulk it up a bit.

Furthermore, the original recipe did call for more cheese (though cheese was what i scaled the other ingredients too), so if you fancy it a bit cheesier, be my guest. The 40g of cheese I had on the top didn't look like much before I melted it, but it was plenty.


This macaroni cheese won't take all your daily calories in one go (adapted from "The ultimate student cookbook")

100g macaroni
20g butter
1 half onion
1 garlic clove
20g flour
220ml milk
130g low fat cheese
Seasoning
A few slices of ham
About 100g Spinach

Serves 2. 
600 calories per serving. 
Suitable for reheating.

1. Start the macaroni boiling in a pot of salted water for as long as it says on your packet (~5 minutes). Preheat the grill to medium/hot, or you can do this a bit later, you won't need it until the end.
2. Soften the chopped onion and garlic in a pan with the butter for about 5-6 minutes. Then add the spinach and cook until wilted.
3. Add the flour and mix.
4. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. If it goes lumpy, just keep mixing.
5. Bring the sauce to the boil. (Have you been keeping an eye on your macaroni bubbling away?)
6. Add 90g of cheese and turn the temperature back down slightly, stirring until it melts.
7. Season with salt and plenty of pepper (I'm not usually a huge fan of pepper but this works well when peppery). Pop in the chopped ham.
8. Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Pour in the sauce and mix it all together well.
9. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and pop it under the grill for 5 minutes or so, until golden.