I'm working on losing weight--yes, it's counterproductive to have a food blog and attempt to lose weight--and my new craze is finding healthy foods that taste good and don't have a colossal number of calories.
My dad went out and bought me Lean Cuisine's Mac and Cheese last week hoping that I fall in love with it. It sucked. If my dad's goal was to make me eat more fruits and vegetables, then he made a smart move because with every bite of the mac and cheese I took, I kept thinking how much I'd rather eat raw carrots and celery for dinner. (Okay, maybe I'm being a little dramatic.)
That all being said, I found the perfect way to spice up (and cheese up) my mac and cheese. My magical solution: Add 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and red pepper flakes.
Blasphemous, you say? Not really! One-third cup of shredded cheese only adds 80 calories to the 280-calorie pre-packaged dish.
The advantage of the pepper flakes are two-fold: They add the flavor and spice the dish lacks on its own and they are good for weight loss and your health. Not only does recent research suggest that the key ingredient in pepper flakes (capsaicin) helps kill cancer cells, but a Dutch study found that eating half a teaspoon of pepper flakes before a meal reduces caloric intake by 16 percent.
Ingredients
1 Mac and Cheese Lean Cuisine
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tablespoon pepper flakes
Equipment
1 bowl
1 fork
Directions
1. Microwave the macaroni and cheese for 2 minutes, following the instructions on the box.
2. After two minute, remove the plastic film completely and move the dish to a microwavable bowl. Add 1/3 cup cheese and using a fork, mix well.
3. Microwave the mac and cheese for an additional minute.
4. Add red pepper flakes and mix well.
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