Tasty Thursday - Butterkase Macaroni

My husband has been on a bit of a cheese kick lately.   According to him, there are so many cheeses that we just never try and he has decided that each shopping trip we should try a new cheese, just to broaden our horizons.

I like cheese well enough that I was all on board with this idea.

On Monday we took a trip to the grocery store and in the fresh deli section we selected a small block of Butterkaese (this is how it was spelled on the package) cheese, imported from Germany and known for it's buttery taste.  (Yeah...I had no idea about any of this, but the package was nice enough to inform me.)

Great!

Now what?

Thank goodness for the internet!  I searched recipes and found this little gem from Betty Crocker: Butterkase Macaroni and Cheese.

Perfect!  Expanding horizons and making the kids happy all at once.

Oh my goodness.  This was delicious!  I pretty much followed the recipe except I had cooked up some bacon to go in a salad and had a little extra, so I threw that in too.  Oh, and I didn't have fresh cilantro or parsley, so I just sprinkled a little dried parsley.

The mac and cheese was so creamy and tasted really buttery thanks to the flavor of the cheese.  Yum!  I highly recommend giving it a whirl.

Now I know this isn't a super healthy option.  But it is made from scratch, clean eating.  So that's a bonus.  But remember, I did mention a salad too.  I had about a half a cup of scrumptious cheesy goodness along with a hearty salad covered in this greek dressing. 

 All-in-all it was a very filling and tasty meal.

And the kids and hubby enjoyed it too. :)

Win win win.

Now go out and find ways to broaden your own food horizons just a bit.

Edited: I entered the ingredients for the mac and cheese into MyFitnessPal and came up with the following:

4 servings: 
Calories: 456
Carbs: 51
Fat: 21
Protein: 20
Sodium: 415

My portion was more like 1/2 serving size, so calories = 228

Replacing Habits - My Warm Milky

I went ahead and read The Power of Habit this week.  I liked it!  It was really interesting.

I started looking closer at my habit of winding the day down with a sweet.

Basically the author suggested that you fix a habit by replacing it with another one.  The problem with picking a new habit, is that it has to become something you crave and really desire.  I was kind of hoping for more suggestions but since it was general book about habits, I had to come up with ideas on my own.


When I was younger, my mom and I were reading a book where the character made herself some warm milk with honey.  We decided to try it and found it pretty tasty.  I decided to change it up a bit and make my own version.

Warm Milky
Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp flavored syrup (I used Torani Hazelnut)
Splash of vanilla

Pour milk and honey into a mug.  Microwave on high until desired temperature.  (I put mine in for a minute and a half.)  Add your syrup and vanilla.  Let it cool a tad, while you soak in the warmth on the your fingertips.  Enjoy!

Thus far, this has been a lovely end to my day.  The milk is not only tasty, but warm, comforting, and relaxing.  It has the honey in it, which is a more natural sweetener and it is also full of vitamins, so I don't feel too guilty about my little indulgence.  It's a great way to wind down.

The Power Of Habit

Last week I posted this link on our Spank the Pounds Facebook page.  I follow this blog, Afford Anything, regularly and while it is, in fact, about finances, the author made a great point concerning food consumption and habits.

I found this rather interesting.  What habits were causing me to eat more sweets?  You should all know by now that sweets are my big temptation.

For the last week I decided to track my habitual cues every time I craved something sweet.  I found that most of my factors also fluctuated, but the factor that was most consistent for me was preceding action.  Here are the top three things that signal sweet time to me:

Spying Sweets. This was a big one.  Every time I walked into the kitchen or opened a cupboard and saw something sweet, I instantly thought, "Oooh, that sounds yummy."  I also found Pinterest to be a big pitfall because I cannot seem to log on without spotting a delicious dessert of some kind or another.  The solution?  Stop keeping sweets readily available.  (And maybe un-follow a few Pinterest boards.)

Completing meals.  I can definitely see the habit in this.  Our family consistently has a "treat" after almost every meal.  My sister-in-law once remarked to me that her family never had treats so regularly and, once she married my brother, she found it easy to fall into desiring a treat after every meal.  It's now a habit.  The solution? Find another, healthful option to signal the end of meal-time.  Perhaps some fruit?

Putting the kids to bed. Hmmmm, treats are apparently my way of finishing things up. In this case, it is a reward for a job, well...done.  Once the kids are in bed, I want to relax and do something for me.  The solution?  Once again, find another, healthful option to signal I'm done for the day.  Maybe a short round of yoga?  Some cold cucumber water?  Warm milk with a bit of honey?

This was an interesting exercise for me.  I have identified my own personal triggers and can now hopefully come up with some solutions that will help me form new habits.  I will have to think more on the actual habits I want to replace sweets with.  In the meantime, I think I will take myself off to the library and check out Charles Duhigg's book for more information.