Buffalo Bleu Chicken Macaroni & Cheese

Preparation Time: 5 minutes                      Cook Time: 5 minutes             Add to MyFitnessPal

What's that you say? The photo looks like the nasty, gluey, salt-laden, carb-heavy, fat-soaked, artificial-as-heck and, admittedly, not so tasty stuff you used to order at the diner at 2 in the morning back in the days of late night hangover cures and binge-eating junk food.

Sorry, the lens got a little steamy

Don't worry, it's nothing like that. Believe it or not, this mac n' cheese is wholesome, has as much vitamin C as a cup of orange juice, and tastes incredible. It's a little rich for my taste most nights, but on special occasions it really hits the spot!

Despite its richness, this is a dish you could absolutely get away with eating on a weekly, or if you're my partner, daily basis without ill effect. Just be sure to pace yourself - it's so good it's easy to eat more than your new digestive system is comfortable with. It usually takes me two meals to eat this recipe.

Ingredients:
Cauliflower, cut into florets - 1.5 cups
Olive oil - 1/8 tsp
Salt - 1 pinch
Mozzarella, part skim, shredded - 1 oz
Cream cheese, reduced fat or Neufchatel - 1 oz
Bleu cheese dressing, homemade if you can get it - 1 Tbsp
Worchestershire sauce - 1 tsp
Sriracha - 1 tsp (or more if you like)
Chicken, skin removed - 2 oz (I like to use leftover smoked chicken to raise the bar on the buffalo flavor)

Preparation:
Turn on your broiler. Spread your cauliflower in a single layer on a foil-lined pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Broil about 5 minutes or until the tips of the cauliflower are just about to blacken but haven't quite turned that corner yet.

SO tempting to just eat these now - you'll be happy you waited

While your cauliflower is broiling, mix your remaining ingredients as best as you can - don't worry if they're still pretty separate at this point. When you stir in the piping hot cauliflower (and microwave if needed) it will all come together.

I should have warmed the cream cheese first

Remove the cauliflower from the oven when it looks like the photo above and stir into the rest of your ingredients. If you need to, microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute until it's all thoroughly uniform. Enjoy!

Not a fan of buffalo bleu cheese? No problem! Mix it up, try different flavors. I'm a huge fan of subbing the cream cheese for sour cream and adding in onion powder and chopped green onion or even diced truffles and/or other wild mushrooms. YUM!

Nutrition:
Calories - 320
Fat - 19
Carbs - 12 g
Protein - 27 g
Sodium - 642 mg