Peach Salsa and Chipotle Mac & Cheese

Today was a lazy Sunday around our house. Sara went home for the weekend, so it was just Leah and I. After moping around the apartment for a while, we hopped on our bikes and headed to Dillons to get ingredients for this Peach Salsa. It was definitely worth it, that stuff is real good.





This evening though, I decided to try and make something new. I wanted to cook something that I could save leftovers of for lunches later on this week. I found this recipe for lighter macaroni and cheese, and decided to modify it a bit. It was mostly inspired by the block of chipotle cheddar in our fridge that needed to be used up, but it worked out amazingly.




Ingredients
1 1/2 cups macaroni noodles
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon soy sauce plus enough water to total 1 cup
1 1/2 cups shredded chipotle cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
olive oil for sprinkling

Directions
Cook noodles according to instructions on the package, grease a baking dish (I used an 8x8 pan) and preheat the oven to 375°.

Melt the butter in a large pan, add the flour and cook on low heat, stirring. Add onion and continue cooking 2 minutes.

Add milk and water/soy sauce mixture, continue stirring. Turn heat to medium high and continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove from the heat, and add in the cheese and stir until it is melted. Add in the cooked macaroni and baby spinach.

Pour into the greased baking dish, top with shredded cheese and bread crumbs. Sprinkle olive oil over the top.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.







I served mine with steamed broccoli, and it was quite tasty!