This Three Cheese & Broccoli Pasta Bake was born because I will not give up on my children eating vegetables. Well for a whole 2 days my daughter went on a broccoli kick. It sadly ended before I made this dish. Total bummer. I have to share it because it is a super easy dish to make a head for a busy night and when Miss Madison goes on a broccoli kick again I’ll be giving this another chance that’s how good it was.
Velveeta cheese is a kids classic way of loving Mac N Cheese. However, it’s not the healthiest way to make it either. I cut the usual amount in half and replaced the other half with greek yogurt cream cheese. Have you tried that yet by the way? If you haven’t I strongly recommend it. It has even less fat than low fat cream cheese. I know buying low fat anything isn’t always the healthiest choice these days now that we are becoming more aware of what they add to the actual product to make it lower in fat. I am totally in love with that cream cheese and I don’t feel guilty when I use it!
This is a fantastic make a head meal. Make it on Sunday for a busy week, make it for a friend that has had a baby or like me, I’ll be making a batch for my grandmother who doesn’t really cook for herself anymore. I think it would also make a great freezable dish as well.
- 1 small head of broccoli, roughly chopped
- 5 oz of velveta, room temperature
- 4 oz of greek yogurt cream cheese, room temperature
- ¼ cup of cheddar cheese, shredded
- 8 oz of bow tie pasta (or elbows are good too!)
- 1-1/2 cup of 1% milk
- 4 tbsp of grounded almonds
- Cook pasta just shy of the boxed directions. 8 minutes before it's finished place the broccoli florets on top.
- Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon and place on a cutting board to cool to the touch. Drain pasta and set aside.
- Once the broccoli is cooled to the touch roughly chop it and add it to the pasta.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- To make the cheese sauce:
- Cut the cream cheese and velveeta cheese in small cubes and heat in a medium sauce pan on low-medium. After about 1-2 minutes add ¾ cup of milk and mix until the cheese starts to melt. Once it's melted a bit add more milk. Keep whisking and adding milk until all of the cheese is all melted. Remove it from the heat and stir in the cheddar cheese stirring to combine.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and broccoli and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into a 10x10 baking dish and sprinkle with the ground almonds.
- Bake for 20 min. Let sit for 10 min and then serve!
