Amy's Rice Mac n Cheese

[antonia]

Wondering if anyone eats this with success? It's a frozen entree and there's also a version made with wheat pasta.

It's one of the only convenience foods I'm able to buy for Palmera, the ingredients read clean. But I have my doubts about it because of the way she eats it. With reservation, like she wants to like it but doesn't for some reason. Like she used to with fructose containing foods. She eats it slowly, kind of picks at it and never eats much of it. Yet says she likes it.

[colormist]

The only thing I can think of is that maybe the sweet rice flour or the annatto might have fructose. Both are described with sweet flavors.

I haven't tried it specifically, but I'll look to see if I can find it on store shelves this weekend and report my findings. It does look like it should be safe.

[antonia]

Could be the sweet rice flour, but the way it's listed indicates it's not used in the pasta itself. Probably just a tiny bit to thicken the sauce, so I thought it would be insignificant. (I've bought sweet rice flour before and it lists like 1gram sugar per serving as opposed to regular rice flour which lists zero.) I don't want to make anyone sick trying it though! Just wondered if anyone else was eating it. Maybe in addition to annatto it's too much. Seems like most are okay with a little annatto?

I should mention she used to love this before going fructose free. Since the HFI diet though she's become really sensitive. The cheese in this brand is very mild, much like an American cheese. She doesn't care for dairy products that aren't fermented such that they have a tangy or sour taste, or are very salty, anymore. I wonder if the lactose in non fermented or less aged dairy products tastes too sweet to her. I made her rice pudding once (no added sugar of course) and thought she would love it, but she wouldn't eat it.

[colormist]

I couldn't find it at the store.

I have had a reaction to other mac & cheeses, though, so I would be surprised if they add some special ingredient to make up for a lack of another ingredient.

Have you tried corn pasta? I wonder if that might work in a home-made Mac & Cheese. I've had it before and found it a bit crumbly, but still really yummy. It's made from corn meal. I liked the Mrs. Leepers brand (http://www.worldfiner.com/mrs-leepers-organic-gluten-free-pasta/organic-gluten-free-pasta.html). Could you used a different pasta noodle with Amy's cheese packets? I'm not sure if the cheese packets have wheat in them, but the ingredients should give you a good idea.

[colormist]

Hi Antonia,
I made regular (dry mix, boxed) Mac & cheese last night and checked out the ingredients (actually in hopes that the pasta ingredients would be separate from the cheese powder ingredients--they were not separate) and noticed annatto listed in the ingredients! I've had this pasta many, many times and have not noticed a reaction.

No sweet rice flour, though, so I'm leaning more toward that being your culprit. I still want to try the frozen variety. I promise not to eat it all if it tastes wrong (instead, I will foist it upon my husband)!

[antonia]

Sorry for my horribly lagging responses. We started home school this year. It is challenging to say the least. Kind of been a hot mess the last few months.

Colormist, your dedication goes above and beyond. I don't know if they sell Amy's frozen foods beyond the west coast. They are an organic line so at first I only saw them in natural foods stores, but they've become quite popular and now I see them in regular grocers and even Costco. BUT, I am in Washington State. I don't think anyone, besides Oregon maybe, can compete with our "granola" status. . Anyway, if you do ever find and try, do FOIST, at the slightest sensation!!!

We have tried Mrs. Leepers and like it. Barilla also makes a gluten free line made from a combo of rice and corn. But, I was really hoping to find white rice pasta as this is the the most safe form out there. A lot of times when we do convenience food it's because she's at Grandma's house for the weekend. And that's when I want her feeling her best, not just subpar. So my quest continues. I did write Annie's and they confirmed that their rice pasta is made with both white and brown rice. Then, I recently found rice, boxed mac n cheese at Trader Joe's and wrote to them as well. If it turns out white rice only then I'll probably use the pasta from TJ's and cheese sauce from Annie's! The TJ's sauce has those pesky "natural flavors", so I guess that's out. Also, Annie's has a white cheese sauce version, so I won't even have the annatto to deal with. Best of both worlds if I can combine the two. I'll let you know if/when TJ's responds to my inquiry.

[ukbill]

Mac and cheese is so very easy to make and freeze at home why buy potentially iffy stuff from shops?

[colormist]

Hi Bill,
Can you share your recipe? Every recipe I've found takes at least 4X as long as the boxed types--sometimes they take even longer, like two hours.
If I could find a homemade recipe that only took a half-hour to make, I'd be all over it--like cheese on macaroni. Though, honestly, I doubt it would be as cheap as the boxed versions. A bag of shredded cheese in my town costs about $3. ;_;

[ukbill]

You can take some time with it if you want to oven bake it and get the cheese nicely toasted on top .. mmm feeling hungry!
Or just knock it up in a saucepan and a jug to make the sauce in the microwave if your in a hurry. 15 to 20 min tops.

I use soft cream cheese spread as the sauce base and add in additional cheese. It takes but seconds to chop cheese up into small enough lumps to melt in the hot sauce or in the microwave. No need for fancy grated stuff

Large Pan hot water with sprinkle of salt. dump the macaroni into the pan and boil for 14 min (or as long as it says on pack)
while thats cooking I use a plastic or glass jug or bowl and heat some milk in the microwave, when hot add small pot cream cheese, pepper and grated or roughly chopped strong mature cheese.

stir and reheat in microwave for a min or so (depending on power of microwave and amount of sauce being made) stir and repeat until all cheese is melted.

If too thin then thicken with more cheese or a little potato starch in milk, keep stiring and heating until its how you like it.. it should be stringy and glossy looking.
Drain pasta and add to sauce stir.
Put in glass oven proof dish (butter the edges if posible) cover with more rough chopped or grated cheese and pop under grill for 3 min or microwave if no grill available.

Eat..

The last stage can be avoided if wanted also the pasta / macaroni can be cooked in milk although this requires close eye as it will boil over easily.

Adding some pan fried bacon bits is good too as is tuna / smoked salmon / mushrooms / ham / shredded chicken / whatever you have in the fridge that needs eating up but maybe not burgers of salad leaves.. use some common sense here..

Excess can be dropped into freezable boxes and frozen down to eat later. If there is not too much cheese in the sauce it can be eaten cold as well. Although let it defrost 1st

Alternative is make in the oven in a lidded oven proof dish.

Milk and pasta in dish and put into preheated oven (150 degrees C is more than enough) when cooked through and most of the liquid adsorbed into the pasta remove lid and cover in a thick layer of roughly chopped cheese of your choice and either grill or turn up the oven to 200 degrees C and pop back in for 10 min with the lid off to toast and melt the cheese..

Doing beef stew with dumplings later in a pressure cooker for speed tonight.. wish I could add photos to this forum.. I think there used to be a way.. but forgotten how.

Enjoy!

[antonia]

I heard back from Trader Joe's, they claim that their pasta is made with white rice. Upon hearing their response I got right to it and made Palmera a batch of mac and cheese using Trader Joe's pasta and Annie's white cheese sauce. So excited! Immediately deflated when I watched her face, "Mommy this tastes sweet or sour or something bad." I don't know what this means, either she detects something unsafe or she just doesn't like boxed mac n cheese. As a baby, she would eat homemade but not the boxed. I don't recall the brand or type I tried to feed her. Just astonished me that she wouldn't eat it. I don't know a kid who doesn't like the stuff.

Ukbill, to answer your question, being that in addition to following a HFI diet she is also wheat free, I can count on one hand the convenience foods I'm able to feed her. I make everything I feed her from scratch. While this is fine at home, and I'm lucky enough that I don't have to work and have the time to do it, it's very difficult when she is away from home. Whether it be on vacation, camping or visiting Grandma, it would be nice if there were a few easy foods I could count on. And at times, when my mind goes to darker places, I start thinking... what if something happened to me? Who would be able to feed her?

Colormist, the easiest form of mac and cheese I've found is not really mac n cheese but a baked cheese and noodle casserole. Cook macaroni in salted water until al dente or slightly under. Meanwhile, cut cheddar cheese into large cubes (you don't need to shred). Alternate layers of noodles and cheese cubes into a casserole dish, ending with noodles (noodles at the top will bake into a crunchy topping that way). Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste in between each layer as well. Pour milk over all until it almost reaches the top. Bake at 350 F for 50 to 60 minutes, or until browned and bubbly and milk has been absorbed. Not a mac and cheese with creamy sauce, you're left with chunks of cheese and curdled milk solids, but it still tastes delicious. This was all I knew as a kid. My mom wouldn't buy us the boxed stuff!

[colormist]

Hi Antonia!
I've already posted about this on my blog, but I wanted to make sure you knew! I found a gluten free frozen chicken nuggets at my local grocery. They are also HFI-safe. www.applegate.com/products/natural-gluten-free-chicken-nuggets

They were pretty yummy. I checked out the regular variety and the regular chicken nuggets by Applegate have added sugar! Not sure why the gluten-free ones are sugar-free, but I'll take it!

Yes, they do have onion powder and celery seasoning, but they are far down enough on the list that a serving size shouldn't cause an issue. As always, do your own food trial and see how you feel after eating them before devouring the entire box.

*Laura

EDIT: Also, that cheese casserole sounds amazing. I'm going to have to try it soon!

[antonia]

Oh, that so interesting that you mention those! I used to feed those to her when she was a toddler, before we knew of her issues with fructose or wheat. I first picked them up at the natural food store and they only had the gluten free kind. She liked them. Then I saw the regular, wheat version later and thinking maybe they would taste better picked those up. She would not eat them!! I went back to the gluten free.

Will have to trial them again and see how she does. Sometimes I wonder if because I make everything from scratch now that it just makes her that much more sensitive to the small amounts of fructose invariably found in commercially prepared foods. I would say the only processed food she eats now without some reservation is Pirates Booty. She loves that stuff.

[colormist]

Pirate Booty is the BEST! It's impossible to find in my region. I always buy several bags when I come across it in a store.

[antonia]

OH, too bad you don't live in the PNW. We excel at "natural" junk food. It's everywhere.

[ukbill]

Nov 18, 2016 2:42:17 GMT -5 antonia said:

I heard back from Trader Joe's, they claim that their pasta is made with white rice. Upon hearing their response I got right to it and made Palmera a batch of mac and cheese using Trader Joe's pasta and Annie's white cheese sauce. So excited! Immediately deflated when I watched her face, "Mommy this tastes sweet or sour or something bad." I don't know what this means, either she detects something unsafe or she just doesn't like boxed mac n cheese. As a baby, she would eat homemade but not the boxed. I don't recall the brand or type I tried to feed her. Just astonished me that she wouldn't eat it. I don't know a kid who doesn't like the stuff.

Ukbill, to answer your question, being that in addition to following a HFI diet she is also wheat free, I can count on one hand the convenience foods I'm able to feed her. I make everything I feed her from scratch. While this is fine at home, and I'm lucky enough that I don't have to work and have the time to do it, it's very difficult when she is away from home. Whether it be on vacation, camping or visiting Grandma, it would be nice if there were a few easy foods I could count on. And at times, when my mind goes to darker places, I start thinking... what if something happened to me? Who would be able to feed her?

Mmm I see your point I really do however is she can be taught to cook for herself on safe foods she should be fine when a little older should anything nasty happen to yourself.

Its always a worry learning to cook at an early age will help every time.

Colormist, the easiest form of mac and cheese I've found is not really mac n cheese but a baked cheese and noodle casserole. Cook macaroni in salted water until al dente or slightly under. Meanwhile, cut cheddar cheese into large cubes (you don't need to shred). Alternate layers of noodles and cheese cubes into a casserole dish, ending with noodles (noodles at the top will bake into a crunchy topping that way). Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste in between each layer as well. Pour milk over all until it almost reaches the top. Bake at 350 F for 50 to 60 minutes, or until browned and bubbly and milk has been absorbed. Not a mac and cheese with creamy sauce, you're left with chunks of cheese and curdled milk solids, but it still tastes delicious. This was all I knew as a kid. My mom wouldn't buy us the boxed stuff!