This healthy and delicious Green Macaroni and Cheese recipe is a perfect St Patrick’s Day meal for your kids! What kid doesn’t like green food?
St Patrick’s Day Food for Kids
Ingredients:
One 14.5 oz box of whole wheat pasta shapes
One bag pre-washed baby spinach or one package frozen spinach (defrosted & moisture squeezed out)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons white flour
1 1/2 cups milk
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Over medium heat, drizzle a little oil into a saute pan. Add spinach and wait until it reduces in size and is soft, turning occasionally.
Add wilted spinach to a food processor and puree until smooth. (For frozen spinach, put defrosted spinach directly in food processor)
Cook and drain pasta according to package directions.
Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add flour, whisk and cook for one minute. Slowly add milk continuing to whisk until combined. Continue stirring and allow the rue to come to a slow bubble.
Add the shredded cheese and stir until cheese melts and is combined. Add nutmeg, cayenne, salt and pepper. Stir in spinach puree until combined. Add drained pasta to the cheese sauce and stir to coat pasta.
Serve immediately or pour into casserole dish, top with some additional shredded cheese if desired, and bake on 350 degrees just until the cheese is melty and bubbly. Enjoy!
I love that this recipe allows me to sneak in that extra serving of veggies!
If you liked this, you’ll enjoy this other green recipe for kids – Pea Pesto Ravioli!
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5 Days Left 
5 Days Left
mmmh, this looks yummi! In my first flatshare I lived with a friend and we were both in an online harry potter fanclub, both in slytherin, so we called ourselves the sly-flatshare and our rule was that every meal we cooked had to have at least one green ingredient.
Boy, i don’t think there were ever two nerdy students who cooked such healthy food! ^^
hope your kids liked it!
yaga
http://www.shinyubbles.org
yaga recently posted..Hanami hanami! – Cherry blossom picnic
Nerdy or not, that is a fantastic rule to cook by!
Twitter: zandraokelley
says:
Since my husband and I met in a Harry Potter role playing game both as slytherin it is only natural everything is green…even our wedding was green and silver. I’m so loving this recipe! I can’t wait to try it on my 4 little Irish-people (my kids)!
That is such a neat story. Enjoy!
ew kinda yucky looking but probably delicious!
Twitter: ChoresChocolate
says:
That is a great idea for any day, not just St Patrick’s day!
When I first saw the title for this, I groaned inwardly thinking it’d be yet another recipe with green food coloring added just to make it interesting to kids for St. Patrick’s day!
I was pleased to see such a healthy recipe instead!
Thanks!
Johanna recently posted..Buttermilk Caramel Syrup
Thanks! Glad you like the recipe. It’s very tasty!
Oh my goodness – so much fun! I had thought about doing green cupcakes and this would be the perfect green meal (after which we will have green cupcakes – LOL). My kids will be thrilled
Jeannette recently posted..Celebrate with Me and Win a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card!
Great recipe and great idea to add some more veggies to pasta!
Little Miss Kate recently posted..Cereal for Breakfast, Cereal for Lunch…
Twitter: mhowardreviews
says:
My kids LOVED gross looking food! I wrote this a while back-http://www.howardhousereviews.com/2011/07/kids-will-eat-healthy-food-if-it-looks-gross.html
Your mac and cheese would be a HIT!!!!
Marie Howard recently posted..BistroMD – Giveaway!
Love this idea! I usually add broccoli to my mac and cheese for green… but I will def. have to try the spinach!
Heather recently posted..Sundays in My City – on my back deck
Twitter: 17sirens
says:
That is SUCH a great idea! Thanks for sharing (:
Aly recently posted..Fattoush (Bread Salad) Recipe
At first when I seen the post title I thought oh dear I bet it looks so bad, lol, but its actually looks really good, and I bet it taste yummy as well.
I am totally trying this mac and cheese. Yummy!
Twitter: themiraclemoma
says:
That looks delish! I can’t wait to try this out. Thanks for posting! I’ll let you know how it goes when my stepson comes over next!
Desiree recently posted..Cupcakes and Babies oh my.
Awesome – please let us know how he likes it!
Twitter: aliciaa2277
says:
This looks awful but is a very cute idea!
Twitter: frugalgreenmama
says:
I love to add spinach to dishes and my kids love it! My 5 year old asks for spinach in his eggs all the time
I will try it with our mac and cheese next!
Amanda recently posted..Plastic Free: Gluten and Soy Free Naked Muffins Recipe
Twitter: scentednights
says:
Neat but not sure my kids would eat it?
Ellen Christian recently posted..Wordless Wednesday