How To Make Healthy Baked Mac And Cheese With Chef B. Smith
Celebrity chef B. Smith is encouraging people with type 2 diabetes to recognize that small changes, including food choices, can have a positive effect on managing diabetes successfully through the Journey for Control campaign. As part of the campaign, B. Smith visited Gail Rutter, a Washington, D.C. resident with type 2 diabetes. Since Gail was diagnosed with diabetes, adjusting her diet and exercise has been a challenge, but she recognizes the long-term health benefits of adopting a healthy lifestyle. Gail signed up for a Healthy Menu Makeover to learn how to prepare healthy diabetes-friendly meals. Visit www.JourneyForControl.com for nutritional advice, exercise tips and flavorful recipes from B. Smith.
Step 1: Cooking with B. Smith:
Hi, I'm B. Smith. I'm here at my restaurant in Washington, DC, in historical Union Station. Yes, we are a landmark dining room, and I'm very proud to be here. I'm also here with Gail Rudder, who is my menu makeover today. Hi, B. How are you doing? I'm well. Good. So, when did you find out that you had diabetes? In July of this year. Aha. So, you sent me the recipes. This is the fun part I just love doing this. And how did you choose the recipes? They were family favourites. Yeah, like my family, mac and cheese, ham and cheese cake.
Step 2: Baked Mac and cheese:
Let's just talk about it all. Let's start with the baked — OK — mac and cheese. So, we're going to start with eight grain pasta. Now have you used whole wheat, or grain pastas in the past? No, I haven't. Good. This is a good starting point. I think that you're going to enjoy it. Let's just put it in the bowl here. I mean there are all different shapes. You know you can get it in elbow, or you can get it in rotini. Some of the other items that I'm using here, and you can start working with me. OK. I'm using low fat evaporated milk. So, I'll let you put that in. You know and the great thing about the small changes in your diet you know there's low fat, fat free. So there are all kinds of things that you can use, as you're you know deciding on how you want to prepare your meals. I'm using margarine, in place of the butter that we used to put in here. And this is an egg substitute. Some of the other things that I like to use for flavor — cayenne pepper to taste, so — to taste. Right, exactly. And Worcestershire sauce, and that adds another layer of flavor. Because what you want to make sure you do with your family meals are, you want to make sure that they don't even know that they don't even know that it's lighter than it has been. Or that it's a healthy meal.
Step 3: The Cheese:
So, let's start with the cheese. I'm using 75 percent fat free sharp cheddar cheese. But you can use — there are so many cheeses out there. You just have to begin to try different ones. OK. So, Gail do you want to just pour that in here? Mmmm, already begins to look yummy. OK, so, now we can just put our cheese on top. Sprinkle a little bit of yours. And you know these are non-dairy slices. Looks beautiful. I think your family's going to like this. I think so too. OK, so, now we're going to put this in a 350 degree oven, for about 30 minutes, or until it's you know bubbly and nicely browned on top. Sounds good.
Step 4: The Ham:
Gail wanted a ham. We have a pineapple glazed ham. Ooh. Mmmm. So, I'm going to squirt while you — now what I did — let me just tell you about the glaze. I took a can of pineapple orange juice and I reduced it. And then I put some cloves in here. And what I'm going to do is, in a few minutes I'm going to brush this on the ham, as my glaze. What I'm going to have you do is — here I have pineapple — crushed pineapple — just crushed pineapple, little bit of clove in it. And I want you to just reduce that a bit. That will be the sauce that we put on the finished ham. Oh, OK. — OK? My mother always scored her ham. So, I have to do that. And then I'm going to put the whole clove. It's going to look pretty and it's going to taste great. And have great flavor. OK, and you'll just cook that for a little while. And I'm going to bake this in a 350 degree oven for about an hour — even though it's pre-cooked. It'll give it a nice time to warm up, and then it'll have that nice glaze on it. And the house is going to smell great. Now, I'll just brush it with glaze. Look at that beautiful glaze. That is a beautiful ham. Isn't it? And how are you doing over there? We are reducing down. Here we go. We're ready to put this in the oven.
Step 5: Dessert time:
Gail, this is everybody's favourite time — dessert time. Now, you wanted a poppy seed cheese cake. And I'm using low fat cream cheese. I've sort of softened it here, but I'll let you take that. And I also want to tell you that I'm using whole grain Graham crackers. Oh. So, you know we're making everything healthy here. So, if you'll just keep stirring there. And we're going to use fat free yoghurt. Let me just put that in for you. I'll add a little bit of flour to that there, just a little. And I'm using an egg substitute — a little healthier for everybody — a sweetener and the poppy seeds, of course. I'm going to use about a half of this. And the fun part and the colourful part, the orange zest. So, and this will add just a little zing. And I like the flavour. Of course, one could use lemon, if they wanted to. But I happen to think that the orange is really nice. All right, let's just pour that in. Now, I'm going to bake this in an oven. It'll be about 325 degrees. We'll bake this for an hour, or until the center comes out, so that it's nice and firm. One of the other things that I did do with this recipe, that I thought was sort of fun is you know food has to look good. And garnishes are important. So, what I did is I took orange peel, and I peeled it off of the orange. And then I just sliced it up. I boiled it down a little bit. And then I put some of the sugar substitute in it. And there we have a nice topping there. Wonderful. So, this is how our cake looks in the end.
Step 6: Thanks for watching:
I think you and I should taste. Mmmm, oh God it's good. Thank you, so very much. Oh, you're welcome. You've made over three of my favourite recipes that my family will enjoy. Thank you so much. You're welcome. And you know what? You could enjoy a lot of great recipes, by going to journeyforcontrol.com. Some of these recipes will be there, and many, many more and lots of great tips. Let's eat.
