Mac and Cheese. A staple in every kid’s menu at any restaurant, from the fast food chain to the fancy one. They just use different quality of cheese 🙂 There is a reason why. Mac and Cheese is comforting, cheesy, soft, without scary colors, creamy…all winning points for a kid.
My kids are not different: they loooove Mac and Cheese. And that’s why I love finding homemade Mac and Cheese recipes that will give them that yummy flavor that they really like and give me the reassurance that I offered them an healthy meal.
The Zucchini and White Beans Mac and Cheese deliver the promise. The main elements of a Mac and cheese are there: short pasta and a lovely variety of high quality cheese. I than added zucchini to insert some veggies and used the creamy texture fo white beans to reduce the cheese amount and increase the protein one.
You can prepare the sauce in advance and store in the fridge (or freeze) and simply combine with a freshly cooked pasta when needed. The sauce is also a lovely baby puree!
I would suggest this recipe starting from 9 months of age as beans are legumes and might be a bit too difficult to be digested by a young digestive system.
The procedure is very simple. Start finely grating the zucchini. You do not need to squeeze out the extra water, simply place them in a bowl.
In a large pan heat 3 Tbsp of olive oil, the minced garlic and onion. Sauté 2 minutes.
Add the zucchini, adjust with a pinch of salt and cook at medium for 3 min. Skip the salt if cooking for babies under 12 months.
In a food processor add the white beans (rinsed and drained) the sage and the milk. Purée for 1 minute. I like organic white beans and I pick the can with the minimum sodium content.
Add the white beans purée to the zucchini and the thyme too.
Cook for 1 min.
Add the three cheeses and combine for another minute. Turn the heat off.
Cook the pasta and reserve 1 cup of the boiling water to thin the sauce.
Drain the pasta and combine with the sauce. Add 1/2 cup of the boiling water or more to thin the sauce if needed.
Serve warm and creamy!
- 1 can organic white beans, minimum sodium
- 1 and 1/2 cups milk of your choice (I used whole milk lactose free)
- 1/2 medium onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- pinch salt
- 1 cup Pecorino cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup Fontina cheese, in cubes
- 2 medium zucchini, finely grated, not squeezed
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 3 leaves sage
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb elbow pasta
- 1 Tbsp sea salt for the boiling water of the pasta
-
Finely grate the zucchini and place them in a bowl, do not squeeze the extra water out
-
Add the zucchini, adjust with salt and cook at medium for 3 min.
-
In a large pan heat 3 Tbsp olive oil, garlic and onion. Sauté 2min.
-
In a food processor add the white beans (rinsed and drained) the sage and the milk. Purée.
-
Add the purée to the zucchini and the thyme too. Cook 1 min.
-
Add the cheeses and combine for another minute. Turn the heat off.
-
Cook the pasta and reserve 1 cup of the boiling water.
-
Drain the pasta and combine with the sauce. Add 1/2 cup of the boiling water or more to thin the sauce if needed.
Serve warm and creamy!
2 Comments
Did you make this recipe? Share the love, tag @buonapappa on Instagram and hashtag it #buonapappa I would love to see your creations!
Jennifer
December 3, 2020 at 10:16 pmHi,
Can white beans be replaced with some other beans like(black eyed beans)? Will it affect the taste?
Thanks
Jen
Barbara Lamperti
January 20, 2021 at 11:30 pmHi Jennifer, good question! White Beans or Cannellini beans are creamy and with a tender skin. I would substitute them with red kidney, great northern or navy beans. I never tried with black eyed beans as I think they have a slightly stronger flavor, but they might work too. If you try let me know how it goes! Ciao, B