Balanced Recipes for Back to School
Veggie Mac & Cheese
Kid-friendly meals don't have to mean choosing between kid-friendly and nutrition-forward. This Veggie Mac & Cheese starts with a familiar favorite and builds on it with veggies, cottage cheese, Goodles protein pasta, buttery Vlaskaas, and sharp cheddar.
Vegetables are steamed until tender and blended with cottage cheese to create a creamy sauce that coats every Goodles noodle. Vlaskaas brings a buttery, slightly nutty flavor with a subtle sweet-sharp finish, while sharp cheddar adds the familiar tang that makes mac and cheese taste like mac and cheese. Finished with a crisp panko topping, this is a cozy, veggie-forward meal that still feels like the dish kids know and love.
Recipe of the Moment
Veggie Mac & Cheese
A more nutrient dense take on the classic family favorite
This veggie-forward mac and cheese brings together vegetables, protein, fiber, carbohydrates, and calcium in a familiar family favorite. Veggies add fiber, antioxidants, and micronutrients, while cottage cheese and cheese contribute protein and calcium along with a whole lot of yummy flavor. Goodles Protein Pasta builds the base and brings along additional protein, fiber, and micronutrients.
Tip for making healthy, kid-friendly recipes: start with foods your family already enjoys, then add nutrient-rich ingredients where they naturally fit! For a kitchen activity, let kids help choose the vegetable, sprinkle on the panko, or add a little extra cheese before baking. Giving kids a role in preparing a meal can make the kitchen more fun and gives them an opportunity to interact with different foods.
What Makes This Dish Balanced
A balanced meal is all about how each ingredient contributes different nutrients and works together to create a nutritious dish.
Vegetables: The vegetable-based sauce adds fiber, vitamins & minerals, and antioxidants.
Protein: Cottage cheese, Vlaskaas, cheddar, vegetables, and Goodles Protein Pasta all contribute protein. Collectively, each serving of this Veggie Mac & Cheese contains about 20 grams of protein. *Protein content varies slightly based on the vegetable used.
Fiber: Goodles Protein Pasta provides 7 grams of dietary fiber per 2-ounce serving, while the vegetables add even more. Fiber supports digestive health and may help with fullness.
Calcium: Milk, cottage cheese, and cheese provide calcium, an important mineral for building and maintaining strong bones and teeth. Blending cottage cheese into the sauce also adds creaminess without relying entirely on cheese.
Carbohydrates: Goodles noodles provide carbohydrates, the body's preferred source of energy, making them a satisfying foundation for a family meal.
Meet Vlaskaas
There's a reason we wanted Vlaskaas to be the star cheese in this recipe.
Vlaskaas is a semi-soft Dutch Gouda aged for around five months. It has a buttery, slightly nutty flavor with sweet notes and a subtle sharp finish. That combination gives the sauce plenty of character while pairing beautifully with sharp cheddar.
The name Vlaskaas means “flax cheese” in Dutch. Historically, the cheese was made just once a year during the flax harvest. As that tradition faded, the recipe eventually disappeared until Beemster rediscovered it in 2004. Today, Vlaskaas is made year-round.
Vlaskaas contains protein and calcium, but its biggest job in this recipe is making the dish taste really good! That matters too as a flavorful and enjoyable meal contributes to a satisfying one.
Why Goodles?
We're using Goodles Protein Pasta as the foundation for this recipe because it brings a little more nutrition to a familiar food. Its protein comes from wheat and chickpea protein, while its fiber comes from a combination of ingredients including specially formulated wheat flour.
Goodles also incorporates nutrients from plant ingredients such as broccoli, spinach, kale, pumpkin, sweet potato, sunflower seeds, and mushrooms. And perhaps most importantly for a kid-friendly recipe, it still looks, cooks, and tastes like pasta!
Fun fact: Semolina, one of the traditional ingredients used to make pasta, is a coarse flour made from durum wheat. Its gluten structure helps give pasta its familiar firm, chewy texture.
*Nutrition information may vary by Goodles variety. Check the package of the specific product used.
The Balanced Basket
is a dietitian-led program designed to make healthy eating simple, enjoyable & easy. One balanced basket at a time. Look for callouts throughout our stores that highlight expertly curated products each month. Visit this page for delicious recipes each month, as we empower every gustomer to build feel-good nutrition habits.