DIY Protein Mac & Cheese

The Story

In a previous post I gave you my impression of the Kaizen protein posta and where it ended up on my tier list. I also said I was going to try the mac and cheese once it arrived, and give you a separate review for that.

Well, the mac and cheese arrived, but I haven’t gotten around to making it yet. Tonight was parent teacher conferences at school, so I worked until 7 p.m. and was hungry with calories to spare when I got home. I didn’t want to make a full box of the stuff. I only wanted one (2 ounces uncooked) serving.

So I made my own slapdash mac and cheese (Kraft Dinner) recipe half from experience, half from remembered YouTube videos, and half from pure WAG.¹

Here’s the overview version. I boiled the Kaizen pasta according to the directions on the box. Meanwhile, I gathered the cheese we had in the house that seemed to make sense: an ounce of white cheddar and some parmesan. Real, grated parmesan and some of that green-shaker-bottle stuff. I thought maybe I had some sodium citrate in the house, but I couldn’t remember where it was. Probably at the back of the fridge. It can turn any cheese into a smooth sauce. Since I didn’t know where that was, I turned to the next best thing: whatever chemicals are in American cheese² that make it melt smoothly.

Cooked.wiki is where I’m putting recipes lately, so you can see it there if you like. For now, here’s what I did. But before I hand you off to the recipe, I will tell you that it hit the spot. Would make again for an early night protein-filled snack. Great with pepper and hot sauce.

The Result

This recipe finished out my calories for the day and my protein. It’s a keeper, as long as I’m willing to take the calorie hit from all the fat. But if you’re craving cheese, it’s a decent trade-off. The 35g+ of total fat is a lot. A leaner version of this maybe uses only one slice of American cheese, or increases the grated cheese and replaces some of the cheddar with fat free cottage cheese. Something I will try when I’m not in a hurry.

DIY Protein Mac and Cheese

Yield: 1 serving
Cook time: About 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 slices American cheese
• 1 ounce sharp white cheddar cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons 1% milk
• 2 ounces Kaizen protein pasta
• Salted water, for boiling
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Instructions

1. Bring the salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and boil for 5 minutes.
2. While the pasta cooks, melt the American, cheddar, and Parmesan cheeses together over very low heat.
3. When the cheeses soften, stir in the butter and milk until a sauce forms.
4. Drain the pasta and add it to the cheese sauce. Stir until evenly coated.
5. Add salt to taste, but there’s already a lot of sodium here, so you might want to skip it.
6. Serve immediately.

Estimated Nutrition

Per recipe (1 serving), without the addition of the salt

Nutrition Notes

• Values are estimates because nutrition varies by cheese brand, slice weight, and the specific Kaizen pasta variety.
• Kaizen pasta contributes approximately 130 calories, 20 grams protein, 21 grams carbohydrate, and 15 grams fiber per 2-ounce serving.
• Allergens: contains milk. Kaizen pasta contains lupin and fava bean ingredients; check the package if you have legume or peanut allergies.

In case the table above isn’t loading:

Protein Mac and Cheese — Oct. 6

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving

---

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 493.7

---

Nutrient	Amount	% Daily Value*
Total Fat	35.1 g	45%
Saturated Fat	19.2 g	96%
Trans Fat	0.7 g	—
Cholesterol	95.2 mg	32%
Sodium	1,176.4 mg	51%
Total Carbohydrate	24.8 g	9%
Dietary Fiber	15 g	54%
Total Sugars	3.6 g	—
Added Sugars	0 g	0%
Protein	39.1 g	—
Vitamin D	3.5 mcg	17%
Calcium	776.2 mg	60%
Iron	1.9 mg	10%
Potassium	436.7 mg	9%

* The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. A 2,000-calorie daily diet is used for general nutrition advice.

AI Disclosure: Perplexity was used to pull nutrition data out of a screenshot of a table, and was used to adjust formatting.

1. Wild-assed guessing. Or is it wild-ass guessing? ↩

2. Narrator: It turned out that those chemicals are… sodium citrate. ↩