I’m so excited to post my first recipe! I’m even more excited that this recipe combines several of my favorite things – an ooey, gooey cheese sauce, delicious buffalo flavor, and blue cheese. Yes, I counted cheese twice in my favorite things… that’s just how I roll.
Macaroni and cheese is one of my all-time favorite foods, but when I’m trying to eat healthier and lose these pesky pregnancy pounds, the regular stuff just doesn’t work so well for me. Cue the cauliflower rice for a swap so good you’ll barely miss the noodles! Plus, you get a nice dose of veggies with every serving. Trust me, I need all the help I can get on that.
When it comes to cauliflower rice, I’m also super lazy. Yes, I have made cauliflower rice on my own before, but I find the process to be messy, tedious, and just overall annoying. Lucky for folks like me, several brands now make frozen cauliflower rice – Green Giant, Bird’s Eye, and Trader Joe’s, to name a few. Feel free to make your own cauliflower rice if you’d like – you overachiever, you!
P.S. Sorry about the photo – it’s been a gloomy couple weeks so beautiful, natural lighting is just not happening. Props to my husband, the hand model, though!
Buffalo Chicken Cauliflower “Mac” and Cheese
Serves: 6
Serving size: Generous 1 cup
8 SmartPoints per serving
Ingredients:
2 10-12 oz. bags cauliflower rice
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup fat free skim milk
4 oz. reduced-fat sharp cheddar shredded cheese
1/2 cup light chunky blue cheese dressing (like Marzetti’s)
1/3 – 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (I use Frank’s)*
1 cup diced celery
12 oz. cooked shredded chicken
1 1/2 oz. blue cheese crumbles
1. Cook cauliflower rice according to package directions.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, add the all-purpose flower and whisk to form a roux. Slowly add the milk and whisk until smooth and slightly thickened. Add the cheese and stir until melted.
3. Combine the blue cheese dressing and buffalo wing sauce in a small bowl.
4. Add the cooked cauliflower rice, buffalo blue cheese sauce, diced celery, and chicken to the saucepan and stir until fully combined.
5. Serve garnished with 1/2 oz. of blue cheese crumbles.
*I used 1/2 cup of buffalo wing sauce and thought the spice level was perfect. My husband is a little bitch when it comes to spice and thought it was just a little too spicy… adjust the amount you use accordingly 😉
The “my husband is a little bitch” comment just sent this post off the rails for me 😂 Hahaha! I’m going to try this – unfortunately in rural Alberta (Canada) we don’t have access to pre-done cauliflower rice, so I’ll have to make my own *sigh*. Thanks for sharing!
We didn’t have the pre-made cauliflower rice in my area until recently, but it’s a game changer. I hope you get it soon! Glad you enjoyed the “little bitch” comment… my husband was actually the one that said it – haha!