So many people serve their kids green food on St. Patrick’s Day.  I love to do it too, but I’m not a fan of unnatural food coloring.  My kids requested green mac and cheese today, and I was happy to oblige.    When they were babies, I used the Annabel Karmel books to make purees and toddler foods.  We’ve adapted this recipe and used over and over throughout the years.  It’s still a favorite and made a perfect healthy addition to St. Patrick’s Day.  Maybe you can serve it to your family tonight!

Start the water for macaroni.  Meanwhile in a separate pan, make a roux with equal parts butter and flour, whisk it and let it cook for a couple minutes.

Add the milk a little at a time and let it come to a boil until it is thickened.

Add the swiss cheese and let it melt.  I have to say that I was originally a little hesitant to use swiss like she recommended, but it’s so mild that everyone is a fan.

Pour the cheese sauce over the package of spinach in a blender and blend until smooth.  Be careful because this is hot!

Cook the pasta according to package directions.  I like to use whole wheat.

The last couple minutes it’s cooking, add in the corn.  Or, if you’re like me and use a pot that is way too small as always, you’ll have to cook the corn separately!  Drain both.

And that’s it.  Mix the sauce and pasta/corn together.  Add salt to taste.  My kids each ate at least 2 bowls.  I think you’ll love it.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Some of the depth of flavor comes from using bacon grease to sautee the chicken and veggies.  I know it seems wrong, but it’s SO right!  Start by tossing in your bacon grease, chicken, onions and red pepper and cooking it until they are done.  Add the garlic and cook another minute or so.

Add a quart of chicken stock and the potatoes, then bring to a boil.  Let it cook until potatoes are tender – about 20 minutes.

Add frozen corn – mine is from our CSA and was preserved from their summer sweet corn.  I normally just use normal frozen corn.  But when you have this amazing stuff in your house, use it instead!!  Next, add a mixture of 1/2c. flour and 2c. milk whisked together.  It will be really thick.  Make sure you get all the lumps out and get it really smooth.  Pour it into the soup and bring to a boil.  Cook for 15 minutes to get out the raw flour taste.

At this point you can pull it off the heat and add the cheese.  It only takes a minute to melt.  I’ve curdled this too many times, so I’m speaking from experience when I say DO NOT boil it or it will not look great.  It still tastes good, but I like it to look good, too!  Season with salt and pepper and serve!  My kids throw frozen corn in theirs to cool it instead of an ice cube so it doesn’t get thinned out.  Isn’t that brilliant?!

As a side note, whenever I freeze soup, I put it into a gallon zip top freezer bag and freeze it flat on a cookie sheet.  They defrost super quickly this way and don’t take up that much room in the freezer!

So there it is.  Family favorite of ours…hopefully it will be for yours too!

*disclaimer.  It’s winter and I was losing my light really fast!  So I photographed it before I had brought it back to a boil and added the cheese.  It will actually be the color of the frozen one when it’s done.

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