Healthy Macaroni & Cheese

I've tried several versions of Macaroni and Cheese... it usually calls for, you guess it... A LOT of cheese! This recpie totally impressed me. What's the main ingredient? BEANS! What a healthy version of Mac and Cheese and an easy way to get your kids to eat protein.

Macaroni and Cheese

1 1/2 cups noodles (any kind!)
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup to One Can of navy beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, white beans, cannellini beans or great northern beans. (drained and pureed) Depending on how thick you'd like your sauce you can choose how many beans you'd like to puree. This time around I used the entire can. I ended up needing more milk to make it touch runnier. If you're unsure, start with 1/2 cup!
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (about an 8 ounce bag)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the noodles and cook according to the package directions. Drain.
While noodles are boiling, combine milk and beans in a food processor  or blender (I used my awesome Blendtec!) until purred.
Coat large saucepan with cooking spray and set it over medium heat. Add bean mixture and stir until smooth. Add cheese and cook until melted and creamy. Stir in salt, garlic salt, paprika and pepper. Stir in noodles and serve warm.

Notice Emberly's super cute kitty plate from Target's $1 section :) She wanted ranch dressing right over the kitty's eye. My child loves ranch with ANYTHING.. but mostly just by itself ;)

ENJOY!