Dragonia’s Macaroni & Cheese
Jul 28th, 2010 by Ace
I’ve been hearing about this recipe for years now, so it was a delight to finally get to try it from the source. It is intended to be a low carb recipe- its author maintains a low-carb regimen- but now that I’ve published it here, there is apparently some contention over whether or not that is truly the case, because of the uncertainty concerning the properties of Dreamfields pasta [see the Comments]. So if eating low-carb is part of your health profile, I would suggest that you familiarize yourself with those issues and make your own decision about the recipe before using it.
I can attest, however, that it is every bit as tasty as it looks.
- 8 ounces of dry low-carb Dreamfields macaroni noodles
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons Carbquik low-carb flour
- 1 cup Hood’s Calorie Countdown milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 heaping teaspoon dry mustard (I use hot dry mustard for more kick)
- 3 cups (or more) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup low-carb bread crumbs (made by drying and crushing 2 pieces of low-carb bread)
- fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Cook and drain noodles according to package directions; set aside.
In a large saucepan, melt butter.
Add flour mixed with salt, pepper & dry mustard, using a whisk to stir until well-blended.
Pour milk and cream in gradually; stirring constantly.
Bring to boiling point and boil 2 minutes (stirring constantly).
Reduce heat and cook (stirring constantly) 10 minutes.
Add shredded cheddar little by little and simmer an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese melts.
Turn off heat.
Add macaroni to the saucepan and coat with the cheese sauce.
Transfer macaroni to a 2-quart buttered baking dish.
Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.
Bake 20 minutes until the top is golden brown.
You can also reputedly freeze this recipe in zip-lock bags for later use: once you’ve mixed the macaroni with the cheese sauce, you simply allow it to cool to room temperature before placing it in the freezer. Then you thaw it the night before you need it, add it to the buttered baking dish, sprinkle it with bread crumbs and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Dragonia says she’s never tried this herself, though.
FYI, Dreamfields isn’t low-carb for a lot of people. A lot of diabetics report that it elevates their blood sugar almost as much as regular pasta after consumption–but it does so many hours after eating, not, as regular pasta would, within the 2-hour post-prandial window in which many people test their blood sugar. And a lot of people who have a hair-trigger response to carbs report that they stall on weight loss plans after eating Dreamfields.
Even if it does work for you, whatever technology the company uses to keep the starch from being quickly digested seems to fail (i.e., it reverts to pretty much the same glycemic properties as regular pasta) if you overcook it, so using it in a “twice cooked” dish like baked mac & cheese is probably a bad idea. The magic also apparently fails when the cooked pasta is stored, so keep that in mind when considering quantity; leftovers have an even smaller chance of behaving like a low-carb food.
This may or may not be a big deal for some. But, at best, I would expect that, in a baked mac & cheese dish, the Dreamfields doesn’t behave all that differently from a protein- and fiber-enriched pasta like Misura or Barilla Plus, only at twice the cost. At worst, it could really mess with a diabetic’s blood sugar. It might be safer to think of Dreamfields not as a low-carb pasta, but as a low-glycemic pasta, and only when cooked properly (only to al dente, cooked via boiling, eaten immediately after cooking, and sauced at the last minute) and eaten in small quantities. And if you are not diabetic or overly sensitive to carbs.
The recipe sounds delicious, though.
Thanks for bringing up those important issues, Ten Feet. I don’t maintain a low-carb regimen myself, so I pretty much just passed the recipe along as Dragonia made it for me without any fact-checking. She’s apparently had dialogues with other people about these same topics, though, so she’s planning on reading your comments and addressing them herself in this space. Stay tuned…
I have heard this comment made about Dreamfields net carb raising after over cooking or reheating. I called Dreamfields and this is a myth. I was told that Dreamfields fiber/protein blend creates a barrier to reduce starch digestion in the small intestine. The unabsorbed, or protected carbs then pass to the colon where they are fermented, providing the same health benefits as fiber.
You are correct about diabetics reporting that it elevates their blood sugar. But this also depends on what type of diabetic you are. I am not diabetic, and have followed a low carb regiment since 2002. I have never had a problem with the Dreamfields pastas. But as with any diet, everything should be eaten in moderation.
I’ve followed various kinds of low-carb ketogenic eating plans on and off, depending on my athletic needs, since about 1998. I’ve eaten Dreamfields as well and like it. However, I’ve never been confident in it as a very low-carb food. I think it’s better categorized as a lowER carb food. I’ve known plenty of people who actually check their urine for ketones who have said that it kicks them out of ketosis, even when eaten in moderate amounts. I can’t say from my personal experience, as I never ate Dreamfields during a time when ketosis was important to me.
I’m extremely skeptical about any claims Dreamfields makes about its starch “protection” technology, since they’re not particularly transparent about how it works. I do think that whatever they’re doing works for many people, but it also doesn’t work for a not insignificant number of people out there. Human beings have a wide range of tolerances for / sensitivity to dietary carbohydrates, and it seems to me that reactions to Dreamfields varies quite a bit as well.
So I just wanted to give a heads up to people that recipes using Dreamfields may be problematic for some people, and if maintaining ketosis or strictly controlling blood sugar is important, people may want to test diligently when eating Dreamfields to make sure the product works as desired for them.