I went through the whole “let’s try to disguise veggies for our kids by pureeing them all like Jessica Seinfeld” thing and tried a few recipes from her book.  A couple good things came from that, but I’ve decided that honesty is just so much simpler than sneaking around my kitchen with my already suspicious kid looking on.  HOWEVER – tonight I came up with something quite fantastic.  As far as redeeming irredeemable food goes when that’s all you’ve got in your cupboards.  And it’s probably already been invented. But I keep going back to the pot for another bite, so I figured I’d just post.

1 box Mac n’Cheese

1/2 box Elbow pasta (I love the new-ish Barilla protein/whole grain pasta)

1 medium soft yam (baked/steamed/boiled)

1/2 c cream cheese (pretty sure the fat free kinds don’t melt very well, so best to use the good stuff)

1/4 c milk

1-2 T butter

garlic salt

table salt

Add your protein pasta (or regular) to WELL SALTED (2-3 T?) boiling water and boil for a couple of minutes before adding the boxed stuff.  Meanwhile mash up the sweet potato in a microwave safe bowl and add the cream cheese in chunks.  Warm the mixture to the point that you can easily stir or puree it and add garlic salt to taste.  Drain the pasta when al dente (still firm to the bite) NOT rinsing (EVER) and add the butter, milk and packaged cheese as normal.  Then add the creamy potato mixture and stir in to the pasta creating a thick, creamy, hearty and healthy(er) mac n’ cheese!  Pepper it to taste.