Cheesy Shells and Broccoli

I stumbled upon the blog Budget Bytes a few days ago. Good (healthy) food + inexpensive ingredients = right up my alley. I really want to try her recipe for chocolate lava cakes but I need to cut back on my sugar intake (I just polished off a pan of frosted brownies in under 24 hours). Anyway, this pasta looked too good and too easy to pass up and I'm glad I didn't. It was hit. I made a couple changes, nothing major though.

8 oz. pasta

1 large broccoli crown, cut into small florets

1/2 cup chopped onion (I used shallots because I had a few floating around that I wanted to use up)

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

2 1/2 cups milk (I used plain almond milk and the sauce turned out just fine)

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan

Salt and Pepper

Tabasco

Add pasta to a large pot of boiling water. After the pasta has been cooking for 8 minutes add the broccoli to the same pot. Cook for two minutes more. Strain pasta and broccoli and pour back into large pot.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat melt the butter and saute the onions until translucent, 2-3 minutes. Add the flour. Using a whisk, stir and cook the flour mixture for 2 minutes. Add the milk and whisk to dissolve any clumps. Add fresh ground pepper. Allow mixture to simmer and sauce to thicken. Once sauce has thickened, stir in cheeses until fully melted. Add a splash of Tabasco and salt if desired. Pour cheese sauce over pasta and stir until pasta and broccoli are well coated.

Again, this is not a great picture. Husband is on swing shift so I'm flying solo during dinner time, which means I'm like a crazy woman in the kitchen between the hours of 4:30 - 7. Excuses, excuses, I know.

Review - Everyone loved this pasta dish. I loved it so much that I had seconds after the kids were in bed. I mixed three different kinds of cheese (cheddar, Parmesan, and some Cougar Gold). I think you could definitely play around with different cheeses, just make sure you have at least two cups. I only added a couple drops of Tabasco, which kept it mild enough for the kids. I served it with peas. I'll definitely be making this again.