Learn to cook swimmers pasta with Mica

 Swimmers pasta – Mac and cheese

We all know swimmers eat a lot, and mom always gets the question What do you feed Mica?

We decided to answer the questions and have a little bit of fun.  It is important for me as a swim mom to teach our swimmer to make her own food.  More important once she goes to University or College, but no harm to learn at an early age (Monica is now nine.)

We adapted the traditional Macaroni and cheese based on a recipe I once read fleetingly and could not find again.  We are not sure how many of you are familiar with this version, but we are sharing it none the less.  Mica loves this dish and you could either eat it warm or cold – in the latter case we take our swimmer’s pasta  left-overs to the swim meets for lunch.

Please try it, and share your thoughts with us.

Ingredients:

1 Onion
Celery as much as you like
Cherry tomatoes as much as you like
Sometimes we add mushrooms as well – be creative add the veggies you like.
Ham ( or lean bacon or both on naughty days) as much as you like
1 cup of cheese
1 spoon of butter
Milk
1 tablespoon Cornflower dissolved in cold water
Olive oil
Wheat macaroni or if you cannot find, normal macaroni

Swimmers pasta instructions:

1.  Chop all ingredients into small pieces.
2. Mix the spoonful of Cornflower in cold water.  Add enough water so that it is flowing and not a paste.
3. Melt the butter in a pot and keep a whisk handy with the milk on the side.  Add the cornflower to the butter and whisk immediately.  Add milk soon after the butter/cornflower mixture thickens to form a white sauce.  Put it aside as we will add the cheese later to make a cheese sauce.
4. Add a little bit of oil to the big pan and heat it up.  Add the onions and celery until the onions are brown.
5. Add the ham and/or bacon and cook it until the meat is cooked.
6. Warm the white sauce and add the cheese.  Stir it until the cheese melt to form a nice cheese sauce.
7. Add the cheese sauce to the veggie and bacon mix.
8. Keep the cherry tomatoes for last as they cook soft quickly.  Mix it all together and cook for a short while.
9. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce.
10. At this point, we add a bit of salt.  If you like chili or other spices you can add it.
11. Place in heat resistant bowl and bake in the oven for 10 minutes (180 degrees).  If you want to, you can add cheese on top.  We just like it with the cheese sauce.
12. Say YUM  and dig in swimmers, enjoy your lovely home made swimmer’s macaroni and cheese!
13. Remember to let Mica know how your Mac and cheese tasted by commenting or leave a message for us on the blog, Youtube, Twitter or Facebook!