Cooking as a gift

One of my clients (and one of my good friends, too!) just had a baby recently. I asked if there was anything I could do for them (secretly hoping they'd ask me to cook them a meal!) and guess what?? I got to cook a meal and deliver it to the new family and meet their little peanut!

I don't have a name for this meal. I make it different each time. It's kind of a grown up's baked mac-n-cheese. It's kind of a casserole. It's kind of um... delicious!! And guess what? It's also low fat! And once again- something you make different each time!
It's basically sauteed vegetables and garlic, smokey chicken sausage, pasta and a low fat cheese sauce all mixed together and baked.

What I used:
1/2 a box of small pasta
1 sweet onion
1/2 a large green pepper
2 small zucchinis
1 small head of broccoli
3 cloves of garlic (Have I mentioned yet how much I love garlic??)
1 package of smoked chicken sausage
BBQ sauce, hot sauce and liquid smoke for flavor
1/2 C. of fat free cheddar cheese
1/2 C. of low fat cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cans of either fat free or 2% canned milk
1 TBS of butter
1 TBS of flour

Ok so here is goes... Chop of the veggies and saute... (and add the broccoli last because you don't want it to get too mushy!)
Take them out of the pan and throw them in a large bowl and set aside. In the same pan cook up the chicken sausage. Towards the end throw in about 2TBS of BBQ sauce to add a little flavor. Plus the sauce almost caramelizes the meat and makes it super tasty!
Then add the meat to the veggies and set aside.



While boiling the pasta (if you don't know how to boil pasta then perhaps you shouldn't be reading a cooking blog... no offense) it's time to make magic! Sauce time!!
First start with a roux... but with a twist. Melt the butter and add the flour and whisk. Then add about 2TBS of BBQ sauce and 1/2 a cap full of liquid smoke (no more than that as a little goes a very long way!!) and a few dashes of a smokey hot sauce. Then gradually add the milk. It will start to get thicker and form a paste. Continue to whisk while adding the milk. When it's all smooth and warm- that's when you add the cheese. Oh yes. The magical ingredient.

At this point you should taste it and see where the flavor is. I like the undertone flavor the BBQ sauce adds. Add more flavors if you think it needs it.
When your sauce is all delish and tasty, pour it over the veggies, meat and (drained) pasta. Give it a toss and gently mix it all up. You can serve it just as is... bake it with some cracker crumbs on top... or just eat it out of the pot if you must!