New varieties of mac and cheese

Tue, 02/14/2006 - 3:41pm
By: The Citizen

I’m always going on about nutrition when you just want a big bowl of comfort. Well, far be it from me to deny you — let’s talk mac and cheese.

Perhaps something simply organic, like Simply Organic — (6 ounces, $1.39). It lacks mystery chemicals and genetically modified organisms. It doesn’t lack salt, though. With 740 mg per 2/3 cup serving, you can call it Simply Sodium. A serving also has 400 calories and 2 grams of fat. It isn’t deeply cheesy, though.

Nor is Annie’s (7 ounces, $1.79), with more fat (4.5 grams) but fewer calories (290) and less sodium (550 mg). When made with yogurt, it has a nice tang, and the natural annatto extract turns it as orange as the mac and cheese of your childhood.

Cheese is altogether absent from Road’s End Organics (6.5 ounces, $1.89). The sauce, made from yeast and spices, is suitable for vegans. Road’s End calls it “chreese.” Rhymes with trees. The name is unnerving, but the end result is surprisingly good. Mixed with soy milk, the sauce silkily coats the noodles and your mouth. A serving contains 330 calories, 390 mg sodium and one scant fat gram.

Cheeseless Road’s End tastes cheesier than Back to Nature, (6.5 ounces, $1.69), made, they boast, with organic cheddar sauce. It’s more like white sauce, light on unctuous mouth feel, even lighter on comfort. Preservative-free with 330 calories, 640 mg sodium and 2 fat grams per serving, it’s made with pasta so petite, you wonder whether to eat it with a fork or tweezers.

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