A Quick Idea!

I just had mac-and-cheese for lunch, and it took a big five minutes to make. I drained and rinsed a package of tofu shirataki noodles and dumped 'em in a sauce pan. Turned the burner to low and started warming them. Then I pulled the packet of powdered cheese out of a box of generic mac-and-cheese mix, and added it and 1/4 cup half-and-half to the shirataki. Let the whole thing cook another couple of minutes to heat through and thicken up, then dumped it in a bowl and ate it.

Damned if it didn't taste just like... well, like mac-and-cheese. The leftover starchy noodles I'll boil up and feed to my chickens, who will obligingly turn them into eggs for me.

If you lack chickens -- and odds are you do -- you can buy cheddar cheese powder all by itself. I can't get it in my local grocery stores, but Amazon.com carries several brands -- this one looks like a pretty good buy. They also carry genuine Kraft macaroni-and-cheese topping in shakers.

By the way, if you're jonesing after Cheetos, a good shot of cheddar cheese powder in a bag of pork rinds, then shaken well, makes a darned good substitute!