I’m not a fast food eater. It’s never been my thing. To this day, I have never had a McDonald’s hamburger. But I have to admit that, when they were still selling them, I bought plenty of their Hamburglar cookies.

Those who know me, know that I love ice cream, chocolate, cookies, cake, and pie! I go through cycles like an addict. It’s sort of all or nothing with me. Right now, it’s nothing. No sugar, except for a teaspoon of raw honey on Ezekiel toast or maybe in green tea, if it needs it.

The mac ‘n cheese pictured above is my version of fast food. This is how I eat sometimes when my husband is out of town. From beginning to end, the whole meal takes about 5 minutes.

I like it because every ingredient is organic and I am not eating GMOs, antibiotics, hormones, pesticides or herbicides. I am getting 3 solid servings of produce, plus a big clove of garlic.

I can’t vouch for the quality of ingredients in this hot sauce, but everything else is vouched for.

This is how I make this dish so fast!

While I am heating the Macaroni & Cheese in the microwave, I rinse and chop the other ingredients. I toss them in a small amount of olive oil and season them with a pinch of sea salt, a few grinds of fresh cracked pepper and sauté them until they are al dente (I try not to destroy their important enzymes by over heating them 😬). When the Mac ‘n Cheese is warm, I add the veggies, hot sauce and a 1/3 cup of organic cottage cheese.

I do different combos, which include other ingredients like Broccoli, Black Beans, White Beans, Red Beans, Crushed Red Peppers, Kale, Mushrooms, Green Onions, Green Chiles, Bell Peppers, Chunky Salsa, avocado, a dollop of Organic Sour Cream (just enough to temper the hot sauce) and all sorts of things.

I have discerning tastebuds 😉 and I like to combine cohesive and sensible flavor profiles.

I try to balance the less nutritious parts with fresh produce, so that I am getting vitamins, minerals and fiber. I like to eat this with a Green Salad, filled with an array of veggies, tossed with good Balsamic Vinegar.

I am not a calorie counter, but I estimated that the entire box of Mac ‘n Cheese, plus 1/3 cup of 2% Cottage Cheese (I used 4%, but 2% has less fat), 1 or 2 Tbsns. Hot Sauce, 1/2 Cup Onions, Large Garlic Clove, 1/2 Cup Asparagus, 1/2 Cup tomatoes and 1 Tbsn. Olive Oil is approximately 650 calories. The vegetables hardly have any calories.

Veggies are satisfying and filling, plus they are the main nutrition in this meal. For someone dieting, I would recommend eating maybe 1/2 of the mac ‘n cheese and double the veggies.

A minimum of five 1/2 cup servings of organic produce, ideally raw and definitely non GMO, is so important to a body’s overall health, so pack as many veggies in each meal as possible!

If you are unfamiliar with GMOs, take a few minutes to look at this and this link. GMO’s are not our friend.