Quark Mac 'n' Cheese with Scallions & Roasted Garlic

Say Cheese ! Who doesn’t like a cheesy dish on a gloomy, not-so productive day? Well i certainly find that therapeutic. For today, i have a classic American dish which we all go crazy about. U guessed it right – the good old “Mac ‘n’ Cheese” !! My version uses Quark cheese and is made extra lovable with a little scallions and garlic added to it 🙂 So lets get makin !

Divine Spice Box has its apron on and is busy experimenting with new, innovative and fun ingredients lately. In the last couple of months, i have introduced many new ingredients in my kitchen (which i am really glad about) and it has added a new dimension to my cooking methods. There was a time when vegetarians had a hard time balancing their nutrition and making sure they met their daily protein goals. Thanks to so many new and improved products, the possibilities are endless now! Today, i am bringing to you yet another product which comes with a promise of good health and endless ways of enjoying it- Elli Quark

Quark Cheese

Quark is a fresh cheese common amongst German speaking countries. It is sort of a Yogurt cheese which looks like yogurt in appearance but has the creaminess of cheese. I heard about it for the first time just a few weeks back and since then i was itching to try it out ! It was co-incidental when i got to know about Elli Quark a few days later and i decided to try out their product range and review it for you all. Elli Quark generously offered to send me a sample of all their 12 flavours (Yes they have 12 flavours !! ) for me to try out.

It is impressive to see that Elli Quark delivers refrigerated products right to your doorstep ! That makes it so much easier to bring some Quark goodness home. A neat package was delivered to my doorstep and it had ice packs which kept the products cool and fresh. The Quark cups were chilled and ready to eat right away 🙂

The amazing 12 flavors from Elli Quark are :

Plain
Vanilla
Lemon
Pineapple
Banana Foster
Sea Salt Caramel
Peach
Mint Chocolate
Red Velvet
Blueberry
Cherry
Strawberry

Isn’t that awesome !! They have a wide range to choose from i am sure there is atleast one flavour for everyone.

I was so curious and excited to try out the products that i opened up one of my favorite flavours right away – Red velvet. Oh my my … this was like eating a red velvet cake, but as a smooth, creamy yogurt ! I loved it !! In the next few days, me and my husband tried all the 12 favours and found all of them delicious !! We could not really pick our favorites:P

What i really like about Quark is that this one big serving (170 gms) contains only 80 cal which is almost half of a typical greek yogurt but it has 15% more protein – those stats are really good 🙂

Given my love for cooking, i had to cook something using Quark 🙂 I decided to make a meal out of Quark and tried the cherry flavour for a quick mason jar black forest cake (recipe to follow soon) and the plain Quark for my main course – the classic Mac ‘n’ Cheese but made lighter (and better) using Quark. This Mac ‘n’ cheese tastes as creamy and good but has calories cut to almost half. There is also the addition of Scallions and Garlic, adding another flavour dimesion to the dish.

Quark Mac ‘n’ Cheese with Scallions and Garlic

Quark mac 'n' cheese with scallion & garlic

Servings: 2
Time: 20 mins
Difficulty: easy
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mac n cheese close up

Recipe

This recipe is made using Elli Quark’s product.

Macaroni – 250 gms (i used Modern Table’s red lentil macaroni). You can use any type of pasta but i am using a macaroni shape
oil- 1 tablespoon (i used Olive oil)
2-3 scallions/ spring onions (about 1/2 cup), chopped
garlic- 3-4 cloves , finely chopped
dash of paprika (optional)

Sauce

1 cup Skim Milk
1 cup Elli Quark’s Plain Quark (170gms)
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
1/4th cup of Light Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon flour

Method

Let us cook the sauce first. Take a bowl and mix the following together – Milk, quark and flour. Transfer the mix in a non stick pan and begin cooking on medium high flame.
With a spatula, stir the mix till it gets the sauce like consistency. Now, add in cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese. Mix and combine till the cheese melts. Sprinkle salt and pepper as needed and combine. Keep aside.
Meanwhile, prepare the pasta. Take a deep pot and fill with enough water to boil pasta. Follow the instructions as provided on the pack of pasta you cook the pasta to al-dente. Strain the water and keep the pasta in a bowl.
Pour the cheese sauce on top of the boiled pasta and gently combine.
In a separate pan, heat the oil. Add in the chopped garlic and roast till lightly browned. Add in the scallions and saute till the onions are lightly brown. Remove from flame. Add this on top of the mac ‘n’ cheese and combine.
Sprinkle paprika as needed and serve warm.

This Mac ‘n’ Cheese is seriously delicious ! Quark makes this dish so creamy without an overload of fats and calories. I also used a lentil based pasta to add to the proteins of this dish. Now you can truly enjoy mac ‘n’ cheese and load up on proteins 🙂 If you have not tried Quark before, this is a game changer for your food. It is creamy, rich and delicious… and it is Cheese afterall 🙂

Overall i loved Quark cheese and i would like to thank the Elli Quark team to provide me with samples to try out in my kitchen. I am sure that dish is tempting you to give Elli Quark a go too ! Check out their website, Facebook, twitter, instagram and learn more about Quark. As a special current promotion, Elli Quark is providing us with a Free EQ Coupon Book with a month’s worth of savings to help encourage people to #eatclean everyday! Here’s a link: http://goo.gl/NQ7XNP . Go try it !

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Disclaimer

The above review states my opinion and views as an individual about the above products. I am not a nutritionist or dietician. Please use your own discretion before consuming the above products.

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