Carrot and Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

My husband is a talented cook, there's no two ways of saying it. He is able to spend half the money I do, half the time I do and make double the quantity I do and it always tastes bloody delicious. I guess that's what happens when you have a natural gift - it's fun, it's exciting - to see how pliable the gift is, what it is truly capable of when pushed hard enough. He used to cook for a group of 14 people every fortnight for roughly $1 a head and every time it was delicious - I can attest to that as we were both part of that group while we were dating. Tim recently decided that he wanted a new watch and cordless headphones for his fitness that cost a bomb and his way of justifying it in his head (which he didn't need to do for the record) was to see whether he could pay for them in how much he could save off the grocery bill.

He made this from a website called 'nomoneynotime.com.au' and we both couldn't understand how it tasted as good as it did, have as many veggies as you could reasonably ask for plus some, while coming in at just over $1 a head. What? Here I am spending $250 on hosting dinner and he comes in and spends $6 and it's equally good, or better. Don't be deceived by the photo, it looks like a dirty mac-n-cheese (which is great, don't get me wrong) but there is a ridiculous amount of vegetables under the surface that I would actually categorise this as a healthy meal.

Ingredients:

400g carrots, cut in half lengthways, then sliced into half moon shapes

1/2 cauliflower, cut into florets (about half the size of a fist) of the same size

2 cobs sweetcorn, kernels only

300g macaroni pasta

60g butter

1/4 cup plain flour

2 1/4 cups milk

250g cottage cheese

1/3 cup grated tasty cheese

*optional 1 cup grated parmesan

Method:

1. In a saucepan of boiling water, cook the carrot for 15-20minutes until tender. Remove the carrots with a slotted spoon and blend until smooth.

2. Add the cauliflower to the boiling water and cook for 10minutes until tender, add the corn and cook for a further 2 minutes. Drain with a colander.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C.

4. Cook the macaroni until just tender, drain and add cauliflower and corn.

5. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and slowly pour in the milk, stirring all the time until everything is combined. Place the pan back on the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Combine cottage cheese, half of the tasty cheese, carrot puree and vegetables and pour it all into a large ovenproof dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese ontop.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden.