Betty Crocker Low Fat, Low Cholesterol Mac and Cheese

Here is the recipe as printed in the book:

7oz pasta shells or elbow pasta
1 tablespoon margarine or spread
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard (dry)
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup fat free milk
1 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (4oz)
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
2 tablespoons chopped red pepper

Cook and drain pasta as directed on pasta package.
Melt margarine in large pot and add flour - whisk over low heat to combine.
Add salt, mustard, and pepper and combine. remove from heat and stir in milk gradually.
Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Stir in cheese, remove from heat, add pasta.


Some thoughts from Keri's Kitchen:
1st of all - using half the amount of margarine for the roux does NOT work - it results in a clumpy mess that does not combine with the milk - so just use equal parts (2 tablespoons) flour and "spread". I used Olivo for the heart healthy olive oil it is made with.
Also keep in mind - thickening with a roux is much easier and produces much better results if you are adding a HOT liquid, so heat the milk before adding it to the roux.
If all goes well you get this thick liquid that will coat the back of a spoon like this:

(I also like to throw 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg into cream sauces, that is the brown flecks in the sauce)
Then you can add the cheese and whisk it in:
I will say this is a little thicker or tougher feeling on the whisk than normal cheese sauce - perhaps because it takes a bit more to get low-fat cheese to melt into the sauce:

I omitted the veggies since we were having a yummy green salad with red peppers and roasted acorn squash:
and I reserved a couple tablespoons of the shredded cheese to sprinkle over the top after spreading the mac and cheese into a cooking spray coated square baking dish (since The Hub is a fan of baked mac and cheese)
The Hub says he thinks this is as good as The Barefoot Contessa Mac and Cheese that I have so proudly mastered, and given his Cholesterol situation, and desire to have cheesy macaroni mixtures as often as possible, I have a feeling this is the new house recipe of choice.