Macaroni and Cheese with Roasted Tomatoes

I'm finally back. I just finished moving into a new place and now I'm back to cooking. The week between Christmas and New Year's was hectic, lots of packing, moving and unpacking. And lots of meals on the run. Even at my parents house, no one was really cooking — except for Christmas Day, of course. Christmas Eve is always frozen appetizers and Christmas Day is a Honeybaked ham and some sides. Then, we eat off the leftovers for the rest of the week.

Since moving I've made lots of food for myself, but it's either repeats or simple things with so few ingredients they weren't even worth writing about.

The good news about the holidays, besides seeing my family, is that I not only reached my goal of maintaining, I lost weight last week. Go figure. I still have more to lose than I'd like to fully admit, but my strategy between Thanksgiving and New Years is to not gain weight. And that's a feat in and of itself. Lots of parties, lots of food around the office, and lots of cookies and other goodies at my parents' house.

And.. my sister got engaged and is planning a wedding for fall 2009. I'm very excited for her. Plus, it's motivation for me to stick to healthy eating and exercise. I'd love to be back at the weight I was two years ago. I would say that's my happy weight — probably not the thinnest I could be, but not hard to maintain.

So I'm officially back on track today. Lately I've been making a lot of meatless dishes from pantry staples and a few fresh ingredients. I threw out most of the contents of my fridge and freezer from my old apartment when I moved.

Turns, out the Macaroni and Cheese with Roasted Tomatoes was exactly what the weather called for. Something cheesy and comforting to combat the cold front that's coming in. This appealed to me mostly because it had roasted tomatoes. It doesn't look all that cheesy, because I made it with whole wheat macaroni, but it is. I used regular extra sharp white cheddar and it turned out great. Two percent condensed milk and egg substitute gave it it's creaminess. I couldn't even tell it was light. And I loved the roasted tomatoes. YUM. Overall, a pretty good meal!