THRIVE vs. The Blue Box

I didn't have time to make the meal I had originally planned for tonight, so I pulled out some THRIVE. I've been wanting to try the Cheese Blend for a while, so tonight seemed like a good time to try the macaroni and cheese recipe from the THRIVE Cookbook.  I got the noodles boiling and made the sauce. The recipe called for 1/2 cup cheese blend, 1/4 cup butter powder, and 1 cup instant milk. I just used regular milk from the fridge.

I tasted it before serving it up. All I could taste was the butter. I wanted more cheese flavor, so I added an extra 1/4 cup of the cheese blend. It was better, but the butter flavor was still really strong. I ended up sprinkling some shredded cheese on it to give it even more cheese flavor. I also decided to try a little bit of salt and pepper in my own bowl.

Unfortunately, my picky kiddos did not like it. I guess we're all just used to the "blue box" variety of mac and cheese. When I make the boxed kind, I actually prefer to use margarine instead of butter to avoid the heavy butter flavor. And we only add about a tablespoon. So I think next time I make THRIVE mac and cheese, I will only use 1 tablespoon of the butter powder. I'll share the recipe on here once I've perfected it to my liking, because it is a whole lot healthier than the blue box!