My children's favorite meal is macaroni and cheese. The cheesier it is the better. I love it myself, but the cheesier it is, the more fattening it is, too. Here are a few ways to make that family favorite a little more nutritious for the kids.

Change the cheese. Macaroni and cheese is nothing unless it is oozing cheese from both ends of the noodle. But, the cheese your mother used doesn’t have to be the same cheese that you choose. Opt for Velveeta® Light cheese spread. The light version has a third of the fat and melts even better than regular cheese. This cheese works great if you cook your macaroni and cheese in a saucepan on the stovetop. If you are the kind of person that bakes your macaroni and cheese like a casserole, you can substitute fat-free sharp cheddar for the full fat version and use skim milk to make it creamy.

How about making that side dish the main meal? Macaroni and cheese can become the main course if you add some protein. Turn your side dish into a casserole dinner with lean ground beef. This transforms your dish into cheesy beef and macaroni. The beef will help to fill your kids up faster and will give them the protein that their body needs. Add a teaspoon of chili powder to give it a southwestern flavor. For a weekend lunch, add chunks of ham to their macaroni and cheese for a quick meal. The meat breaks up the monotony of just having the same dish all of the time. Chunks of boneless chicken breasts will also work as well as the ham if your child prefers chicken. Hotdogs also work with macaroni and cheese but because of the nitrites they contain, don’t use them as often as you use the ham and chicken.

Switch up your pasta. There are so many more healthful alternatives to the standard macaroni pasta noodle. Now, grocers provide a whole wheat or multigrain pasta that is made from wheat flour instead of white. The pasta is brown in color but when you add the cheese, no one should know the difference. If brown pasta doesn’t do it for you, Barilla® makes pasta called Barilla Plus® that has additional nutrients to make it healthier for the eater. The pasta is still the natural yellowish color. Dreamfields® makes macaroni noodles that contain only five grams of digestible carbohydrates. That means little to your kids, but to you it means that they won’t get fat from consuming that particular brand.

Add some color to their macaroni and cheese. Mince a tomato and mix it into the macaroni and cheese before serving it. The red makes a bold statement in the sea of yellow. Tomatoes contain antioxidants which are great for your body. If your kids like hot foods, add a few crushed red peppers or diced red and green peppers to their macaroni and cheese for a bolder flavor. If you don’t have any peppers or tomatoes on hand, use a cup of salsa in the macaroni and cheese in a pinch.

What about breakfast? Your kids would love to be served macaroni and cheese for breakfast. Add a few slices of turkey bacon or low-fat bacon to the meal. Crush the bacon on top of the macaroni and cheese and serve. If bacon is not appreciated by your child, add sausage crumbles. It’s unconventional, but it’ll taste good.