OK....I went to Whole Foods yesterday with my bf and he is ALWAYS grabbing random items off the shelf asking if we can have it. Sometimes things that are definitely NOT SBD friendly...like fudge cookies. hehe.
Anyway, he picked up Annie's Creamy Deluxe Whole Wheat Shells & Cheesy Cheddar. They looked legal to me and we ate it tonight. It was very good. It reminded me of the Velveeta type shells...but better. I am not a fan of Velveeta. It tasted so good....I want to make sure I didn't miss something. Is this legal?? Looks fine to me... but sometimes you just need an extra set of eyes and I can't remember if whey is okay.

Made with only the best ingredients: ORGANIC WHEAT ELBOW PASTA, FOUR CHEESE SAUCE [CHEDDAR, ASIAGO, PARMESAN AND MONTEREY JACK CHEESES (PASTEURIZED MILK,CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES), WATER, CREAM, WHEY, NATURAL SODIUM PHOSPHATE, SALT, NATURAL FLAVOR, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM ALGINATE, ANNATTO EXTRACT FOR NATURAL COLOR.]
CONTAINS MILK AND WHEAT INGREDIENTS.

At first glance, it looks pretty legal, but I'm wondering why it doesn't say the KEY WORD, "whole wheat" when describing the pasta. They're probably not 100% whole wheat. The cream is definitely a no-no and the cheeses are most likely full-fat, too. How many fat grams are in a serving, and what are the calories per serving? If they're pretty low, I would say even though this doesn't meet the guidelines of SBD, it probably wouldn't hurt to have it once in a great while as a treat, as long as you have a normal sized serving.

looking at the ingredients, it does look good. I wonder if you could replicate that at home but using SBD foods. I mean, my mother-in-law makes the best (from scratch) mac n cheese I have ever tasted. No box with orange cheese powder could compare! I guess, at least, the benefit from making it from scratch would be you would know exactly goes into it.

I agree with cottage, as a treat it probably wouldn't hurt: as long it didn't stall your weight lose or cause cravings which is at the core of this food plan.

I guess, I would be tempted to try and make it from scratch, if it were me. It would probably taste fresher too. Although, that is one dish that is hard to have only one 1/2 c normal size serving of. Anyone else have that problem?

Hi, GurlyGrl! I'm actually going to send a quick e-mail to Annie's...I love their products and trust them, but I'm not sure why they'd call the mac n' cheese you bought "whole wheat" when there isn't even any whole wheat flour.

Instead, try Annie's Homegrown Organic Whole Wheat Shells & White Cheddar (sorry, you have to scroll down nearly to the bottom to find it on this page...). I've made it before and it's more like Kraft Mac n' Cheese than like the Velveeta kind, but that means you can control the type and amount of fat that goes in and it's definitely made entirely from whole wheat pasta. It's really yummy and quick. Here's the nut'l info for it:

However, I've made many homemade variations on mac n' cheese using whole wheat elbow noodles. I love the recipes from Cooking Light because they tend to emphasize low fat and good fat cooking. Whenever I make them, though, I feel compelled to add some veggies so I don't feel guilty!

I love Mac And Cheese, and have never heard of Annie's before. Thanks for the info.

Cottage -WOW...I can't believe I missed the "whole wheat." Good thing I have many sets of eyes here! Although, I could have sworn it said whole wheat on the box. I just copied the ingredients from the website as I was too lazy to type it myself. I will have to go back and double check the box.

Thanks, Laurie for the suggestion. My bf also picked up that box, so I have it here as well. I didn't realize the kind I got was a creamy cheese instead of the powder. I would actually prefer the powder because its more like Kraft...hehe.

Pamatga - I totally agree with you about the homemade mac & cheese. I just don't have any recipes that I like. I will keep looking. I only got the box stuff because it was an easy, quick thing.

Thanks everyone for the responses!! I appreciate it!

Okay, I got an e-mail from Annie's today. Here's what it said:

That makes MUCH more sense! I had thought it was illegal for an American product to be labelled "whole wheat" (without a qualifying "with" or "added") if it wasn't 100% WW.

The cream is still an issue, I guess, though it depends on how much saturated fat that works out to in the final nutritional count. Use your best judgement, but I'd think that since this is made with WW pasta, it should be a much better choice than it looked from the ingredient list we had before.

I absolutely LOVE Annie's food! It doesn't hurt that they have an adorable rabbit as their mascot, either! Bernie (the rabbit) was a houserabbit like my 2. Sadly, he passed away a year or so ago, though they maintain the website as if he was still with them (which he is, I suppose, in spirit).

I especially enjoy their mac n' cheese, but have also enjoyed their crackers (Whole Wheat Cheddar Bunnies). The same company makes Fantastic World Foods, and they have tons of yummy stuff. I'm a HUGE fan of their taco filling. It's a vegetarian taco filling that comes dried. You add the oil (so you can make it healthy) and water and it cooks up in about 5 minutes! It's such an easy way to make dinner--I use it on "taco salads" (minus the chips) and it's SO good.