This is the fastest comfort food on nights when you need dinner on the table now. The shelf does the heavy lifting here, so all you do is cook the pasta and stir in some broccoli for balance and crunch. Nothing stands between you and a full plate in under twenty minutes.

Serves 2. 20 minutes, 15 at the stove.

About 360 calories a serving, 13 g protein, 39 g carbohydrate, 18 g fat. From USDA figures for 75% of the ingredients; amounts are the recipe's.

Cook mode

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta from the box and cook for one minute less than the package says, until it is still just short of tender.8 min
2. While the pasta cooks, chop 2 cups broccoli florets into small pieces. When the pasta is nearly done, add the broccoli to the same pot for the last minute of cooking, then drain everything into a colander.1 min
3. Pour the drained pasta and broccoli back into the warm pot off heat. Stir in the cheese sauce from the box, 2 tablespoons butter, and about one quarter cup water, breaking up any clumps, until the whole thing coats and clings to the noodles and broccoli. Taste and adjust salt if it needs it.

Note Swap frozen broccoli, thawed, for fresh if that is what you have. Leftovers keep in the refrigerator for three days and reheat gently with a splash of water. Serve with a green salad or slaw on the side to brighten the meal.