Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
Why I Love This Recipe
Mmm, delicious. We ate it with a side of steamed spinach mixed with a little Bragg’s (like soy sauce) and some herbs.
Ingredients You'll Need
1 1b. of organic butternut squash, halved, roasted (with or without additional herbs, though I would not add honey or butter), peeled, and scraped out–or (as I was using in my ravenous state tonight) a 12- or 16-oz. box of frozen organic winter squash (pureed or cubed)
1 T organic butter
1 organic yellow onion
4 garlic cloves
2 tsp. dried sage
3 T. whole-wheat flour
1/4-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 c. 2% organic milk (or try skim and see if it works)
2 oz. soft goat cheese
3/4 c. cheese (I used mozzarella, fontina, and parmesan reggiano)
salt and pepper
1/4 c. reduced-fat cheddar (or another grated cheese, but separate from the rest)
1/4 c. bread crumbs mixed with Italian seasonings
oil spray
Directions
If you are using fresh butternut squash, prepare it.
Otherwise, defrost your frozen butternut squash.
Get out the ingredients you’ll use.
Chop your onion.
If you are mincing the garlic, do that. (I just use a garlic press to crush mine into the pan.)
Grate the cheeses.
Put water on to boil for your pasta.
Add some salt to the water.
When the water is boiling well, put the pasta in and boil it for the minimum time listed on the package.
Then drain in a colander.
In the meantime, in a very large, pref. non-stick, pot, heat 1 T of butter in a med-high.
Add onion, sage, and garlic.
Stir around.
Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Add the flour to the onion mixture, and stir around.
Let cook another minute.
Add the nutmeg, cayenne, and milk.
Stir. Whisk in the squash.
Bring to a boil, and let boil 2-3 minutes–until it starts to thicken.
Add the cheese (except the last cheese in the ingredient list), and whisk it in.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and turn off the burner.
Dump the noodles into the sauce, and stir it all together.
Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray.
Dump the mac & cheese into the casserole dish.
Sprinkle the last 1/4 c. of cheese on top.
Sprinkle the Italian bread crumbs on top of the cheese.
Give the top a light spray with the cooking spray.
Bake 25 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.