Let me preface this blog entry, I am NOT a fan of mac and cheese. Never have been. Plus my kids aren’t in love with it either. So we harvested 3 butternut squashes today and I had to come up with something to do with them. My girls aren’t in love with butternut squash soup so I wanted to do something different. I began by roasting them.
First step:
Slice the squash in half and place on a cookie sheet (lined or unlined). Sprinkle with salt, pepper and fresh Rosemary. Place in a preheated 425 degree oven for 60-70 minutes or until fork tender. Remove and let cool completely.
Second step… well what to do with these lovely roasted squashes now? I thought I would puree them into a sauce. For what? I still had no idea. So I removed the skin and tossed the flesh into my blender. I added 1/2 cup of non fat, plain Chobani. Too thick for my blender! Ha! I needed liquid. I added 1/2 cup of chicken broth (veggie broth would work as well). Still, too thick! I added 1 cup of white wine. Yes… I did! Then I added some additional Rosemary. 4 garlic cloves. Shaved some asiago cheese (1/2 cup). Salt and pepper. It still seemed really thick. I poured it into a stock pot and heated it up. I added additional broth and kept stirring. It was so creamy and delicious.
Okay so now what??? Ha ha. Sorry but this is my thought process.
Step three! Pasta! I cooked up some tri-colored pasta. Took a ladle full of the pasta water and added it to the sauce. Drained the pasta and then combined the two. Seemed to be reminiscent of a mac n cheese but so much better for you and totally fabulous! I spooned the mixture into a pretty new baking dish and decided it needed a topping!
Step 4: To a mixing bowl I added 1 cup of Panko bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Give it a good toss to coat and sprinkle on to of the pasta mixture. Broil, on low, for about 1 minute. Keep an eye on this because it will burn fast! Then serve!
This dish was very well-received. Everyone gobbled it down, having NO idea what it was 
Ha ha.
Sorry for the babbling and the non-typical writing style for a recipe but that’s how I rolled through this one. You can certainly add, delete by preference. Enjoy!
This sounds great! I’ve been meaning to try a butternut squash mac n cheese for a while now. Glad to know your family enjoyed this even as non-mac n cheese fans!
I kind of like the idea of playing with the proportions a bit to get the sauce to what’s right depending on our own preference. I am a little bit curious about how big your 3 squashes were though and whether you used all 3? Thanks!
They were quite average. Probably weighed 2.5 lbs each. I hope this helps!
I LOVE butternut squash and have been wanting to try this very thing. Just got 3 of them yesterday – this recipe has been added to my list of to-try-soon.
Thanks -
That’s great! I have to admit, it was creamy deliciousness
)) Pop back and let me know what you thought of it! Robin
Ooh, definitely appreciating posts like this since I’m trying to cut back on cheese! Plus I loooove butternut squash- roasted, baked, soup-ed, anything!
I totally get your method- that’s how most of my recipes tend to go
Ha ha… glad I’m not alone! We loved this recipe… hope you do too! Let me know what you think when you try it. Thanks Christy! oxoxox
This sounds awesome! When I saw it on Facebook, I couldn’t wait to read about it. I have a hard time getting my middle daughter to eat anything other than carrots so I’m definitely going to give this a try! I think it sounds fantastic so it will be made at my house this week for sure.
YAY Kate!!! I’m glad you found the recipe. We aren’t fans of mac n cheese but wow this is really tasty plus a super flexible recipe. Pop back and let me know how everyone likes it
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