Mac and Cheese

Sorry, terrible picture.  I’d already started scooping Chris’s portion out, and I was all crooked or something.  I wasn’t even drinking.  Odd.

Anyway, I used Ellie Krieger’s recipe as inspiration here, but I made a bunch of changes to make use of what we had and to up the cheese factor because, well, we are cheese people around here. 

Recipe:

• Four ounces whole wheat penne
• 1 1/2 cups pureed butternut squash
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 cup shredded reduced-fat cheese (I used Trader Joe’s medley of Monterrey Jack, cheddar and mozzarella
• 1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar
• 1 ounce fresh mozzarella, diced
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 T bread crumbs
• salt, pepper

Boil the penne until still slightly undercooked, about seven minutes.  While that’s cooking, add the butternut squash (see these instructions for how to cook and puree the squash) and milk to a sauce pan and heat through.  Once it starts to thicken and bubble, turn off the heat and add 3/4 of the reduced-fat cheese, half of the parmesan, all of the sharp cheddar and stir until melted.  Add the mustard, the red pepper flakes, and salt/pepper to taste. Mix the cooked pasta with the squash mixture, then spread into a greased baking dish.  Sprinkle on the rest of the cheese, including the diced fresh mozzarella, then top with bread crumbs and the rest of the parmesan.  Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, until the top starts to brown.

We had ours on Saturday with salad:

And here’s my mac and cheese plate:

It was good.  Really good, actually.  Not quite like traditional mac and cheese, but then again, it doesn’t make you feel like you gained 14 pounds during dinner, either.  Chris even ate the leftovers the next day.  Should I repeat that?  I feel like I should, because that never happens.