Light Macaroni and Cheese: Encore Please

This time of year is perfect for one of my family's favorite dishes: Mac n' Cheese courtesy of Cooking Light that has appeared on this blog before. It is a little time consuming in terms of the prep, but the actual dish comes together in minutes. What I do recommend is reading up on how to peel and cut a butternut squash before attempting it. The pre-peeled stuff in the grocery store will NOT give you the flavor you want. This time I also tried a Gruyere and cheddar cheese mix from Trader Joe's. The flavor was fantastic!

Meatless Monday: Creamy Light Macaroni and Cheese

Every once in a while I try a recipe just because I am curious. Maybe it’s something I have never prepared before (like short ribs) or maybe it’s something that has a unique ingredient. Thumbing through my Cooking Light magazines and cookbooks in preparation of creating the monthly menus, I revisited their September cover recipe: creamy light macaroni and cheese.  I had some real interest in this because my hubby bless his heart loves the stuff but he has high cholesterol so I very rarely if ever make it. What makes it light? Well, here is where the unique ingredient comes in: butternut squash! Yep, Cooking Light shared a recipe that calls for a butternut squash béchamel and since they are in season I said, why not?

Frankly the hardest part of preparation was pealing that damn squash!! Perhaps this would be the point that I should mention this is the second time in my life I have dealt with this particular gourd in its original form (I usually cheat and buy the pre-peeled and cubed they sell in the produce section). I spent Saturday at our local Farmer’s Market with my family and some friends and picked up just-from-the-farm butternut squash and promptly struggled to peel it and seed it. If only I had seen this first: How to Peel and Cut a Butternut Squash.

RECIPE: Creamy Light Macaroni and Cheese:

I varied a little from the instructions, choosing to use my stick blender rather than attempt to pour hot squash and chicken broth from my pot...and it still came out wonderfully creamy:

The sauce was in fact absolutely delicious! I was so impressed that it didn't taste like squash at all. The high quality cheese is certainly a little pricey but it makes all the difference. Once it's added to the pasta it already looks delicious, and I used whole wheat penne:

The topping was super easy and it takes only a few minutes to brown the panko which when combined with the Parmigiano-Reggiano surprisingly made enough to sprinkled over the top as indicated.

The moment of truth was the taste test after it's 25 minutes in the oven. It was more than a success as hubby almost went for thirds! The 4 year-old ate it too and it made a ton so we had plenty to freeze for another time. Definitely a keeper!!

Mac n' Cheese with "Stolen" Sauce: Cooking with Kids Update

I had mentioned in my recent Cooking with Kids post that the Rachel Ray recipe we used produced a lot of cheese sauce. I had already decided that the sauce would make for a great impromptu macaroni and cheese so that’s exactly what we did.

I reheated the sauce on low in a saucepan, adding a little more milk to thin it out. To the sauce I also added a teaspoon of red pepper flake, fresh ground pepper and about a teaspoon of garlic salt. Next, I boiled about ¾ of a box of whole wheat elbow-shaped pasta to just al dente (about 1 minute less than the recommended cooking time).

 

After draining the pasta, I added it to a deep casserole dish that I had sprayed with cooking spray. I poured in the heated and melted cheese sauce and combined it well with the pasta. I topped it with whole wheat bread crumbs and put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.

 

This was the side dish for my less than successful roast chicken but every member of the family ate it and enjoyed what my son calls “noodle mac n’ cheese”. The only future upgrade is to amp up the cheese flavor a little more as the additional milk did lessen the cheese flavor. However, not a bad way to use one recipe for two dishes!