A Lighter Macaroni & Cheese

I've been a bad blogger...it's been almost two weeks since my last post! Hopefully I'll be able to make up for lost time in the next few days though...It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is less than a week away, but I am excited to start sharing a few Thanksgiving recipes!

We started our marathon of Thanksgiving celebrations this weekend, and Clay requested Mac & Cheese. I did a little researching and found this recipe for a "lightened up" version with a secret ingredient in place of heavy cream - butternut squash. Needless to say, I was immediately intrigued given that butternut squash is a favorite of mine. The squash flavor isn't overbearing, but does add a little extra something unique to the taste.

Ingredients:
3 cups peeled cubed butternut squash (about one 1 lb squash)
1 1/4 cups fat free, lower sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups fat free or 1% milk
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp fat free Greek yogurt
5 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
5 oz shredded Italian cheeses
2 oz lowfat shredded Cheddar cheese
1 lb macaroni
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Cooking spray
Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
Paprika

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Start by combining the squash, chicken broth, milk and garlic in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is fully cooked (cuts easily with a fork). Watch closely as it is cooking though to ensure it doesn't boil over. (Yes, I learned that the hard way...)

Once squash is cooked, pour mixture into a blender. Add the salt, pepper and yogurt.

Place the blender top on, but remove the center piece to allow the steam to escape. To avoid any splatters, place a paper towel over the blender top and blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl, and mix in cheeses.

Cook pasta in boiling water until soft.

 
Drain, and mix cooked pasta in with the squash and cheese sauce. Coat a casserole dish with cooking spray, and pour pasta mixture into the dish. Sprinkle with parsley, a little extra cheese if you have some, a small handful of the panko crumbs, and a few sprinkles of paprika.

Bake at 325 for about 20 minutes, or until bubbly.

This was definitely a crowd pleaser, but I do have just a few notes:

- According to the original recipe I based this on, this yields 8 servings. We had 6 people, and had more than half left over, so unless you are serving it as a main dish, or want lots of leftovers, cutting the recipe in half may be a good idea.

- Depending on how you like your mac & cheese, this recipe may not be saucy enough. It was definitely a more dry version of mac & cheese, if that makes sense. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but next time I think I may add a little more milk (or maybe some low fat half & half) and perhaps a bit of Velveeta just to make it a tad more melty.

- I was trying to keep the cost of the recipe down by buying the pre-shredded packaged cheeses, but next time I may try adding in at least one cheese with a more robust flavor to give it a but more punch. Thyme would also be a good addition.

All in all, it was pretty good though!

Source: Adapted from a Cooking Light recipe.