Butternut Squash Baked Mac & (a smidge of) Cheese

I'm really impressed by this recipe, which I just served up for my Sunday dinner.  I adapted it from a health magazine and it was excellent!  It's a delicious baked mac & cheese with the added vitamin/fiber bonus of butternut squash!  Indulgent and creamy, but with NO cream, NO butter, and only a 1/4 cup of cheese for the entire dish! 

Your cheat meal just became healthy!

Best of all, I made it with a butternut squash my parents grew in their garden, that I snuck into my suitcase on the plane home from my parents' house this Christmas!  It gave the dish a gorgeous, deep orange color, making me feel like I was in Cheddar Heaven, but knowing that I was really in Vitamin A Heaven, which is all the more divine :)

Here are the details...


INGREDIENTS:

- 1 medium sized butternut squash, peeled & cubed into smallish pieces (~1/2 inch squares)

- 6 cloves of garlic, minced & separated

- ~10 fresh sage leaves, chopped & separated

- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I actually used unsweetened almond & coconut milk.  Whatever your milk du jour, make sure its unsweetened because the squash adds plenty of sweetness on its own)

-1 cup reduced sodium chicken stock

-pinches of sea salt, cayenne pepper, and crushed black pepper

- 1/2 pound whole wheat elbow macaroni (~3 cups uncooked)

- cooking spray or olive oil

- 1/4 cup shredded good quality Gruyere cheese

-1/2 cup plain Panko bread crumbs- use the whole wheat variety if you can find it!


DIRECTIONS:

-Preheat oven to 475, spray an 8x8 deep baking dish (like one for brownies) lightly with cooking spray or olive oil.

-Peel and cube the stem part (i.e., the entire squash except the bulbous bottom- save it for something else) of a medium-sized butternut squash.

-Add the squash cubes to a large sauce pan with the chicken stock, almond milk, pinches of cayenne pepper & crushed black pepper, most of the chopped sage leaves (~8 leaves total), and most of the minced garlic (~4 cloves worth).   

-Heat pot over medium heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 10 or 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

-When squash is soft, use a stick blender and puree until pretty smooth.  (Or allow to cool and puree in a blender)

-Meanwhile, cook the pasta al dente.  Rinse briefly in cool water and add to prepared pan.   

-Cover the al dente pasta evenly with the squash mixture.  Cover the pan with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

-As it bakes, put the shredded gruyere cheese, panko, 1/8 t sea salt, ~2 more chopped up sage leaves, and ~2 more minced garlic cloves in a bowl and mix together.   

-Spoon the cheese mixture over the pasta & squash and broil on low for about 4 more minutes (watching closely!) until the top is lightly browned. 

BEAUTIFUL!

Makes 4 very generous servings.

I did the math on livestrong.com's MyPlate feature, and came up with these fabulous stats:

 

Calories 261

Total Fat 4.28g

            Saturated Fat 1.3g

Dietary Fiber 5.75g

Sugars 6.5g

Protein 11g

I included a side of wild Atlantic salmon baked with a ginger glaze, just cuz I'm wonderfully indulgent.