My Favorite Things: Guilt Free Mac n' Cheese

My friend Cassie posted a pretty amazing recipe for a grown up mac n' cheese the other day on her blog, and it really got me jonesin' for the mac. This is a problem since I am on strict self inflicted orders to refrain from such indulgences these days in an attempt to shed some of the weight I gained as a cripple. Luckily, I have this little beauty of a recipe to scratch the itch without having to feel super guilty about it afterwards.

Ladies and Gentlemen (are there gentlemen reading this!?)

I bring you my Healthy Mac n' Cheese

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Pasta- I prefer something like a shell or elbow to hold up to the sauce, but whatever you like will do

1 cup frozen butternut squash puree thawed- you can get this in the frozen food aisle, but get the puree rather than the cubes

1 cup soy milk

1 cup good parmigiano reggiano grated

1 cup low fat cheddar (or another yellow cheese) grated plus 3 tablespoons extra

1 tsp dry mustard powder

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp Chalula hot sauce- I actually put in more like 1 tablespoon but I like things a bit spicey-er

Salt and Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350, boil a pot of water to cook pasta shells, and put a large sauté pan on low heat.

2. Heat thawed butternut squash puree in the saute pan, add soy milk, parmesan and the cup of cheddar cheese stirring together until combined into a creamy sauce. Meanwhile cook pasta until al dente.

3. Add salt, pepper, mustard, worcestershire, chalula off heat to taste.

4. Combine cheesey sauce and pasta, make sure the pasta is really coated, and put into a baking dish. Sprinkle additional 3 tbspns of cheddar on top and put in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese on top is melty and delish.

This is one of my favorite recipes, it is much healthier than most mac n cheeses without the cream and with less cheese, but you really don't miss it because of the butternut squash puree. Even if you hate vegetables or aren't a particularly healthy eater, you will like this. I served it once to a strict anti-vegetarian and he loved it and had no idea it had squash in it at all!

Enjoy!

We've got the beet we've got the beet we've got the YEAH!

We've got the beet!

As I have mentioned before, Gemini Bistro is one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago. It only opened a few weeks ago, and already they seem to have the ease and consistency of a beloved neighborhood restaurant. Pete and I eat there at least once a week, we are old and boring and like our routine thank you very much. Besides the risotto (I.die.) my favorite thing to order there is the beet salad.

{Photo courtesy Kevin D. Weeks}

First of all, I am not really a salad type of girl. And before sampling this delicious dish, I was not really a beet type of girl either. However, the combination of the beets, goat cheese, and truffle oil seduced me and I have never looked back. The flavors are so nuanced and right on, I thought to myself:

Self, what else could you do with these ingredients?

The answer?

First, Beet risotto.

Which, although it was delicious, lacks the potential to be a signature dish mostly because of the reaction you get when you serve adult humans, particularly adult male humans, a heaping plate of hot pink mush. Once Pete tried it, he liked it, but I basically had to pretend the fork was a plane coming in for a landing at Chicago O'Pete airport first.

A much more successful interpretation came from adapting my friend Frankie's amazing recipe for Ravioli Casunziei.

Instead of ricotta I used goat cheese, and added a bit of truffle oil to the puree. For the sauce I nixed the poppy seeds and again added a small dash of truffle oil.

To my utter surprise and delight, the recipe turned out like gangbusters (much better than the pumpkin ravioli disaster of 2009 that I will surely be shamed into blogging about soon). Completely simple and completely delicious. I would highly reccomend even the most timid of cooks try this one out, and check out more of Frankie's videos at The Young & Hungry.

Beet puree, 3 beets, goat cheese, dash of truffle oil

My pasta dough I made. From scratch. I am a domestic goddess. That is until pumpkin ravioli took me down.

Tablespoon of beet puree.

A little egg wash and a second layer of dough.

Press it out.

Voila!

Yummmmy.