Brownies and Zucchini

I’m back from Las Vegas!

When I come home from a trip, I always look forward to making my own meals.  Don’t get me wrong, I love good restaurant food as well, but after four days of trying to figure out what to eat – its good to be home.  (Speaking of good restaurant food, one night of the trip we went to a pretty fancy restaurant and had a chef’s tasting menu!  It was so good, I can’t wait to share it with you.)

So, as my first meal back home, I decided to make something new.  Heather posted this recipe recently, and so I decided to try it.  I have never had squash before, but  I love macaroni and cheese, so I decided to give it a go.  You can find her recipe here.

I’m pretty sure Long Island Cheese Squash doesn’t exist in Wisconsin, so Heather suggested I use Butternut Squash instead.  Confession:  I had to google what a butternut squash looks like.  Truth.

Here is another reason why I love the Grocery store I go to:

They have signs telling you which products are local, and how far away they come from.  Pretty cool, and an easy way to shop local!

So, with squash (and a latte) in hand, I went home to start dinner.

Once I got home, I proceeded to make the noodles and cut up the squash.

I did use shells instead of macaroni noodles since I had some on hand.  For my cheeses I used about 3/4 cup cheddar, 3/4 cup mozzarella and 3/4 cup ricotta.  Oh, and in case you couldn’t guess, I left out the cayenne pepper – as I’m sure you are all well aware, I don’t do well with spicy.

Then, after preparing it all, I realized that I didn’t have any aluminum foil to cover the pan.  Fail.  So, instead of running out to the store to get some foil, Heather recommended I just use a cookie sheet and place it at a slight diagonal to give it some airflow.  So thats what I did.

It worked, and my dinner came out perfectly!

Seriously, it was so good.  The cinnamon and the squash added substance to the baked mac and cheese.  And, of course, the breadcrumbs on the top were a huge part of the goodness as well.

Ease: B, there is some chopping and prep work, but nothing too horrible or difficult.
Taste: A+, seriously, so good.  I’m glad my first experience with squash was a good one.

Would I make it again? Yes.  In fact, I’m thinking about making it to bring to Thanksgiving dinner – the squash makes it Thanksgivingy, and the noodles make it something  I love. 🙂

I just realized that this is the fourth variation of Macaroni and Cheese that I’ve made (so far)!

The first was the Baked Mac and Cheese Cupcakes

Then the Macaroni Lasagna

Next was Macaroni, Peas and Cheese

And then today’s delicious Macaroni and (Long Island) Cheese (Squash)

What is your favorite way to eat Macaroni and Cheese?

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Filed under: Dinner, Pasta Tagged: | cheese, macaroni, squash