Butternut Squash Mac-n-Cheese

We recently joined a Dinner Co-op with 3 other families from Church. Basically, I make all of them dinner on Wednesday and bring it to their home for them. Three other nights of the week I am getting dinner brought to my house from the other families. This is my first week and it is so fun having dinner just show up at the doorstep! For my first meal I made this mac-n-cheese along with a green salad and snickers salad. I got this recipe from a Rachael Ray cookbook and I love it because it adds a little umph to the meal that your kids don't see coming.

Boo's Butternut Squash Mac-n-Cheese

Coarse Salt
1 pound macaroni with ridges, such as tubettini or mini penne rigate
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, plus a few sprigs for garnish
1/2 medium onion
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1 10-ounce box frozen cooked butternut squash, defrosted
1 cup cream or half-and-half
2 cups (8 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Salt the water, then add the pasta and cook al dente, or with a bite to it.

While the pasta cooks, heat a medium heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the EVOO and butter. When the butter melts into the oil, add the thyme and grate the onion directly into the pot with a hand-held grater or Microplane. Cook the grated onion for a minute or 2, then add the flour and cook together for a minute or 2 more. Whisk in the stock, then add the butternut squash and cook until warmed through and smooth. Stir in the cream and bring the sauce to a bubble. Stir in the cheeses in a figure-eight motion and season the completed sauce with salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Taste to adjust seasonings.

Drain the cooked pasta well and combine with the sauce. Serve alongside chicken sammies or all on its own with a green salad. Garnish with thyme leaves.

5 Servings

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Another fun recipe from my "Fabulous Freezer Meals" book:

Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Yield: 2 dozen cookies

1 devil's food cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
24 Rolos candies, unwrapped

Thoroughly combine ingredients with a wooden spoon. Then place 2 tablespoons cookie dough in your hand and flatten it. Place a Rolo in the center and wrap the cookie dough around it to form a ball. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 7 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle cookies with powdered sugar and serve warm.

To Freeze
Place cookie-dough balls (with Rolo wrapped inside) on a cookie sheet for 1 hour. Then put frozen dough balls in a large zip-top bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

To Serve
Remove frozen cookie-dough balls from freezer and place on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Then bake at 350 degrees F for 7 to 10 minutes and serve. Baked cookies may be frozen for up to 3 months.

Snickers Salad

Yes, you read that right! SNICKERS SALAD! Fabulous stuff. I bought a book on how to make some freezer meals to stock my newly acquired deep freeze (I have wanted one for years for this purpose!) Here is the recipe:

Snickers Salad
Yield: 8 to 10 servings

4 Snickers candy bars (2.07 ounces each), cut into 1/2-inch chunks (I cut them up into small pieces so more Snickers in each bite)
5 medium tart apples, peeled and chopped
1 small container (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 drops foold coloring, your choice (I skipped this step as it seemed unnecessary)

Unwrap and slice Snickers candy bars into 1/2-inch chunks. Peel and chop the apples. Mix together candy bars and apple chunks in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together food coloring and whipped topping. Add to apples and candy bar chunks and stir until all pieces are completely covered with whipped topping. Pour into a large zip-top bag, label, and freeze until ready to serve.

To Serve
Remove the salad from the freezer 1 to 2 hours before you are ready to serve it. Set it in a large bowl and let it defrost on the counter. Serve the salad cold as a side dish.

That is the recipe straight from the book, but here is what I did differently. I didn't follow the measurements exactly, mainly because I wanted it to make more. I bought a six-pack of Snickers bars and chopped them all up into small pieces and then chopped and peeled 4 green apples. I had 5 apples, but it seemed to be a lot of apples so I am guessing mine were large apples and not the medium sized the recipe calls for. Then I added the whip cream and it didn't seem enough so I ended up using an entire 16 ounce carton of whipped cream instead of the 8 ounces. I didn't use the food coloring at all. Then I got two quart-sized freezer bags and filled them to what I thought would be enough for my small family for one meal each and then served what was left-over for dinner tonight. Before eating it, I added a sliced banana, I didn't put bananas in the freezer bags. So there you have it, dessert and fruit salad in one scrumptious side dish! I googled the recipe and found several variations and one calls for marshmallow cream! I might try that next time.

**Update** While this salad is delicious, it wasn't any good after thawing it as a freezer meal. The whip cream got all weird and only Stephen would eat it.

Homemade Bread and Jam

I made some strawberry freezer jam since strawberries are so cheap right now and it turned out really yummy. I decided I needed some yummy homemade white bread to fully enjoy the experience and I got this recipe thanks to my sister-in-law, Robin. It comes from a Barefoot Contessa cookbook that she has. It turned out really yummy and I had bread and jam for days!

Honey White Bread

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
2 packages dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups warm whole milk (110 degrees) (I didn't have whole milk and used 2%)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
2 extra-large egg yolks (I didn't have extra-large eggs so I used 3 large egg yolks)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Place warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add yeast and sugar; stir and allow them to dissolve for 5 minutes.

Add the milk, butter, and honey. Mix on medium speed until blended. Add the egg yolks, 3 cups of flour and the salt. Mix on low speed for about 5 minutes. With the mixer still on low speed, add 2 more cups of flour. Raise the speed to medium and slowly add just enough of the remaining flour so the dough doesn’t stick to the bowl. Knead on medium speed for about 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary.

Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a minute, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Grease a bowl with butter, put the dough in the bowl, then turn it over so the top is lightly buttered. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and allow to rise for 1 hour, until doubled in volume.

Grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans with butter. Divide the dough in half, roll each half into a loaf shape and place each in a prepared pan. Cover again with the damp towel and allow to rise again for an hour, until doubled in volume.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. When the dough is ready, brush the tops with egg white and bake for 40-45 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped. Turn them out of the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Greek Yogurt

I recently discovered Greek yogurt and like to have it for breakfast with berries and granola. I find it kind of expensive, but I found this brand at Sam's Club and it was slightly cheaper than at the grocery store (still a little expensive). It has 130 calories and 13 grams of protein! It is a pretty good size portion, too. I am having it for breakfast this morning with blackberries and raspberries and a sprinkle of granola cereal. I am feeling oh so healthy and hope I can carry that on throughout the day. I like it, but it isn't as sweet as regular yogurt, probably a good thing. I went on their website and they are saying that you can substitute the yogurt for heavy cream in cooking. I am anxious to try that out and see if it is any good.

Crepes! Yummmm!

For our Mother's Day after church breakfast we had yummy crepes with Nutella spread all over them and cut up strawberries and bananas. So good! I can't take credit for the idea since we recently had this at a Relief Society activity for the dessert. I used this crepe recipe: Basic Crepes
If you have never had Nutella, you should try it. You won't be sorry. You can find it next to the peanut butter, usually on the top shelf next to the organic kind that you have to stir. It is a chocolatey blend of hazlenuts and yummy goodness.

Biscuits and Gravy

Our family has a new tradition to eat breakfast foods right after church. So far we have done it three times. :o) I found this recipe for biscuits and gravy and they turned out really good. The biscuit recipe is from America's Test Kitchen.


Cream Biscuits

2 C. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 C. heavy cream

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups cream and stir with a wooden spoon until dough forms, about 30 seconds. Trasnfer the dough to the countertop, leaving all dry, floury bits behind in the bowl. In 1 T. increments, add up to 1/4 C. cream to the dry bits in the bowl, mixing until moistened. Add these moistened bits to the rest of the dough and knead by hand just until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pat into a flat, 3/4 inch tall circle, and using a round drinking glass, cut out 8-10 biscuits and place on baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.


Sausage Gravy

1 pound ground pork sausage
3 T. flour
3 C. milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a spatula. Set sausage aside, leaving the drippings in the skillet (add a T. of butter if sausage didn't render enough fat). Reduce heat to medium, add flour to the drippings, and stir constantly until mixture just turns golden brown. Gradually whisk milk into skillet. When the mixture is smooth, thickened, and begins to bubble, return the sausage to skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes.


These were so delicious, but probably not very healthy. :o( Next Sunday, we attempt crepes!