Macaroni and 4 Cheeses

Show: Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger Episode: Old Favorites

Rated: 4 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (194)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(194)

Cook Time:
23 min
Level:
Easy
Yield:
8 servings

Times:

Prep: 20 min
Inactive Prep: --
Cook: 23 min
Total:: 43 min

Recipe Tools:

Select a Card Size

Add To My Recipe Box

Success

This recipe was added to your Folder_Name folder.

Do not show this message again

Add To My Recipe Box

Please sign in to add this recipe to your Recipe Box.

Ingredients

Cooking spray
1 pound elbow macaroni
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen pureed winter squash
2 cups 1 percent lowfat milk
4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (about 1 1/3 cups)
2 ounces Monterrey jack cheese, grated (about 2/3 cup)
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons unseasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook until tender but firm, about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, place the frozen squash and milk into a large saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally and breaking up the squash with a spoon until it is defrosted. Turn the heat up to medium and cook until the mixture is almost simmering, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the Cheddar, jack cheese, ricotta cheese, salt, mustard and cayenne pepper. Pour cheese mixture over the macaroni and stir to combine. Transfer the macaroni and cheese to the baking dish.

Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and oil in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the top of the macaroni and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, then broil for 3 minutes so the top is crisp and nicely browned.

Next Recipe

More recipes? Try these recommendations:

Similar Recipe

Vegetable Lasagna

Similar Recipes

Recipes Like This

All About…

Recipe Collections

Showing 1-6 of 6

View all 6 Pasta Collections

Comments & Reviews

recipe Macaroni and 4 Cheeses
Rosalba chicago, IL 11-19-2009
Flag

Healthy Mac and Cheese
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

I made this recipe for a potluck. It was good; however, I would add more cheese and cayenne pepper with salt. I could not... find squash so I puree the squash myself. I would probably add gruyere next time and skip the ricotta cheese. Otherwise, my children loved it without knowing there was squash. Read more
recipe Macaroni and 4 Cheeses
Carly Chicago , IL 11-15-2009
Flag

Not bad!
Rated: 3 stars out of 5

I thought this turned out pretty well. It definitely wasn't creamy and super-cheesy like your standard mac and cheese. We... doubled the cayenne pepper and salt based on others' recommendations, and it added a nice kick. We also only used 14 oz. of squash and added a litle extra cheese. I would make this again! Read more
recipe Macaroni and 4 Cheeses
Lauren Huntington Beach, CA 11-04-2009
Flag

Ick!
Rated: 2 stars out of 5

This macaroni and cheese was not very good at all. It had an overwhelming flavor of the squash (and I didn't even use as... much as the recipe called for!) and not enough cheesy flavor. Now I have a ton of leftovers that are just going to go to waste. I will not be using this recipe again.Read more
recipe Macaroni and 4 Cheeses
Allyson WInfield, IL 10-29-2009
Flag

YUM...but I did make a couple of changes too.
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I had bought gruyere and blue cheese as well as sharp cheddar for a recipe of Ina's I was going to make, so I uesed those... cheeses, and put bacon on the top, other than that it was pretty much the same. It came out really good, maybe even better reheated! Read more
recipe Macaroni and 4 Cheeses
Deepti santa clara, CA 10-06-2009
Flag

Loved it!!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Made this last night for the first time, loved it. Its not too heavy and and best part its guilt free. I am one person who... doesn't eat eggs so, this was a perfect recipe for me : ) Thanks Ellie. However I just made some changes: instead of 4 chesses i used only 2, cheddar and Monterrey jack. I also added some carrot pure along with some ginger to my sauce. Read more
recipe Macaroni and 4 Cheeses
Jennifer Mansfield, MA 09-19-2009
Flag

Pretty good with some modifications...
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

My daughter and I had this at a friend's house for lunch and she kept asking me to make it. I did, with a few modifications,... some worked, some didn't. -I used skim milk and added a little extra at the end because the sauce was so thick. This seemed fine and I would recommend using a bit more milk, the sauce really thickens up in the oven, so a thinner consistency works better. - I also used a whole wheat elbow...fine too. - I used fresh butternut squash from our garden and I steamed it, then mixed the milk in and used a boat motor/stick blender to puree. Added the ricotta, which I drained in a coffee filter first. Then I pureed it a second time. This seemed to help with the "gritty" consistency people were talking about. - Like a few others, I added extra mustard. Actually, I added about 1-2 tsp of spicy brown mustard. It still needed more, next time I might use an extra TBL of dijon on top of the ground mustard. - I didn't have unseasoned bread crumbs so I made my own bread crumbs and used about 1/2 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs. This was my own fault, the bread was leftover from last week's baking and was too sweet.It was kind of a weird flavor. Oh well. Other than that, I found the consistency to be fine, not gritty and definitely wouldn't have known it had squash in it unless you told me. I think that some cubed ham or some bacon would improve the flavor or even some diced tomatoes or onions. It was a little bland if you follow the recipe exactly. All in all, I'm adding it to the rotation with a few more modifications!Read more