Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
This one is inspired by one of my very accomplished besties who turns out to be an awesome vegan chef. She brought a vegan mac and cheese with butternut squash and low protein noodles to our New Year's Eve party. So very sweet and thoughtful but also delicious!
So, of course I had to try to recreate it. I also made a [not vegan] lentil noodle mac and cheese for my husband. He did not even notice there was butternut squash in it. Nick actually said it was one of the best mac and cheese recipes he has ever had. Pretty good considering the squash and lentil base. How much do you love hidden veggies? [sorry, not sorry].
I was able to add to How Much Phe as a recipe so if you would like to do that I have included the calculations below with the recipe. Also, I did not include the bread crumb topping in my calculations. If you are simply worried about phe, the bread crumbs I used were essentially free. Calorie-wise that is not the case. You can certainly use Cambrooke's bread crumbs but I do not care for the flavor. It changes the whole dish. Therefore, I suggest using stale, dry or any low protein bread on hand. For my bread crumbs, I ground up leftover Flavis Crostini, added garlic salt, about one to two tablespoons of melted butter, and also a splash more of Follow Your Heart Parmesan. Hey, I never said this recipe was low cal but at least you know there are added nutrients from the squash. Let's get real though... mac and cheese is meant to be comfort food, being both creamy and indulgent. If it is not, it is generally not good. Therefore, this recipe is great for the precon diet or the kiddos who need extra calories. No way you're going into a catabolic state with this dish. Sometimes I like to top with French's onion taste toppers or other crispy onions but they are a little higher in phe.
Tips:
-Generally salted butter is not recommended for cooking but I almost always use it when cooking low protein recipes as they tend to lack salt.
-The nutritional yeast is KEY. The small amount I used was just enough to give a new dimension to the recipe and exclude any sweet flavor from the squash. In this low amount the phe is low but you could certainly increase this for added flavor if your diet permits. I would not use more than one full tablespoon as it is pretty potent.
-Find a low protein cheese you like and stick with it. I do not find any of the Cambrooke cheeses to be strong enough for mac and cheese. I LOVE Follow Your Heart grated (even better than their shredded) and it is the lowest in phe I have found. I use this for every low pro recipe from nachos to mac and cheese. And yes, I used an entire container for this recipe. It was so worth it.
-Use whatever pasta you like! I prefer the macaroni shape by Cambrooke for this recipe and calculations are based on that.
-Steaming/roasting the butternut squash in the oven was easiest for me as I had time earlier in the day. Once it is roasted, let it chill then you can scoop out easily when you are ready to make the sauce. You could certainly boil it or cook in an Instant Pot as well.
-I suggest the canned, full fat coconut milk. In How Much Phe I record the one by A Taste of Thai. Attempt to get half of the cream and half of the water if possible. The cream has a lot more phe so half and half stretches further.
-Add more Cambrook Chicken Consomme if the recipe needs more body or salty flavor. Until I added this and nutritional yeast, it was tasting a little like a Thanksgiving dish.
-Make more sauce if you desire it dripping in sauce. Next time I may make more sauce.
-I did not cook long enough so my croutons are not crispy and brown. We were too excited to eat! Next time I would broil quickly to brown the top.
Low Protein Recipe:
Recipe totals- 361 mg of phe, 2963 calories
Total weight for HMP- 1534, makes 12 servings
Servings- 127.8 grams per serving, 30 mg of phe, 247 calories
451 grams Cambrooke Pasta Solo Elbows (two boxes)
68 grams salted butter
393 grams cooked butternut squash
92 grams canned, full fat coconut milk
92 grams vegetable broth
3/4 teaspoon of nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon Cambrooke Foods chicken consomme
142 grams Follow Your Heart parmesan style grated cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cut apart the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds. Place on cookie sheet upside down with about one inch of water (or half way up the squash). Cook in oven at 375 degrees until soft and knife pierces the skin easily. The skin might even start to come off but that is no problem and makes for easy scooping.
In the meantime, cook pasta in salted water per package directions. Strain and put aside. I added a tablespoon of butter to the pasta while it sat so it did not dry out.
Melt butter over the stove. Scoop out squash and place in blender. Add coconut milk and vegetable broth. Puree, adding more liquid if desired. Mix the squash into the butter. Heat and then add chicken consomme and nutritional yeast. Then, add in FYH cheese. Stir until sauce is even and smooth.
Mix sauce into noodles. Throw some oil or spray the bottom of the pan. Pour in noodles. Top with desired croutons. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes on 350 or until bubbly and brown.
High protein modification: Use lentil noodles. Sub coconut milk with half and half. My husband said it was quite rich so I will try with coconut milk next time for him. Mix in a variety of cheeses into the squash mix along with 1 full tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Top with crumbled Cheez Its and butter.
