Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

So, I have a confession to make, when I cook a recipe for the first time I rarely follow it (unless I am baking, sometimes).  I throw most of the ingredients into a pan and mix it up for maybe the number of minutes that it calls for (or maybe shorter if I am not patient, which is usually how it goes).  This makes it extremely hard to write down what I cook to tell you about it. 

I made a recipe based on one I found online on a food blog that I read, realsweeteats. However, I didn't measure my squash, want to use browned butter, or have fontina cheese.  I also didn't measure my chicken broth or milk or pasta (which may have been the rest of a box of springs and elbows).

Here is what I did.  I will try to follow my own recipe next time and test to see if this comes out the same.  Maybe you are having the same reaction that I had when I first read cheese and squash together in a recipe, but believe me, it is delicious!!

Ingredients (my ingredients are in ( ):

(some - the rest of two boxes in cupboard) 3 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta shells
(1 - cooked whole in oven for half and hour to make cutting up easier) 4 cups 1/2-inch cubed uncooked butternut squash
(a dash, maybe 1 T) 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
(1/6) 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
(1/2 cup) 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
(3/4ish of a cup - I just poured it in) 1 1/2 cups skim milk (or unsweetened almond or coconut)
(I have no idea, I used the rest of a block, probably 4 or 5 oz) 6 ounces freshly grated fontina cheese (extra sharp cheddar)
2 ounces freshly grated parmesan cheese2 tablespoons unsalted brown butter2 tablespoons fine (panko) breadcrumbs

For those of you that have cut butternut squash before, I learned a trick today: put the whole squash in the oven for 20 -30 minutes, pull in out, and it will be nearly all the way cooked and so easy to slice through the skins.  I let it cool off a little, peeled off the skin, diced it up, and threw it in a pan with a little bit of olive oil.  I also added the seasonings. 

I let it cook for a while, because I was grating the cheese, before added in the chicken broth and some of the cheese.  Save some of the sharp cheese to put on the top with the bread crumbs (yum yum yum, the bread crumbs make this dish even more amazing). 

Dump everything, once the cheese is melted into a pan, top with rest of cheese and bread crumbs, put in oven to cook (or if you are hungry, broil it for a few minutes until the cheese and bread crumbs start to brown). 

Baby muffin (as my siblings call him) and I fully enjoyed this meal (no heartburn, unlike most other foods, I am looking at you pulled BBQ pork and beef stew sitting in my frig).

Does anyone else love butternut squash?  Everytime I eat it I think, why do I not eat this more often?  They sell butternut squash for $2 a piece at the farmers market downtown.   While I was quite envious of Boulder's expansive farmer's market, I am thankful for my cheap source of butternut squash here.  I hope they have more this Saturday!!