#WildernestMealPrep: Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

Another one for the books, this meal is one of those dinners that’s both delicious to kiddos, but also healthy - Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese.

90% of my diet consists of pasta, so I always secretly get excited whenever I do a pasta dish for the babies because I know I’m going to make way too much and have plenty of leftovers. 

The first thing I did was cut my butternut squash in half, then cut one of those halves in half again in order to fit it in the Instant Pot with 1 cup of water. If you come across the half with seeds, you can scoop them out and toss, but don’t worry if you don’t because you can always do it later. I love cooking squash in the Instant Pot because it makes it incredibly easy to peel and takes no time at all. Cook on high pressure for approximately 8 minutes, then let it naturally release. If your squash is super mushy, don’t panic because you’re going to be blending it all up anyway. 

While the squash was doing its thing, I cooked the elbow pasta per the box instructions. Because I never know how much pasta is 1 week’s worth for 3 babies, I ended cooking 2 whole boxes with it and had more than enough (two pans worth). 

Next, I moved on to the cheese sauce. Using a large saucepan, I melted 4 tablespoons of butter, then added 4 tablespoons of flour to form a roux. I continuously stirred this for about 2 minutes before adding the milk a little at a time, whisking it between each pour. When this sauce was thick, I turned off the heat and added 2 tablespoons of Dijon Mustard followed by 3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese (any cheese would be good with this though). I continued stirring until the cheese was melted and everything was blended together nicely.

By this point, the pasta was done and drained and the butternut squash was ready for pureeing. I used a wooden spoon to scoop/slice what I could out of the squash’s skin and put it all into a mixing bowl, taking out the seeds when I came across them. Next, I added in both the squash and some of the cheese sauce together in the blender, blending until smooth, and dumping into another mixing bowl for the time being. Because I usually make such large amounts, I repeated this process until I was all out of squash and cheese and my sauce was complete! 

I threw the pasta back into the saucepan I had originally cooked it in, then poured the sauce on top before adding my cinnamon. Using a wooden spoon, I mixed the pasta and everything else together until every noodle was covered in this sweet cheesy goodness. 

I placed everything into a glass baking dish (or two), spreading it evenly and flat before coating the top with the breadcrumbs. Because the babies love cheese, I sprinkled a bit more on the top, then put the dishes in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes. You know it’s good and baked when the top starts to bubble and turn a golden brown.

Each baby gets 1/4-1/2 cup of food per meal, which when combined x3, usually fills up one of my smaller tuppaware containers. When I portioned out 7 of those, it ended up taking one full glass dish, so we had another entire dish for my husband and I. There was no freezing necessary for any of these, as they stayed good in the fridge for the week (I would not keep them longer than a week, however, and they should freeze fine).

This is by far the triplets’ favorite meal yet! The elbow macaroni is so easy for them to pick up either with their pincher grasp or by the fistfuls, and without missing their mouths. It’s honestly been the easiest meal to clean up so far because they barely dropped a thing on the floor!

butternut squash mac & cheese

SERVES
2 square baking dishes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Butternut squash

• 2 boxes of Elbow Pasta (reduce if you’re not trying to feed a wedding)

• 4t bsp of Butter

• 4 tbsp fo Flour

• 1.5 cups Milk

• 2 tbsp of Dijon mustard

• 3 cups Mozzarella cheese

• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs

• 1 tbsp Ground cinnamon

METHOD
Cut squash in half and put in the Instant Pot with 1 cup of water for 8 minutes on high pressure, let it naturally release. When finished, scoop cooked squash out of the skin, removing any seeds, and put into a separate bowl.

Cook the pasta to box instructions, drain, and set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan and add the flour to form a roux, stirring for about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time, getting out all the lumps before adding more milk. Turn off the heat and add in the mustard and cheese and stir until melted.

Blend together the squash and the cheese sauce until it’s puree’ed, then pour over the macaroni and mix while adding in the cinnamon. Spread the breadcrumbs on top and add extra cheese if desired.

Scoop out into a glass baking dish and cook for 20 minutes on 350.