Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Toss the butternut squash on a rimmed sheet pan with the olive oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Roast for 20 minutes, remove pan from oven and flip the squash, then put it back into the oven and roast for another 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and put squash into a bowl. Mash with a spoon, then set aside (time saver: you could do this step the night before).

3. Reduce oven to 375 F.

4. Cook pasta to al dente, according to package directions.

5. While the pasta is cooking, heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add butter, onions and garlic. Saute until onion is translucent, then whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.

6. Add milk, mashed butternut squash, a pinch of black pepper, red pepper flakes, half of the mozzarella cheese and half of the Pecorino Romano. If you want your “sauce” to be thinner, add more milk as desired.

7. Add pasta into a 9×9 baking dish and fold in the cheese mixture.

8. Sprinkle top with crumbled bacon.

9. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is golden.

Recipe adapted from HowSweetEats.com.

Note: To get the onion and garlic very finely chopped, consider putting both into a food processor and pulsing until desired texture is reached.