We are members of a local Farmer’s Market, so we get lots of produce each week and then have to figure out what to do with it! Since it’s Fall, we are getting gourds like crazy, which I will not complain about because I LOVE them!Here’s the latest thing we did with our weekly pumpkin: Pumpkin Mac and Cheese.
3 to 3.5 cups of uncooked small shells
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups skim milk
1 cup of pumpkin (We used real pumpkin because we had it.)
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup Fontina cheese
1/4 tsp sale
1/8 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 cups skim milk
1 cup of pumpkin (We used real pumpkin because we had it.)
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup Fontina cheese
1/4 tsp sale
1/8 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/8 tsp black pepper
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Cook pasta in boiling water. Drain.
- In a pot, melt butter. Whisk in flour and milk slowly until thick. Let cool.
- Add pumpkin puree and mix into pot.
- Add cheeses, salt, nutmeg, pepper into pot.
- Combine the sauce with the pasta, then bake for 30 minutes. Let cool before enjoying!
It was pretty good stuff! I am thinking the canned pumpkin is probably going to make it more orange and give it more “pumpkin flavor,” because they use a combination of tasty gourds for canned pumpkin (–that’s right. It’s not actually pumpkin in the can!).
I would make this again and play around next time with pumpkin pie spices to see if that increases the Fall flavor.