Hello comfort food.
If you want to hide vegetables from your kids. Or from yourself. Or from your husband. Make this now. Because it’s mac & cheese, with veggies… and it tastes even BETTER than regular mac & cheese!
Comfort food made healthier? I’m in!
How did I think of this awesome meal?
Sometimes, I buy Annie’s mac & cheese so I can have a quick dinner on hand. When I make it, I try to add something to make it into a “real meal”. Once, I added pumpkin puree and sauteed onion. It was soooo good! I had to make a homemade mac & cheese with pumpkin puree!
P.S. I tried something else with Annie’s mac & cheese that was sooo good I have to make it into a homemade mac & cheese ;).
Baked Pumpkin Mac & Cheese
Adaptation of Easy Baked Mac & Cheese
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 1 package (375 g) whole wheat elbow macaroni
- 2 slices of bread (I used sprouted whole wheat)
- 3 tbsp softened butter (or non-hydrogenated margarine), divided
- 1 tbsp flour (I used whole wheat)
- 1 cup warm milk (I used 1%)
- 1/2 package Maclaren’s Imperial Sharp Cold Pack Cheddar
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp salted herbs, or salt to taste
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used Oka Classique)
- Paprika
Directions: Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion until it starts to brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
Bring a big pot of water to a boil and cook macaroni according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, process the two slices of bread in a food processor until coarse crumbs start to form. Add 2 tbsp softened butter and process until combined. Set aside.
In a large saucepan, melt remaining 1 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir with a whisk until it starts to bubble. Whisk in milk, then stir constantly until sauce begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.
Add cheese and stir until completely melted. Add pumpkin, nutmeg and salted herbs. Toss the drained macaroni and cooked onions in the sauce.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Transfer macaroni 4 individual baking dishes. Top with shredded cheese, then with bread crumbs and sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes and serve immediately.
Serves 4
I made this recipe for girl’s night at my place. On Thursday. On Monday, I was making it again (all for me :D). This mac & cheese is addictive.
If you already have a favorite mac & cheese recipe, just add some pumpkin and onion next time you make it ;).
i’m always looking for new ways to use pumpkin, and this sounds like the just the thing! 🙂
Yes! I have a cup of pumpkin leftover from making granola the other day, and now I know what to do with it!
I do the same exact thing and after 16 years my husband has yet to figure out why my mac and cheese tastes so much better than everybody else’s! What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him!
I think my hubs and son would go wild for this one. It just looks so yummy.
That mac n cheese looks super delicious – I can imagine it would be cheesy but still healthy 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Wow, this looks delicious. I think that there would be fights for any leftovers with this recipe, now to try it out.
I love Mac and Cheese but I am not sure yet if this is delicious.. I hope when I try this my family, especially my kids would love it..
What a lovely way to pack in extra veggies!
lovely combination
That is a sort of great combination! It looks good and I love to taste it. By the way, thanks for the recipe. 🙂
A very sneaky, but effective way of helping the kids to appreciate vegetables. I have tried doing this before and no one noticed the difference.
I love pumpkin mac & cheese! I could eat it year round!
I love this idea here.. I hope I can try this too maybe this weekend and perfect for birthday celebration..
That is one great cooking idea. It is really tough to make kids eat veggies; this recipe is worth giving a try. I hope it works.
I eat this before…Taste really good thanks for sharing..Thanks for the recipe..
I have never tried this before and I think this weekend I will give this a try as well.. Thanks for the recipe here..
For a mom like me, recipes like this is a life-saver. This will enable me to feed my child vegetables that are important to their health.
I am thinking different.I believe the positive side of this recipe,so i want to make it myself for get the taste of this great recipe when i want.
I am a veggie lover and this combination will do me great. I am glad that you shared the recipe. I am hoping to prepare it sometime soon.
I guess I will share this recipe to my wife; she is struggling in finding recipes that will make our kids appreciate veggies. Thanks for this!
I love this recipe. This looks so good and promising for me. I love macaronis a lot.
That seriously looks SINFUL! I love pumpkin, but the hubby could care less for it, so maybe I’ll see if i can pull one over on him and make him fall in love with your version. Thanks for sharing!