Butternut Squash Baked Ziti (GF)!

A couple weeks ago I pinned a butternut squash skillet lasagna from How Sweet Eats. I’ve basically been drooling over it ever since. Right now, I’m not that good at remembering to buy actual ingredients for a specific recipe, which is why this didn’t get made sooner. Finally this past weekend I remembered to get some butternut squash, but Trader Joe’s didn’t have some of the other things I needed to make this dish.

I decided yesterday to just go with it and make it using ingredients I have on hand. I made a couple of swaps and added in some frozen chopped kale (yes, TJ’s now has frozen chopped kale!) It came out amazing. And the fact I got this done was amazing. I literally did this between feeding Liv & a work call at 5. Danny came home just in time to throw it all together and put it in the oven to bake while I was on the call.

This is a pretty easy (in skill level) dish, but I used 3 pots/pans and it took about 30 minutes to prepare I’d say. Although you may be able to do it in less if you don’t have a baby to feed.

I will update this with better pictures when I have time. If I don’t post this today (aka right now) who knows when it will get done. Such is life with a baby.

Butternut Squash Baked Ziti

adapted from How Sweet Eats

Ingredients

1 pound fusilli or ziti (I used brown rice fusilli)
4 cups cubed butternut squash
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken or veggie stock
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 pound ground white turkey
1 cup chopped kale (I used frozen)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon whole wheat or spelt flour* (if GF then used GF baking flour/oat flour/brown rice flour OR if don’t have then OMIT completely)
1 3/4 cups milk (I used whole milk b/c that’s what we have.)
1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large pan add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add the onions when heated. Cook the onions until they are translucent. Add the butternut squash. Pour in about 1/4-1/13 cup of the butternut squash and lower the heat to medium and cover. Let the butternut squash cook for about 15 minutes until soft, mixing occasionally. Sprinkle with salt (about 1/2 tsp), pepper and nutmeg. Add in more chicken broth if needed. When butternut squash is soft, remove from pan and put in large bowl. Mash.

In a seperate pot, boil water for pasta. Cook for about 6 minutes. You want the pasta to be hard because it will cook more in the oven. Meanwhile in the large pan, (pan should still be hot) add the ground turkey and remaining chicken broth. Break up the ground turkey with a spoon and once browned and cooked mostly through, add kale. Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper. Cook until meat is cooked and kale is heated through.

While cooking meat, in a small pan, add oil on medium heat. When heated, add butter. When butter is bubbling, whisk in milk. Milk will start to boil around the edges, then whisk in flour, then grated cheese. Add in about 1/4 of the mozzarella cheese and let melt. When it is hot and slightly boiling around the edges, add to the large bowl of butternut squash. Mix until everything is combined.

After pasta is cooked in a large baking dish (I used a round corningware bowl) add the pasta, butternut squash and turkey meat. Mix together so it’s all evenly distributed. Top with the remaining mozzarella and bake uncovered in the oven for 20 minutes!

Please let me know if you make this! Danny and I REALLY enjoyed this and I’ll be making it again! It’s perfect for those GF eaters too! I served it with a salad on the side, although Danny opted out of that!

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Have a good one!