Butternut Squash Lasagna with Rosemary and Garlic

Oh, mama. When I spotted this gorgeous fall lasagna recipe on the ever-inspiring Proud Italian Cook's blog, I had to make it post haste. This is Proud Italian's gorgeous photo below. See why I was so impatient to make this one?Sweet roasted butternut squash is layered with pasta noodles and savory parmesan cheese, then smothered with a creamy roasted garlic and rosemary bechamel sauce. I made a half batch in a loaf pan- the perfect size for sheets of no-boil noodles. This was unforgettable straight out of the oven and mouhwatering the next day too. I would have even had it for breakfast if the Quiet Man hadn't packed up the last of it and taken it for a work lunch. How often do you fight over leftovers? This makes one delightful family weeknight dinner, but it's also elegant enough for an adult dinner party-if you can stand to share it. Thanks, Proud Italian Cook! Money Saving Tips: Instead of oven roasting, I used my slowcooker for the butternut squash and garlic. Place wedges of unpeeled squash in your slow cooker and cook on high for about 4 hours. Wrap the garlic in foil and place in the slow cooker on top of the squash. It only costs about 25 cents or electricity to use your slow cooker for 6 hours. Proud Italian Cooks Recipe for a Full Batch of Butternut Squash Lasagna

Estimated Cost: $7.00 for a half batch

Notes: I used the lesser amount of butter suggested and 2 percent milk.

FULL BATCH INGREDIENTS:
About 3lbs. of peeled, seeded, squash in 1/2 in. slices
2 Heads of Roasted Garlic
1 Box of No-Boil Lasagna
Parmesan Cheese around 1 1/2 cups
Bechemal Sauce
First, you need to roast your squash in a hot oven at 425 degrees. till tender. Make sure you drizzle it with olive oil, salt and pepper. It will probably take about 25 mins.
In the meantime make a pot of bechemel by melting 1/4 to 1/2 cup of butter and then mixing in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour, keep whisking, then squeeze in your roasted garlic, add salt and black pepper.
Pour about 5 cups of milk in and whisk till thick. When squash is cooked, stir it into the sauce along with the rosemary ( about 1 tbl.) and half of the Parmesan cheese.
Reduce oven temp to 375. Layer it like you would any lasagna. Spray your baking dish, layer the noodles, and spread the sauce mixture all over, and sprinkle with cheese. Continue layering till done. Sprinkle more cheese on top. Cover with foil. Bake around 35 to 40 mins. Uncover and cook till golden brown.

Marie of a Year at Oak Cottage and Anduviya of A Little Bit More (Thanks!) have both tagged me for a lucky 7 meme with accompanying award... I'm not sure you want to know this much about me. I'm not as interesting as all of you, so I'm tagging 7 more of you and bestowing the award down below. You can skip to the bottom, unless you're as nosey as I am.

7 things I did before

1. Make overs for Lancome Cosmetics

2. Legal Research for a patent attorney

3. Translated for Spanish speakers at an OB/GYN clinic

4. created ads for the college newspaper

5. wrote blog entries for Rachel Ray's website

6. teacher training in early literacy

7. telephone market research in Spanish-I lasted one week

7 things I do now

1. Serve on the school Board for a K-8 charter school

2. Run every morning, even when I don't feel like it
3. Teach Humanities part time at a state college

4. homeschool my two little charges (and myself in the meantime)

5. solve the Crossword puzzle

6. Read and try to memorize poetry every morning

7. Get up way too early

7 things I want to do

1. Learn to play the harp

2. Brush up on my French and learn Latin

3. Read the entire Sherlock Holmes collection plus all of Shakespeare

4. Memorize "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere"

5. Learn to play Sleigh Ride and Maple Leaf Rag very well on the piano

6. Solve the NY times Saturday Crossword puzzle with no blanks

7. Do a better job remembering birthdays

7 things that attract me about the opposite sex

1. A love of reading-even better if he's good at Jeapordy

2. Postive attitude

3. Integrity

4. Kindness and playfulness with children

5. Old Fashioned Gentlemanly habits

6. Enjoys sports and outdoors

7. Must love good quality food. Lots of it. And of course being gorgeous never hurts. But that would be number 8.

7 Favorite Foods

1. Taquitos and Guacamole

2. Homemade Chocolate Buttermilk Brownies with Toasted Pecans

3. Penne a la Vodka

4. Kung Pao Chicken

5. Berry Pie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

6. Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

7. Crusty Whole Grain Bread and Good Cheese

7 things I say Most Often:

1. Oh, mama...

2. Ay, mamacita

3. If you two don't hurry up, we're going to be late.
4. Now we're going to be late.

5. Go ask your father.

6. I wish the day was longer.

7. Yawn. Tonight I'm really going to bed early.

7 Tags (and award too; pick one up)

1. Cathy at Tortefeasor

2. Matt of Matt's Kitchen

3. Lori of Rice and Beans

4. Grace of A Southern Grace

5. Cat at Cat's Pajamas
6. Becky at Satisfying My Sweet Tooth

7.Natalie at Hot Garlic

Coming at the First Light of Tuesday

Tuesdays with Dorie

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Maple Muffins