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

Thyme Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

It's Barefoot Thursday and I'm going to save you a buttery bundle....
It's not unusual for the Quiet Man to phone me from the grocery store. This is what happens after ten years of training/marriage. A husband must learn that this particular errand can be the cause of great disappointment, say when the Italian parsley is brought home instead of the cilantro, or that despite his best detective efforts there really is such thing as panko (Asian aisle-bottom left corner, dear), or when 12 heads come home when the list simply said "garlic." But this time, Quiet Man had found the Arborio rice as listed, but was calling home to make sure that at $9.00 for a mere 10 ounces if I really wanted it. My alter ego is taking over, and I didn't want to let Prudy down so I asked him to put the rice back. I've made risotto plenty of times, but not since rice prices have skyrocketed. I hopped onto the Internet to research a possible replacement and was pleased to find that renowned cookbook author Marion Cunningham claimed that a very good risotto was possible with American medium short grain rice. I don't want to upset my fellow Italians, but after giving it a go, I happily concur. My frugal risotto was creamy and toothsome. At less than 1/10th the price of Arborio, we'll be having penny risotto a lot more often. And the Quiet Man won't even have to call me from the market. Although he certainly can. Any time.
I made some considerable adjustments to this recipe. Since I've got several vegetarians in my extended family and I thought this might make a great Thanksgiving side sans meat, I tested mine with vegetable broth and no prosciutto. Saffron was skipped in the interest of remaining solvent, and so I swapped in some thyme for flavor. Also, as always, I couldn't justify the heaping 8 tablespoons of fat-maybe for Thanksgiving, but certainly not for weeknight dinner. To keep the dish extra creamy, I drizzled a bit of half and half on the finished servings.
Money Saving Tips: Using medium grain rice instead of Arborio is going to save you a bundle of cash. If you've got a great source for cheap saffron, by all means, add some. I'm going to pick some up in Europe next month. For now, I used dried thyme.
Thyme Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto
Estimated Cost: $4.00 for 3 large servings
Notes: I served this for dinner with Italian sausage and a simple mixed green salad.
1/2 butternut squash (about 1 lb.), peeled and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3 and 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I used Swanson's)
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup medium grain rice
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
a couple tablespoons of half and half, for drizzling, if desired
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line cookie sheet with foil. Place squash on foil. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with thyme and a bit of salt and pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until tender. Meanwhile, warm vegetable stock in small saucepan in a small saucepan. Keep it at a simmer while you make the risotto. In a medium skillet, melt butter. Add onion and garlic and saute on medium for 10 minutes. Stir in the rice and 1 cup of broth. Stir occasionally and simmer until broth is absorbed. Continue to stir in broth, 1/2 cup full at a time, as it is absorbed until the rice is cooked through but still has some bite. This should take between 20 and 25 minutes. Don't let it get mushy. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the squash and parmesan, saving a little of both for garnish. Serve with a little drizzle of half and half, if desired.
Coming Tomorrow:
Italian Dinner for Columbus Day
Roasted Tomato, Sausage, and Three Cheese Pizza