Pasta with Creamy Butternut Squash Sauce and Caramelized Mushrooms

A creamy butternut squash sauce without any cream is the perfect sauce for pasta and deliciously caramelized mushrooms. You won’t need any meat with this vegetarian meal.

Pasta with Creamy Butternut Squash Sauce and Caramelized Mushrooms is what happens when you take your daughter to William Sonoma with you. I always love to look in the store and had an ulterior motive. My little one insisted she only likes spaghetti. It didn’t matter how many times I told her the pasta all tastes the same, it is just made into different shapes. She was convinced she only liked spaghetti, and would only eat it. If I made penne or rotini, she boycotted dinner. My way around this, let her pick her own pasta. So while we were browsing the shelf, she spotted these beauties, rigatoni. She fell in love with them.

Oh rigatoni was going to be perfect. It has a large hole through the center that is going to hold sauce so well. It was screaming for a creamy sauce. Thanks to some pureed butternut squash, we had a delicious creamy sauce without any cream. When I told my daughter we were having pasta, her first question, of course, was “Is it spaghetti?”. No, it is the one you picked out. Hmm, I could tell she was thinking about this development. She suspiciously took a bite and loved it. Hallelujah, there has been no further fighting about the shape of pasta. It’s just pasta after all. Use your favorite one.

Now that pasta peace has been achieved in our house, I can put it into the dinner rotation a little more often. I had no idea the shape of pasta could be so controversial. It is so funny the things we tend to fixate on as kids, heck even as adults. There are times I am totally fixated on an unhealthy food; one which I don’t really even like. All because I told myself I couldn’t have it. Healthy eating continues to be a mind game for me. At the moment, I am winning but the holidays are approaching. Danger, Danger! With weeknight meals like this in your repertoire, eating healthfully during the week is so much easier. Save those extra calories for the weekend.

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Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Calories per serving: 302

Fat per serving: 6g/Carbs 53g/Fiber 5g/Protein 15g

Ingredients

• 8 oz. whole wheat or multi grain pasta
• ½ butternut squash
• 3 portabella mushrooms, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. kosher salt, divided
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 cup reduced sodium Chicken broth
• 1 ½ tbsp. chopped fresh sage
• 1 ½ oz. Goat cheese, crumbled

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Place butternut squash cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Butternut squash is done when a fork will easily go into the thickest part.
3. Cook pasta according to manufacturer’s directions. Reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid.
4. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet; add mushrooms, garlic and ½ tsp. salt. Cook until mushrooms are brown on one side, about 10 minutes. Then turn and cook until brown on the other. Place mushrooms on a plate.
5. Peel skin from butternut squash. Place the flesh in a bowl and mash.
6. Add mashed butternut squash, chicken broth and ½ tsp. salt to the skillet. Add in the cooking liquid until your desired consistency. Cook until hot.
7. Stir in pasta and toss to coat. Turn off the heat and add sage.
8. Place pasta on plates and top with mushrooms.
9. Sprinkle with goat cheese.

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