Lighter Macaroni and Cheese

One of the best foods ever created is macaroni and cheese- nothing is better on a cold day than a warm, gooey bowl of mac and cheese, especially if it has a nice crunchy outside layer.  Speaking of things being cold, you'll be happy to know I cannot use that word to describe my house......instead,  IT'S FREEZING! Seriously, it's probably a good 10 degrees colder inside of my house than it is outside.  We are too stingy in my house to turn on the heater, but I'm glad to say they we have at least one other thing in our house that can produce large amounts of heat... my good old pal Gertrude.  Really, why would I waste money turning the heater on, when for probably about the same price I could just fire up Gertrude? With Gertrude, I get heat AND food.... she is just so generous :) Anyways, on a cold rainy night a few days ago, I decided to make macaroni and cheese..... however, I am honestly trying this whole healthy recipe thing out, so I decided to try and find a healthier version of mac and cheese that didn't compromise the taste. I stumbled upon the following recipe by "Light Cooking" for a butternut squash baked mac and cheese.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-light-macaroni-cheese-50400000115195/

the ingredients for this are as follows:
butternut squash 
fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth 
fat-free milk
garlic cloves, peeled
plain fat-free Greek yogurt 
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
shredded Gruyère cheese
pecorino Romano cheese
finely grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided
cavatappi 
Cooking spray 
olive oil
panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
chopped fresh parsley

As you can see, this recipe has fairly expensive cheese in it... however, by the time I got already to the store I was committed to this whole project and decided I might as well do EVERYTHING exactly as the recipe says because I felt like butternut squash mac and cheese has some serious screw-up potential.  It may seem a bit odd that I'm worried about the price of turning the heater on, but then go out and buy a lot of classy cheese....but, got to have your priorities, right? I have quite a bit of confidence in my ability to fudge some ingredients in a muffin, but squash based pasta... not so much.   So, I followed the directions on the link word for word with every ingredient it called for(okay fine, I used Conchiglioni pasta instead of cavatappi) , and here is what I got!

YUM! Nice and crispy, just as I like.  Nonetheless,  I would not go as far to say that this is my new replacement for "real" mac and cheese.  It is not super cheesy and has a slightly sweet taste, so it is definitely different than good, old-fashioned artery-clogging mac and cheese. However, despite being quite a bit of work and a little different tasting, it is much healthier than the traditional version and a lovely fall dinne, so I would say it was a definite cooking win.  I should probably not even compare it to mac and cheese and instead call it something really fancy sounding like "Three Cheese Butternut Squash Conchiglioni". Would I recommend it to a friend? I think yes.