Pumpkin. Mmmmmmmm. Just hearing the word conjures up thoughts of warm crackling fires, the smell of holiday spices, and the thought of all that delightful food. Alas, pumpkin is almost always thought of as suitable for sweets but not much more. Pumpkin makes a delightful savory flavor, too, and I’m going to share a wonderful gluten free recipe with you so you can try it our with your family this year!

Savory Pumpkin Mac-n-Cheese (Gluten-free)

What you’ll need:

1 box of Annie’s Homegrown Gluten Free Creamy Deluxe mac-n-cheese

1/2 a can of organic pumpkin puree

2 slices of bacon (we prefer sugar free)

1/2 a medium sweet onion, diced

salt, pepper, and nutmeg

2 eggs, room temperature and beaten

1 TBS plus 1 tsp of almond meal

2 TBS shredded parmesan cheese

2 tsp of ghee or butter, melted

 

Spray an 8×8 glass dish with coconut oil or your favorite non-stick spray. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Fill your pot for the pasta and bring the water to a boil.  Add the pasta. This cooks best for about 8 minutes to get al dente texture.

While your pasta is boiling away (don’t forget to stir a few times so it doesn’t all stick together!) brown your bacon in a pan with deep sides, remove it and chop it into bite size pieces, add it back to the pan with the onions and add a pat of butter or extra pan spray if you need to keep the onions from sticking. (If you are using pork bacon, there should be enough grease that you won’t need to add more) After your onions are nice and translucent, turn off the heat and set aside. When your pasta reaches al dente, drain off 2/3 of the pasta water and leave the rest with the pasta.

After your onion and bacon pan has cooled a bit, add the cheese sauce, spices, and beaten eggs and stir well. Then pour in the pasta and water and mix until it’s thoroughly combined. Pour the entire mixture into the Pyrex dish.  Sprinkle with the almond meal and parmesan cheese. Then drizzle with the melted ghee. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

You will never see pumpkin the same!

Here’s a fun little serving suggestion for your Savory Pumpkin Mac-N-Cheese. We had ours with some gorgeous poached salmon and a baby spinach salad. Very grown up, but the kids cleaned their plates, too!