Since tonight is my first weekend night off in forever I decided to make something new and fantastic for dinner! Confession time: Butternut squash is my new obsession. It is so fall like. This girl might not be able to get a cider doughnut but at least I can have butternut squash.

I started by peeling and cutting up the rest of the remaining butternut squash. I roasted the whole thing and saved some for later.

I roasted the butternut squash with olive oil, honey, salt and pepper. I cannot get enough of this honey! I used less honey than last time and it gave the squash a light, sweet flavor that complimented the taste nicely.

Mix it up and roast at 425. Keep an eye on it. I think I left it in for about 35 mins.Once you remove it from the oven set aside a half cup or so of the squash and refrigerate the rest.

Time to get cracking on the dough! I used Jenna’s recipe because it only had three ingredients and was simple. Since it’s my first time making my own pasta I didn’t want to be too crazy.

Use a 3/4 cup of flour and a pinch of salt, make a volcano with the flour and put the egg inside.

Start to gently work the dough with your fingers and work it until it is in a ball.

Put in a bowl, cover with a damp towel and set aside for 45 mins.

Take a break, put on some music, check on your squash.

The squash should come out before the dough. I also sauteed garlic and onions. I added it to the butternut squash and mashed it up.

Set this aside and dig into your dough! Flour the counter and your rolling pin and roll it out really thin.

Cut the dough into strips and put butternut squash on the dough.

Take the squares and put their tops on, use a fork and compress on all sides.

Boil water and cook until the pasta rises.

While the pasta was cooking I made a simple butter sauce. I took 2 tsp. of butter and browned it with pine nuts. Put the ravioli on the plate and pour the butter on top of the pasta. Grate Parmesan cheese on top and enjoy!

I was worried that this wasn’t going to be a big enough serving but it wound up being quite the hearty portion. I love the browned butter sauce with parm. It is so easy to make especially since you’re already making a multi-step dinner with homemade pasta. The pasta itself was pretty good considering it was so simple. I am left wondering how hard it would be to make other kinds of pasta. I may have to try that soon! And the butternut squash? There are no words. I am in love and my new boyfriends name is ‘butternut’.

Butternut squash is a beautiful thing.

Today while walking through the farmer’s market I was drawn to something that I couldn’t resist.

Who can say no to a bundle of pesto? Not me! I decided it would be nice to makes some classic pesto. Pesto is a great sauce/spread and it’s super easy to make. You can “wing” pesto which I like because I am not a super precise cook.

First I got together my ingredients.

Pine nuts

Minced garlic from 2 cloves

EVO

Parm. Make sure that it is from a block people. There is a difference between pre-grated and from a block. From a block is much better plus it’s an arm workout.

Put the parm to the side and combine all the other ingredients with S&P in the food processor. I like to start with less than more especially when it comes to the garlic. Unless, of course, you want it super garlickey.

Mix it up! The more you mix the better. Do a taste test, add more garlic or pine nuts or EVO if you want to. Once you like the flavor then you can add the parm.

Mix it up until the parm is combine. While mixing it pour yourself a nice glass of this…

While I was making the pesto I made pasta and roasted some eggplant to add with the pesto.

Yum! It’s been a while since I had fresh pesto and this was such a treat! I made two portions so I can have an easy lunch tomorrow after my run. Tonight I am going out for birthday drinks at Varnish, a speakeasy-ish bar in Downtown LA that I have been dying to go to for months! Love birthdays, you can go for drinks where ever you want!

As a first day of work present to myself I prepared mac and cheese. I have a well documented love of cheese and pasta! The both together is always amazing. I used a recipe from Barefoot Contessa but I altered it. I used her Lobster Mac and Cheese recipe as a base, but at the end when you add lobster I added veggies instead. I also used some Barefoot tips and tricks with varying degrees of success. Obviously I started by boiling brown pasta. I utilized Barefoot Tip #1: add olive oil to the pasta water so the pasta doesn’t stick.

This was a successful experiment! None of my pasta stuck which means that this is a success. While the pasta was boiling I took gruyere and cheddar and cut them up. Instead of the arm workout of grating cheese I attempted to use Barfoot tip #2: putting the cheese in the food processor to cut it. Ummm, not so successful:

the picture of fail

I think it was because of the consistency of the cheese. Maybe it was too mushy? Well, moving on. I heated a 1/4 pint of milk in a sauce pan while I melted a 1/4 cup of butter in another pan with a little bit of flour.

butter mixture

the milk pan

and then we combine! This, according to Ina, is a traditional white sauce. I kept the heat on low and added nutmeg (which I ground with my Microplane, a product I love), pepper, salt, and the cheese. Then I mix and let melt.

This is where we separate from Ina and add our favorite things. I added tomato, broccoli, and leeks. Note: tonight I made this again and instead I used sundried tomato, leeks, arugula, and thyme!

Mix it up and put it in an oven safe container, cook at 350 for 30-35 mins. Barefoot suggests adding a breadcrumb crumble but I bypassed this.

Yum! I only ate about 1/2 of the pasta and saved the rest for a later time. What can I say, I was full!

This recipe is for sure a keeper. Barefoot never does me wrong.