Mac n Cheese with Prosciutto and Squash

This dish is what I like to call adult comfort food. It was such a surprise. We found the recipe in an issue of Men's Health magazine. I've never cooked squash so I stuck to the directions in the recipe and the results were fabulous.


Ingredients
1 box of macaroni and cheese
4 oz. of whole milk ricotta cheese
4 oz. of prosciutto, diced
1/2 of squash (I used acorn), cubed
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare macaroni and cheese according to directions on box. In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add squash and saute until golden brown and just tender, approximately 10 minutes. Remove from pan and drain on a paper towel lined plated. Mix ricotta cheese into macaroni. Add sauteed squash and prosciutto. Stir to combine. Pour macaroni into a lightly greased 9 x 9 baking dish. (Optional: you can add breadcrumb to the top of the dish.) Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until bubbling.

Meatballs Stroganoff

I didn't even know what stroganoff was until I was about 21 and the first taste I had was of the Hamburger Helper variety. I was hell bent on having a homemade version of it. I had some frozen meatballs that I substituted from the normal ground beef (HH style) or sliced beef strips from original recipes.

Ingredients

10 meatballs
10 oz of sour cream
1 medium yellow onion
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp olive oil
1lb egg noodles
salt
pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large and deep skillet, heat 1 tsp olive oil over medium high heat. Brown meatballs on all sides. While meatballs are browning, bring a pot of water to a boil. Transfer meatballs to an oven safe pan and finish cooking in oven, about 15 minutes. Add egg noodles to boil water, cook until tender about seven minutes. Drain thoroughly and do not rinse. Heat remaining tsp of oil in pan and add onion. Cook until golden and translucent, about 7-10 minutes. Turn heat to low, add sour cream and onion powder. Stir frequently to keep cream from burning.

Add meatballs and coat with sauce. Serve meatballs and sauce over egg noodles.