Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese - my take on it

Who is with me that eating "clean" can be difficult?! Well now you can get a veggie serving in with your mac n cheese. I will be honest with you - if you are looking for Mac n Cheese that is like 100% mac n cheese this isn't for you. It's a bit different than the normal AMAZING mac n cheese, but it's still yummy!!

I followed this recipe by Martha Stewart to make my version of this... 
http://www.marthastewart.com/337716/macaroni-and-cheese-with-butternut-squas

The ingredients she uses are listed below - my changes are in red next to what she used.

• 1 small butternut squash (about 1 pound), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 cups)
• 1 cup homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock, skimmed of fat - I used organic chicken broth... didn't have stock at home.
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk - Unsweetened Almond Milk
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of cayenne pepper - I didn't have this so I used cajun seasoning
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt - no salt added
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound elbow macaroni - Whole Wheat Pasta
• 4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated (about 1 cup)
• 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated (1 ounce)
• 2 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs - left the breadcrumbs off! Who needs them when you have "cheese"!
• 1 teaspoon olive oil - didn't use
• Olive-oil, cooking spray - didn't use
• 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese - I had cottage cheese on hand so that is what I used.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Combine squash, stock, and milk in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Mash contents (I used this potato masher)of saucepan; stir in nutmeg, cayenne, and salt, and season with black pepper. Stir to combine.
3. While this was cooking I cooked some turkey bacon to add! YUMMMM!!! Plus protein. You could do turkey sausage, chicken, broccoli, onion.... the options are endless!! 
4. Cook your noodles according to the packaging. 
5. Drain, and transfer to a large bowl; stir in squash mixture, cheddar, ricotta, and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. (Make sure you have a large enough bowl... I didn't at first so I had to clean 2 bowls.)
6. Lightly coat a 9-inch square baking dish (4 inches deep) with cooking spray. Transfer noodle mixture to dish. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and oil; sprinkle evenly over noodle mixture. (Like I said you don't need the bread crumbs, but an alternative would be Panko Breadcrumbs)
7. Cover with foil, and bake 20 minutes. - This should be ample amount of time if you don't have the bread crumbs. I didn't use foil when I cooked mine. I also added some HOT SAUCE on mine for some more flavor.
8. Remove foil, and continue baking until lightly browned and crisp on top, 30 to 40 minutes more. Serve immediately.