Creamy Bacon and Butternut Squash Pasta

This recipe takes a little while longer than my typical recipe, but its a hearty meal that sounds more decadent than it is.

Ingredients:
2-3 Slices of Bacon ((I used reduced fat bacon w/ only 3 grams of fat/serving)
1-1.5 cups of chopped butternut squash
1-1.5 cups of chopped swiss chard
1/4 cup of chopped onions
2-3 cloves of garlic, cut in half
olive oil or olive oil spray
1/2 cup of low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon of heavy cream
1 serving of short pasta (whatever you think a seving is. I used whole grain fusilli, but penne would work well too)
parmesan or other hard cheese for grating

Optional
chopped fresh parsley
lemon juice

1. Toss the garlic and squash with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast the squash in a 350 degree oven for 25-40 minutes (cook squash untill browned and soft) in roasting pan or oven safe skillet. You'll want to start the squash for about 10-15 minutes before the bacon goes in the pan. Turn as necessary every 10-15 minutes.
2. Chop bacon into bite-sized pieces. Cook over medium low heat until it reaches your desired crispiness then drain on a paper towel. Reserve the oil in the pan.
3. Bring water to a boil for the pasta.
4. Lower the heat on the skillet to low. Sautee the onions in the reserved oil from the bacon. Once the onions are soft discard any remaining oil (you can leave about a teaspoon, just dump out the extra)
5. Add the chicken broth and turn up the heat so the stock starts to reduce, but not too far
6. At this point the pasta water should be boiling. Cook pasta according to the directions. When there is about 4 minutes remaining to cook the pasta, add the chopped chard to the chicken broth onion mixture. Remove the squash from the oven and discard the garlic.
7. When the chard is wilted, but not quite finished, add the tablespoon of cream, season to taste and lower the heat as necessary to reserve enough liquid for the pasta. The sauce should be thick at this point, but the pan shouldn't be dry, you want about 1/4 cup of liquid remaining.
8. Add some cheese to the sauce (maybe a tablespoon or so. Add the sqush to the mixture as well.
9. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the sauce/chard/squash mixture and toss with the sauce. Add a tiny bit of the pasta water and turn up the heat to let the pasta absorb the sauce, and the sauce to finish reducing. Add a bit more cheese to taste. Add the Parsley and bacon now. Heat for another minute or so and plate. Sprinkle with parsley or cheese or fresh ground pepper to taste.

The trick: chopping the bacon into little pieces gives you bacon in every bite, without actually adding that many calories to the dish. The touch of cream adds richness, but the small amount won't push you over the top since the sauce is mostly chicken broth. I do recommend the Wellshire Farms reduced fat bacon, I can't tell the difference, it tastes great and is only 60 calories per serving. Down right reasonable. You can also add some cannelini beans to bulk up the protein or add more vegetables and reduce the amount of pasta.