I made Ree Drummond’s simple butternut squash mac and cheese. One surprising ingredient made it especially flavorful.

Fall isn’t far away now, so it seemed like time to try making one of my favorite autumnal dishes: butternut squash mac and cheese.

Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman, is known for her family-friendly comfort food recipes.

I decided to try her butternut squash mac-and-cheese recipe.

The simple recipe, which takes less than an hour to make, would be perfect for an early fall or cooler weeknight dinner after a long day at the office.

It also requires only a few low-cost ingredients, making it a cost-effective option for a large crowd — or a lot of leftovers.

I spent about $43 on the ingredients for the recipe, but I needed to buy some pantry staples you might already have on hand, like butter, milk, and flour.

The recipe is also intended to feed 12 people, so it comes out to less than $4 per serving if you had to buy every ingredient.

Here’s how to make Drummond’s butternut-squash mac and cheese, which has become one of my new go-to fall dinners.