Creamy Risotto with Butternut Squash

One thing that I try to do often is to cook with and eat seasonal vegetables and fruit. Cooler weather (relatively speaking, since I live in Florida) means produce like butternut squash. I've been in butternut squash mood lately: butternut squash ravioli, creamy butternut squash soup. But my favorite is my latest culinary adventure...creamy risotto with butternut squash.

I got this recipe from Weight Watchers Weekly, and it's a fantastic recipe. It was light and creamy, and the thyme gave it a great, rich flavor. So, buon appetit!

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked butternut squash
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon nsalted butter
1 cup uncooked orzo
1.5 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons fat-free half-and-half
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

(I made a few substitutions in the recipe...instead of half-and-half, I used Lactaid and then a little bit of Greek yogurt. Instead of salted butter, I used margarine. Also, you can use fresh thyme for an even richer flavor.)

1. Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler, cut the squash in half, and scoop out the seeds. Then, cut the butternut squash into cubes. 

2. Toss the squash with the olive oil and salt until well coated. Place the squash on a baking tray lined with aluminum foil and prepared with vegetable spray. Roast squash until tender in an oven preheated to 425 degrees (about 20 to 25 minutes).

3. While squash is roasting, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add orzo, and cook until orzo is browned.

4. Add water, chicken broth, and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, then let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes (until liquid is mostly absorbed).

5. Stir in half-and-half, cheese, and squash. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Yields about 3/4 pieces per serving
Points Plus value: 6 per serving

Classic Dutch Apple Pie

I am in love with how amazing this pie tasted...I hope you love it too!

What's Thanksgiving without a pie? And what's more American than apple pie?  This Thanksgiving was my first away from home and my family, but that just meant that I had the opportunity to cook up my own Thanksgiving feast...including the pie.

I was going to skimp corners here and there (stuffing...from a box!), but the pie, well...I wanted the pie to be made completely from scratch.  I had a wonderful sous chef; while I worked on the crust, my second prepped the filling.  If you're doing this solo, do the crust first, so the apples don't get all brown from oxidation.

This is easily one of the greatest things ever to emerge from my kitchen. We enjoyed every bit and crumb and morsel.  I'll do my best to give you the recipe, but you should know that this is one of those times where the recipe went out the window. I was kind of making it up as I went along. But I'll give it a shot.

(The numbers in the recipe refer to how I began...but it was definitely an evolving process)

For the Filling

Ingredients

7 apples

1 cup of sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 butter, softened

1.5 tablespoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoons. nutmeg

2 tablespoons milk

1. Peel, core, and cube the apples. Combine the apples with the remaining ingredients until well coated. At the last minute, we decided to add some dried cranberries.

For the Crust

Ingredients

White flour, all purpose

Wheat flour

Baking powder

Brown sugar

Almond extract

Salt

Butter

For the bottom part of the crust
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. With a fork, combine 1 cup of white flour, 1 cup of wheat flour, 1 cup of butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Work the dough until there are pieces the size of peas.  Add water slowly (one teaspoon at a time), until the dough sticks together.  Then it is ready for rolling.

3. Spread flour on your rolling surface (I used my kitchen counter), and drop the dough onto the flour. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough.

 4. When it is flattened to about a 1/2 inch, it is ready to be placed in a prepared pie baking pan. (It wasn't pretty, but once it's filled, you can't tell!)

For the top Dutch crumble  (This is where I really improvised)
5. Combine 1 cup wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, 1 cup softened butter, almond extract (to taste...start with 1/4 teaspoon). The mixture should be crumbly. I had to add some more flour, then some more butter...keep going till you get the texture you need.

6. Add the pie filling to the prepared crust in the pan.  Place small pieces of butter around the top of the pie.

7. Add the Dutch crumble to the top of the pie.

8. Bake for 10 minutes on 450 degrees. Then, turn down to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 35 minutes (or until top is golden brown).

Enjoy! I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!