Risotto with Acorn Squash

Risotto with Butternut Squash and Jack Cheese

I wanted to make something different than our normal day to day "go to" dinners, so I started fishing around for some great recipes using Butternut Squash or Acorn Squash. I found this GEM! <3 I surprised myself and my boyfriend, we were in HEAVEN and on top of that it is healthy! SCORE! I tweaked the original recipe that I found at myrecipes.com; I substituted quinoa for the brown rice and the original recipe calls for Pancetta (we are vegetarians so we did not include that). It is creamy, and savory with TONS of protein and deliciousness. I paired this Risotto styled dish with a large green salad. Enjoy!

What you'll need:

- 1 1/2 pounds of butternut squash OR acorn squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (yields about 3 1/2 cups)

- 2 cups of fat free low sodium vegetable broth

- 1 1/3 cups water

- 3 tablespoons of Marsala wine (I used Chardonnay because I had it on hand)

- 1 tablespoon of minced Tarragon (optional; I could not find any so I used dried Oregano)

- 1 cup finely chopped onion 

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- 2 garlic cloves, minced

- 3/4 cup of uncooked Quinoa

- 2/3 cup of shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (I used Pepper jack to spice things up!)

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

What you need to do:

- Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Place squash on a nonstick pan that is properly oiled, I like to use a little coconut oil. Bake at 475 degrees for 20 minutes or until tender, turning after 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. 

- Combine broth, water, wine, and tarragon (I used Oregano), in a saucepan; bring to a simmer. Keep warm over low heat.

- In a separate saucepan add onion and oil; Sauté 10 minutes or until onion is tender. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.  Add the quinoa to the pan; sauté 1 minute. Stir in the broth mixture and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, simmer over low heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Quinoa will have a soupy consistency at this point, never fear it will get thicker while baking!

- Place pan in oven; bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. 

- Remove from oven. Stir in the squash, cheese, salt, and pepper. Cover with a clean cloth and let stand for 10 minutes, the quinoa will continue cooking. 

Yields 4 servings (serving size: 3/4 cups)

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 423 

Calories from fat: 30%

Fat: 14.2g

Saturated Fat: 5.5g

Monounsaturated Fat: 5.6g

Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.9g

Protein: 14.5g

Carbs: 57.3g

Fiber: 6.6g

Cholesterol: 28mg

Iron: 2mg

Sodium: 783mg

Calcium: 235mg