"I Hate Risotto"

This was the comment I got from both kids last night when I told them what we were having for dinner.

WHAT?  Are you serious?  How can you hate risotto?  What's in it to hate? 

Fine.  You want to hate my risotto?  I'll give you a reason to hate it... 

Both kiddos truly despise squash of any variety.  Gagging typically ensues when I try to get them to eat it.  So what did I do?  Added butternut squash to my regular risotto. 

It. Was. Fantastic.  And they apparently didn't realize it had squash in it, because they both ate it.  Granted, the result if they didn't eat it was no dessert - but they ate an entire bowl of it, and no one threatened to gag.  That, my friends, is a success.

And I didn't even have to peel the thing, either, which is my main reason for rarely cooking with squash.  This time, I nuked it for about 15 minutes (cut in half, flat side down in a bit of water), scooped out the innards and stirred the mush into the risotto near the end.  I'm pretty sure it made the risotto a lot healthier, as I didn't use anywhere nearly as much cheese as I usually do.  And even better?  There are leftovers for lunch today...yummy...  Lunch may come early today.