Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto
A delicious and nutritious recipe to help you ground down and find balance. Fall is a season characterized by movement, air, dryness, and cold. This warming and sweet recipe helps to pacify and balance these Fall characteristics. Butternut squash is rich in Vitamins A and C, supporting your immune system as we step into cold and flu season. Serves 4. Ingredients:
2 ½ lbs butternut squash, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks 5 tbsp olive oil Package of sage, leaves picked, half roughly chopped, half left whole 6-7 cups of vegetable broth 2-3 shallots, finely chopped 1 ½ cups of Arborio rice ½ cup dry white wine ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (optional if vegan) ¼ cup pumpkin seeds Salt and pepper to taste Directions:
- Heat the oven to 425F. In a large bowl, toss the squash in 1 tbsp olive oil with the chopped sage; season lightly with salt and pepper. Transfer to a shallow roasting pan and roast in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes until it is brown and soft.
- While the squash is roasting, you can prepare the risotto. Bring the broth to a boil and keep on a low simmer. In a deep sauté pan, add 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Stir in the shallots and sweat gently for 5-6 minutes until soft, stirring occasionally.
- Stir the uncooked rice into the shallots until the rice is shiny and the edges start to look transparent. Pour in the wine and simmer until totally evaporated. Add the broth, a ladleful at a time, stirring the rice over a low heat for 25-30 minutes, until the rice is cooked al dente (slightly firm, starchy bite in the middle). The risotto should be creamy and slightly soupy. When you draw a wooden spoon through it, there should be a wake that holds for a few moments.
- While the risotto is cooking, add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil to a small sauté pan set over medium high heat. Gently fry the whole sage leaves until crispy, then set aside on a paper towel.
- Wipe off the excess oil in the pan, then add the pumpkin seeds, toast for a 2-3 minutes (until slightly brown and they begin to pop), and remove from pan.
- When the squash is cooked, mash half of it to a rough puree, leaving the other half in chunks.
- When the risotto is finished, stir in the squash puree, then add the Parmesan cheese (unless you are going the vegan option), salt and pepper to taste, and allow to rest for a few minutes.
- Add the roasted squash chunks, crisp sage leaves, and toasted pumpkin seeds just before serving. Enjoy!
Mother, wife, and yoga teacher, Fernanda is passionate about living a healthy lifestyle that embraces exercise, mindfulness, community, and compassion. For her, yoga is an inward journey to connect to our infinite wisdom. She is an Oregonian living in Switzerland with her husband, son, and dog, who remind her daily what it means to live a life full of love and joy.
About the Author
Help Your Skin Glow With This Tasty Chocolate Treat Recipe
The smell of just about any chocolate is enough to get me invigorated and peppy, and so finding this healthy, yet still-delicious superfood recipe made me want to jump for joy! I definitely need a little chocolate indulgence now and then, and you probably do, too. The good news is this recipe for a tasty chocolate bark will not only get your taste buds singing, but it will also give your skin a healthy glow and your heart a healthy boost!
It’s all thanks to these stellar ingredients:
Dark Chocolate
There are so many great things dark chocolate (with the right type and in the correct proportions!) can do for us, but we’ll stick to just a few. Flavanols, which are plant compounds naturally found in the cocoa bean, help promote blood flow and dilate vessels. This action helps to deliver nutrients throughout the body, including the skin.
A study found that cocoa flavanols protect the skin from ultraviolet damage, increase blood flow to the skin, increase density and thickness of the skin, decrease water loss, and improve the overall appearance of the skin. It’s also good for your heart health; studies show that eating a small amount of dark chocolate two or three times each week can help lower your blood pressure. Dark chocolate improves blood flow and may help prevent the formation of blood clots.
Eating dark chocolate may also prevent arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). It can even make you happy! Dark chocolate also contains several chemical compounds that have a positive effect on your mood and cognitive health. Chocolate contains phenylethylamine (PEA), the same chemical your brain creates when you feel like you’re falling in love (this explains so much). PEA encourages your brain to release endorphins.
It’s also got several important vitamins and minerals:
- Potassium
- Copper
- Magnesium
- Iron
Chia Seeds
We’ve covered chia seeds before as a trendy health food, but there’s a lot to this seed’s story. There is a lot of buzz around chia’s weight loss power. Chia’s stabilizing effect on blood sugar also fights insulin resistance which can be tied to an increase in belly fat. This type of resistance can also be harmful to your overall health. Chia seeds are packed with soluble fiber and are high in antioxidants, calcium, iron, manganese, and phosphorous.
A unique property of chia seeds is the ability to hold up to 12 times its weight in water. Soaked for 30 mins, the seeds will form a gel-like substance. Researches believe this gel reaction also occurs in the stomach, forming a barrier, which means carbohydrates are broken down slowly. This makes the seeds popular among endurance athletes and also diabetics, who want a slow-release energy source, as well as for extra hydration.
Good Fatty Nuts
Nuts are a great source of healthy, unsaturated fats. It’s thought that the “good” fats in nuts — both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats — lower bad cholesterol levels. They also have omega-3 fatty acids in abundance, which are a healthy form of fatty acids that seem to help your heart by, among other things, preventing dangerous heart rhythms that can lead to heart attacks. Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in many kinds of fish, but nuts are one of the best plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids. All nuts also contain fiber, which helps lower your cholesterol, help you feel fuller, and is thought to play a role in preventing diabetes. Add in nuts’ supply of Vitamin E, plant sterols, and l-arginine, and your heart will stay pumping at maximum efficiency!
Ingredients
- 10 ounces 70% cocoa bittersweet dark chocolate
- 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
- ½ cup toasted walnut pieces
- ½ cup toasted pecan pieces
- ½ cup toasted almond slices
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
Directions:
- Combine chocolate and coffee, place over a double boiler, heating on a low flame while stirring until chocolate is 3/4 melted.
- Remove from heat and stir until smooth.
- Mix in the toasted nuts and chia seeds.
- Spread mixture on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and chill until mixture sets, about 30 minutes.
- Break into pieces and serve. Enjoy!
