Butternut Squash Orzo

Fun news:  Ron recently purchased the domain name for me so I now officially own "PB and Graham."  That's pretty cool.  Thanks Ron!  Loves!

Finals are here so that means that I haven't been spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  Most of my time has been sitting in front of my computer with a book in front of me.  I guess it's good that I'm not spending time in the kitchen because I'm certainly not getting any exercise!  I've been using up things that I've had in the kitchen to avoid going outside in the frigid temperatures and I had some leftover butternut squash from the wild rice salad.  I found a recipe to puree the squash and mix it with orzo.  It turned out to be pretty good and a fun lunch idea.  It did remind me of macaroni and cheese, but without all of the cheese.  You can easily adapt it to whatever you like.  Add more cheese after the pasta is done.  Substitute different spices.  Season more as you go.  I added some green beans and cherry tomatoes to mine to incorporate some additional textures.  The original recipe included bacon but I didn't have any on hand.  Maybe Ron would've eaten it had I left the bacon in.

Butternut Squash Orzo
adapted from We are Not Martha
Ingredients

• 1/2 butternut squash
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 small white onion
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 C chicken broth
• 1 C orzo, fully cooked
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Cut your squash in half and clean the seeds and membrane out of the half you are using.  Put the squash, onion, and garlic on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes, until veggies are tender.
3. While veggies are roasting, cook orzo according to package directions.  After draining orzo, stir in 1/2 cup parmesan cheese until evenly distributed and melted.
4. Remove veggies from oven and let cool for a few minutes.  Remove skin from squash and add squash, onion, garlic and 1/2 C of chicken broth to food processor.  Puree, add more chicken broth if you want a thinner puree.
5. Mix the puree in with the orzo.  Stir in additional ingredients as desired, including extra seasoning.  Serve with some pine nuts and extra parmesan cheese!