This Macaroni Monday post comes to you from my pre-Jemma photo archives.  I made this back in January and I just realized I never shared it.  I guess I got preoccupied with pictures like this, instead!

Sorry, just had to share!

Anyway, on to the food, which is the real reason you are here, right?  I started by taking the top off of a head of garlic and slicing up a butternut squash.

I mixed together some olive oil and rosemary to brush on the squash.

Once the squash was coated, I put it in the oven at 400*.  

In the meantime, I melted butter in our cast iron skillet.  There are few things that smell better than hot butter!

I added tons and tons of sliced onions to caramelize.

It's crazy how small and tasty they get!

I took the onions out of the pan and added in more butter.  I used it to wilt down arugula.

I added in the cooked butternut squash and roasted garlic.

The tastiest part was the Parmesan cheese!

The whole concoction sat on top of macaroni and was perfect!

This post was shared on Simple Lives Thursday!

Continuing with our soup trend, the next thing I made was Butternut Squash soup.  It was made easy because I chopped up the onions, carrots, and celery when I made yesterday's soup.  

I sauteed onions, carrots, celery, and sweet potatoes in bacon grease.  

I added in a jar of butternut squash, and a ton of chicken broth and brought it to a simmer.  Just before it was time to serve it, I added in some raw milk, cinnamon, and sea salt.  

The verdict? Not too pretty to look at, decent taste.  Nothing I would make again, but it served a purpose. 

Fall is hands-down my favorite season.  The beautiful colors on the trees, the gorgeous blue of the sky, the air that you just want to take a bite out of... The list goes on and on!

The awesome fall produce is definitely a perk to the season (as is being able to see the lake from my front window!).  Last fall John and I went Apple Picking and had SO MUCH FUN.  This fall's first produce meal is Butternut Squash, Risotto Style... MMMmmMMMmm.....

I saw the recipe in a cookbook from the library and knew right then and there I had to have it.  The only little itty bitty problem?  Apparently I didn't have the ingredients I thought I had.

The recipe called for 1.5 cups of Arborio Rice.  I had barely a cup.  The recipe called for a rind of Parmesan cheese.  Apparently I had a rind of another (cheddar?  goat?).  The recipe called for 2.5 cups of butternut squash, peeled and sliced.  I had a bit more.

Yeah.  I had a lot more. 

So the recipe.  The original recipe is in "Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks" by Linda Carucci and looks amazing.  My version?  It was okay.  Not bad for what I had. 

Not pictured?  The rice flour used to make up for the fact that I was missing enough rice.

An onion was chopped finely and added to a buttery pan.

While they softened, I chopped WAY TOO MUCH butternut squash in the food processor.

2 cups of said squash were added to the softened onions, along with some sage and sea salt.

For perspective, let me show you what the food processor looked like with the 2 cups of squash removed.

Right.  Too much squash.

So the seasoned onion and squash warmed up and the squash started to get sticky.  At that point, I added some chicken stock to the pan and brought it to a boil.

When the squash started to break down and get all mushy, I added the rice and what I THOUGHT were Parmesan rinds.  John informed me later that night that they were not.  I don't know WHAT kind of cheese they were. 

As it cooked, I kept adding chicken stock.  Unfortunately, when it was done, it needed to be thicker.  I thought quickly and remembered we had some rice flour in the pantry.  Just the thing!

It was stirred in and thickened it right up.  Whew!

Eventually it was alllll done.  

Once some Balsamic Vinegar was drizzled on top, it was good to go!

The verdict?  Even with the... issues, it was yummy!