Rosemary Scented Butternut Squash Risotto with Roasted Red Peppers and Black Olives

This is a variation of a recipe that my daughter sent to me. She got her recipe from a great vegan site: http://www.theveganfoodie.wordpress.com/. I have kept it vegan, but added a few things to my own taste. It's really delicious!I served this with Olive Ciabatta artisan bread.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into one inch cubes
5.5 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cup chopped shallots
1 cup ripe black olives, oil curred
1/2 jar (150 ml) fire roasted red peppers
1 sprig of fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried rosemary
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 plus 3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp olive oil margarine
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp freshly grated black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Place cut squash on baking sheet and toss with 2 tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes or until tender.
2. In the meantime, heat veggie broth (you can microwave this in a medium sized bowl).
3. In a heavy-bottomed pot heat 3 tbsp olive oil. Add shallots and garlic and saute 8 minutes (until translucent not brown).
4. Add rice & saute 2 minutes.
5. Add wine & cook 2 minutes. Add rosemary. Add a ladle or 2 of vegetable broth & stir. Cook until rice becomes almost dry. Keep adding 2 ladles of broth & stir every 2 minutes (at least).
6. When rice is 3/4 of the way done add margarine; squash; peppers & olives. Stir to blend.
7. Cook & stir until rice is al dente (should take about 30 minutes).

Italian Sausage and Peppers with Roasted Asparagus

To make the Italian Sausage and Peppers, you can use either sweet or hot sausage, green or red sweet peppers, or a combination. To take the heat up to another level (which we prefer) add a tsp of dried hot chili peppers as you are cooking the sausage. You can prepare the sausage ahead of time, refrigerate it, and add it to the pan of stir fry veggies when you are ready to eat. I prefer to cut the sausage links in thirds before cooking them. The recipe for roasted asparagus is at the bottom.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds hot or sweet Italian sausage links, pricked with fork
1/4 cup water
2 large green or red peppers, cut into 3/4 inch wide strips
2 large onions, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
1 garlic clove, finely chopped (I used 2 cloves)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp dried hot chili peppers

1. In 12 inch skillet, heat sausage links and water to boiling over medium heat. Remember to add the chili peppers if you are using them. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Remove cover and cook, turning sausages frequently, until water is evaporated and sausages are well browned, about 20 minutes longer. With tongs, transfer sausages to paper towel to drain.

2. Pour off all but one tbsp of fat from skillet ( I didn't find I had any fat in the pan so I added one tbsp of olive oil). Add peppers, onions, garlic and salt; cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender.

3. Add sausage to the peppers and onions; heat through.

For the roasted asparagus, preheat oven to 425F. In small bowl, combine a couple of tbsps olive oil; 1 tsp lemon rind, grated; finely chopped garlic clove, sprinkling of salt and 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper. Wash and clean a bunch of asparagus, removing barky stalks at bottom. Lay asparagus stalks out on a cookie sheet & drizzle olive oil mixture over stalks, tossing lightly. Roast for 10-15 minutes.