Barley Risotto with Roasted Butternut Squash

Oh my, is this recipe ever good!

I have wanted to try my hand at risotto for a very long time. But with babies in the house sure to have needs that would pull me away from the equally needy pot on the stove, I decided to wait until they were a little older.

Enter the October issue of Country Living magazine and this recipe.

Being a fan of barley and an even bigger fan of roasted butternut squash, and knowing that barley has a much higher fiber and protein content than rice, I was sold on the idea before I even read the rest of the page.

And I was not disappointed, even slightly. Yes, making the dish did involve much standing at the stove and stirring, but the result was SO worth it. The only changes I made were to leave out the lemon zest and replace the thyme (my patch in the herb garden being way past prime) with parsley, and I used grated Parmesan in place of the Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Give it a try... I dare you!