Family Meal: Risotto Recipe

This is such an easy recipe to throw together (and throw together is pretty much how I make it), as well as being healthy and one that we often make in our house. I first started making this as a simple mushroom risotto with sliced mushrooms and peas. It's quick and easy and apart from the mushrooms we often have all the ingredients available to hand. Now that we have kids we are always looking for ways of getting them to eat vegetables. Our now 2 year old was so good at eating just about anything, including my mushroom risotto, but like a lot of kids, has become more selective the older he's got. So I've changed the way I make the risotto so we can still keep it on our list of meals he'll eat that include vegetables (which isn't many).

Easy Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

This is probably my favourite soup to make and eat, I particularly love to eat it on a cold Autumn evening. Growing up I never was a big fan of soups. Now that I'm an adult I realise that the reason was probably because I either like a stew with big chunks of meat and veg or a soup which has been blended. So this is the perfect soup for me and I've had others who aren't a fan of soup tell me they love this recipe and even go back for a second helping.

This recipe was passed to me from a friend who lives in Australia, she makes the soup with pumpkin instead of butternut squash. You can make it with either, but it is harder to get pumpkin in the UK unless it's Halloween time, so I always make it with the squash. This is such a simple recipe, you could make a big batch and freeze portions.