Guest Author - Dennise Ziaja

The holidays are quickly approaching , and not only are winter snowbird destinations in the south and west filling up quickly, families are planning the never ending feasts that we all love about this time of the year. We have at least one major Thanksgiving potluck at the park to attend, several church suppers after tree decorating and caroling, and possibly as many as 6 (yep 6!) invitations for happy hour gatherings where attendees bring an appetizer or “finger” food. RVer’s love to get-together at someone’s rig, set up a huge seating area and pass around some great noshing foods to accompany that afternoon cocktail, glass of wine or frosty iced tea.

I have so many favorite pot luck dishes, I could probably write a book. It is hard to decide what to make, and keeping a lot of stuff on hand at holiday time really becomes a hassle in a small space like a motorhome, fifth wheel or travel trailer. And since I refuse to stop obsessively making Christmas cookies and treats for family and friends, our rig becomes a virtual holiday bake shop from November 1 to at least the day after Christmas. To save time and space, I need to plan ahead of time what we will be bringing to the afternoon cocktail parties and to the major potluck. Nothing is worse than having to run to the very busy grocery store several times over a few days and fight holiday traffic. We are lucky at our park as we can sign up early to bring a specific food item, say dinner rolls or a bowl of mashed potatoes. This makes shopping easy and planning a snap. For the house parties and finger food, I stick with simple veggie trays or cheese and cracker platters. Everyone likes both of these easy to handle finger foods and the varieties available in the local supermarkets are usually good, especially around the holidays.

Here is the dish I will be bringing to the Thanksgiving pot luck at the park’s meeting hall. I was late getting my name on the list, so I didn’t have a lot of choice as to what I could bring…the only categories left were potato or rice dishes and cranberry or pickle relishes! This is a recipe I have wanted to try for quite a while, and now I have a large crowd to give me feedback!

Butternut Squash Risotto
.
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
Kosher salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth, mixed with 1/2 cup water and heated
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, plus more for garnish (optional)

1. In a medium heavy-bottom saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add squash; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until edges soften, 6 to 8 minutes.
2. Add rice; stir to coat. Add wine; cook until almost all liquid has evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low; add 1/2 cup hot broth mixture. Cook, stirring, until almost all liquid is absorbed. Add remaining broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding more, 35 to 40 minutes total.
4. Stir in Parmesan, sage, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Serve immediately, garnished with more Parmesan and sage, if desired.

Hubby is not happy with my choice of side dishes. He mumbled something about "fru fru" yuppie-food-TV-recipes and then whined about how much he loved my mashed potatoes with butter, sour cream and cream cheese. I told him that we needed to expand our food horizons and to perhaps expand our palettes to appreciate more sophisticated cuisine rather than the high fat and calorie laden dishes from our past. Ok he mumbled then grabbed the bag of Fritos and went back to watching football. Sigh.