I'm introducing a new series that I'm calling "Wingin' It!".

This is actually an old idea that I had a long time ago,

but I'm finally implementing it,

and it's basically I'm gonna just make some food

based on what I have in my pantry.

Today it's gonna be a pumpkin risotto.

Basically I was just getting like so stressed out

over what to make every week.

I'm a Gemini, I don't know if that tells you anything,

lot of indecisiveness going on

within my brain and my heart, so it's such a relief to me

to just be like, "Okay, I'm just gonna like decide

"what to make based on what we have in the pantry."

It'll probably be good, I'll be honest with you,

not that this will be S-H-I-T,

it'll be D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S, right?

High-five, I'm just gonna make this

go right into the camera, like pow.

(upbeat electronic music)

So let's go to the pantry and see if we actually have

everything that we need to make a butternut squash risotto.

Did I say pumpkin risotto before?

I don't remember, dang it.

Look, we have Arborio rice,

and look, a butternut squash.

I guess I got the squash at the farmer's market

like two weeks ago, it's got a little bit of a spot on it.

I'm gonna cut that off, I don't care,

it's fine, it's totally fine.

I also need to get an onion.

Ooh, I hope I have onion.

Don't look in my fridge, I mean you are looking

in my fridge, it's kinda messy.

Oh, okay, so I don't have white wine but I have sherry.

I'm gonna try that.

This is totally like I'm turning into my grandma,

I have sherry but not white wine.

All right, so I did a video many, many moons ago

about just how to do a basic risotto.

So I'm just gonna kind of use that,

I'm gonna start out with some onion,

let's see, let's chop up some onion.

I wanna chop it up pretty small

'cause I like when it just ends up sort of

dissolving into the risotto.

Am I pronouncing that right?

You know what, I think I'm not gonna use a peeler on this,

I'm just gonna do it with my knife.

Don't cut your fingers off, for heaven's sake.

So I like to separate the shaft from the bulb.

Oh my gosh, these onions are making my eyes water.

You guys, I'm crying.

Oh yeah, so I'm gonna go a little bit deeper

on this little weird spot.

Oh, a little bit deeper.

Oh, gonna have to go a little bit deeper still, hang on.

We'll get there.

There we go, dang, man, organic produce,

what a ripoff, I'm just kidding.

I do try to buy organic produce,

not only for the Earth but also

for the people that work in the fields.

Chris and I did a video series for Tastemade years ago

called "Hilah's Texas Kitchen",

and one of my favorite videos that we did

was we went down to South Texas

and we met with an organic citrus grapefruit farmer,

and he had been, you know, like his family

had had this orchard or whatever since like he was a kid,

and he said, "In the '70s,"

and he had worked on it his whole life,

and he said, "In the '70s, Texas A&M University came,

"and they wanted to do a study on farm workers

"to see how much pesticide residue

"was in their bloodstream,"

and he had been, you know, working on the farm

since he was a child, and I think he was like a teenager,

like 17 or something when they came and did the study.

He said that literally the pesticide residue

in his bloodstream was "Off the charts," he said,

I don't what kind of chart they had at the time,

but that really, like, I don't know,

that really affected both Chris and I.

So anyway, not to get all like preachy and stuff about it,

but that is actually a big reason

why I do try to buy organic produce.

Okay, I'm gonna scoop the seeds out,

and you know, I mean, I hope that you know,

that any kind of winter squash,

like acorn squash or butternut squash,

and actually butternut squash is really delicious,

any kind of seeds can be that roasted

like you do pumpkin seeds, I've got a video on that too,

but lately, actually, I've not been doing it in the oven,

I've just been rinsing them off and kind of pat them dry,

and then just fry them in a skillet in some oil,

and I like it much better that way,

so you can try that too if you like.

And I'm gonna keep all the like juicy bits of the seed stuff

aside here 'cause it's got a lot of flavor

and a lot of color, that was so loud,

and it's got a lot of color, which I like for this dish,

or at least I think I'm gonna like it.

As I said, I haven't actually made this before,

I am just making it up.

But this is like what I would do if it was dinnertime

and I was like, "Oh, what am I gonna make?

"I have butternut squash and some rice."

So anyway, I'm sure this is a familiar thing

for most of y'all, I bet a lot of y'all

don't cook with recipes every night,

and you just like figure it out.

That's what makes cooking so creative.

Next step is we're gonna go to the stove

and saute some onion with some rice,

then you'll just have to wait and see.

Whoa, cliffhanger.

Well fancy meeting you here, over here by my stove.

Okay, so I've got some vegetable broth here,

you could use chicken broth,

but I had some vegetable broth so I'm gonna use that,

and I'm gonna add my butternut squash to my broth,

which a lot of recipes want you to roast it,

but that seems like a waste of energy and time.

So while that's happening, I'm just gonna like

let that come to a boil, 'cause that's the trick,

is you want to make sure that your stock

is simmering as you add it to the rice.

So let's get some E-V-O-O in here,

what's up Rachael Ray, did I ever tell y'all

like I used to watch Rachael Ray religiously

like when she kinda first started

and just had her like "30 Minute Meals" show?

I would wake up, so I have chronic insomnia,

which is super fun, I would wake up

at like three or four in the morning,

and just go watch like Rachael Rae reruns

and plan my menu for the week, and make a grocery list.

This was when I was like 25,

I was in like prime party mode,

but still a major dork.

I mean, I partied, but I also did dorky stuff like that.

But anyway, I just, I love her, I think she's so cute.

Okay, so I also minced up some garlic

when you weren't looking, sorry about that,

but you know how to do that, right?

And I'm gonna add that,

and then we're just gonna let this cook together

and get kinda nice and soft,

soft and doughy like my entire abdomen

after I had a child.

Just kidding, hey, what's up moms,

you know what I'm talking about.

It's okay, I love my body.

Even like that Elvira video,

like I thought I looked pretty hot,

and then when I was watching the video,

I was like, "Oh, I look like,

"I can see like fat rolls and stuff,"

but I don't care, I just don't care anymore.

What a relief, how amazing.

Whoa, this is like becoming an online journal

where I like talk about my feelings.

I started seeing a therapist,

I mean, I've seen therapists before,

but I started seeing a new therapist,

talking about my feelings a lot.

It's been good.

Okay, so I'm gonna add a little bit of salt to this

to help these onions soften up.

It'll kinda draw some of the water out.