This is AMAZING!!!! It requires a little more babysitting than I typically have time for but the stars aligned here & Bea slept through the constant stirring & checking, waking only when it was done. (Thanks, Bea!) Not only is this pretty to look at but it’s sooooooo tasty & full of veggies. A little something special. Next time I make this it will be for guests since it is such a labor of love. But still MUCH easier than I had expected…

Here’s what you need (more or less):

INGREDIENTS:
5 c low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (I used vegetarian chicken flavored bullion)
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP butter (unsalted if you have it)
1/2 large yellow onion, finely diced
3 carrots, peeled & finely diced
1 c asparagus, end snapped off & finely diced
1/2 c cauliflower pieces
1 c mushrooms, scrubbed & diced
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP olive oil (additional)
1 TBSP butter (additional)
1-1/2 c arborio rice
1-1/2 c dry white wine
1-1/2 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
1/2 c frozen peas
4 oz, goat cheese
1/2 c parmesan cheese
fresh dill for garnish
OPTIONAL: change out any veggies you like or have: broccoli, squash, bell peppers, zucchini

Let’s get started! You’ll be surprised how easy this is – I was a little intimidated to make a risotto after hearing about all the work but this wasn’t difficult at all. That said, it requires a lot more than a crock pot soup.

1. Dice onion & veggies. You want them diced finely & uniformly so they’ll cook evenly & quickly.

Which reminds me, when a recipe calls for “trimmed asparagus,” have you ever found that actually cutting it does NOT ensure the tough ends are gone? Try just snapping the end off wherever it naturally “wants” to snap. No more impossible to chew end!

Simmer broth in a small saucepan – keep it on low.

In a large pot, heat 2 TBSP of olive oil and then melt 2TBSP of butter into that.

Once it’s heated, add the diced onions, carrots. Stir & cook for 3 minutes.

Add asparagus, stir to coat & cook for another minute or so.

Yummmmm…

Add chopped mushrooms.

Add salt, stir to combine. Turnout veggies from pot onto a platter. (You’re going to use that same pot for the risotto so don’t clean it!)

Ok. Now, add the ADDITIONAL 2 TBSP olive oil to the pot/Dutch oven you just cooked the vegetables in. Heat on medium-low & add the ADDITIONAL 2 TBSP butter.

Add rice & stir (keeping heat on medium-low).

Cook for 1 minute.

Add 1/2 the wine and 1-1/2 tsp salt.

Now, get your stirrin’ hand ready. From now on you’ll be stirring a lot. Just an easy stir though – nothing too strenuous.

Stir the rice & wine every once in a while until the liquid has been absorbed. (I think you are supposed to stir constantly but I had to run and get something for Maddie or wash a dish etc. so I just stirred often.)

Here’s the liquid. You don’t want liquid. Rice wants liquid.

Now, keep adding 1 cup at a time of your simmering broth to the rice & stirring until it has been absorbed (before you add the next cup.) I think that was awkward writing. Just add a cup of the remaining broth (which is on LOW), keep stirring rice until the liquid has been absorbed. Now add another cup of broth & stir until THAT liquid has been absorbed. Capiche? This is the part that takes a while but you can do some other stuff in between stirs.

Taste your rice to see if it’s done. If it has too much bite to it, add more broth.

I didn’t actually use ALL my broth – I reserved a 1/2 c of broth to add later in case my final risotto was too thick.

Once all the liquid has been absorbed, add the peas and stir. Taste to check salt content. Add salt to taste.

Now for the REALLY yummy part: add the goat cheese & stir. It helps to slice it up a bit. I didn’t.

Add the parmesan cheese and

the vegetables

and stir to combine.

Holy smoke! Creamy, fresh & extra-special comfort food.

Who gave the baby a cupcake before dinner?

Source: Slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman.

During my salad-a-day month last March, my Canadian friend Kinga sent me this recipe. It’s a really popular dish named not after anything in the movie Porky’s but rather a ski bowl at Whitewater Ski Resort in Nelson, British Columbia. It took me a while to get over to Whole Foods for the nutritional yeast flakes. I had never heard of them & tried to never go to Whole Foods for various reasons. Also, when I read this recipe it sounded a little TOO healthy in that unsatisfying way some restaurant salads are. So I put it off.

Finally I had all the ingredients and decided to go for it. It’s SO WORTH IT!!!! SOOOOO WORTH IT!!!!! It’s amazing – something that looks like a pile of what G would call “Rabbit Food” but is so flavorful, satisfying & doesn’t weigh you down.

You’ve got to try this. Although it has a lot of components, the prep for each one is pretty simple.

Here’s what you need for the salad:

**NOTE: this makes enough for 8 people so you may want to halve it, which is what I did.**

SALAD INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 c cubed extra firm tofu (remember to press water out first!)
8 c hot cooked brown rice
2 c grated carrots
2 c grated beets
2 c packed baby spinach
2 c slivered or slice almonds, toasted

For the dressing:

and this:

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c nutritional yeast flakes
1/3 c soy sauce (or tamari)
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/3 c water
2 TBSP tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1-1/2 c vegetable oil

1. First, press your tofu. You can need to press it for about 15 minutes and can do that while making the dressing.

2. While that’s a-pressin’, add all your dressing ingredients to the blender & puree until creamy!

(Note: Properly stored, this can be kept for up to ONE week in the refrigerator.)

3. Cook your rice. I found this quick cook brown rice at Trader Joe’s. Takes about 10 mins instead of 45 mins so I did it! You can also find pre-cooked brown rice in the FREEZER section at Trader Joe’s. Just pop in micro for about 3 mins. That’s what I do when I’m in a crunch. **NOTE: if you’re using the regular brown rice – start this earlier according to how much time you need. You can always heat it up if you need to.**

4. Now prep your veggies. As you may or may not know (or care) I use a hand grater. Builds character.

5. Time to lightly pan fry that tofu! Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. I sprinkle a few pinches of salt over the tofu and turn when it’s golden brown. After all sides are lightly browned, drain on a paper towel lined plate.

6. Now for the fun part: ASSEMBLY! Add your rice layer in a nice sized bowl.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of dressing over the rice.

Top rice with spinach.

Add carrots & beets.

Now the almonds.

The tofu and about 3 more TBSP of the dressing.

Bea loved this dish! She doesn’t have that many teeth yet so she had some trouble chewing the spinach but she ate 2 bowls of this.

M ate only the rice.

Thanks, Kinga!

Source: Canadian Living Magazine

You know those days dinner sneaks up on you yet you STILL refuse to boil noodles again? This is the dish for those days…

Wait: isn’t couscous a form of pasta? D’OH!!!! At least some veggies have snuck in here. Or is it sneaked?

You need:

INGREDIENTS:
1 TBSP butter
2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 c pine nuts
1/2 c shallots (or onion if you have no shallots), finely chopped
1-1/2 c Israeli couscous
1/2 cinnamon stick (or 1/4 tsp cinnamon)
1 dried bay leaf
1-3/4 c vegetable broth (I used vegetarian chicken flavored bouillon)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c fresh parsley, minced
1/2 – 1 zucchini, finely chopped (OPTIONAL)
zest of 1/2 lemon
black pepper, to taste
small handful of crumbled feta cheese

NOTE: you can omit the zucchini or substitute any other veg you want to use up: broccoli, carrots, corn, frozen veg, greens (add these just before the broth as they need a shorter cooking time). Just be sure the veg is chopped finely.

This is so easy. I didn’t take pictures of the process as I was in a huge rush to feed the girls.

1. Over medium-low heat, melt butter in a large saucepan. Add pine nuts & stir until golden brown. WARNING: only a minute or two max! Remove from heat & put aside in a small bowl.

2. Using the same saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Saute shallots until golden (for about 3-4 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add zucchini or whatever other veg you have on hand! Cook for another minute or two. Add couscous, cinnamon stick and bay leaf, and stir often until couscous browns slightly. Yes, the couscous is uncooked when you first put it in!

3. Add broth, bring to a boil, then simmer covered on low until broth has been absorbed and couscous is tender.

4. Remove from heat and stir in parsley, pine nuts, lemon zest & feta. Season with black pepper to taste.

This is REALLY yummy and great the next day!

Maddie is on a high carb diet.

Guess where I got this? The back of the Trader Joe’s package!! I don’t trust these things normally but this is great. I just made a few adjustments.

This afternoon I wrestled two tiny heads of red cabbage out of the garden. They’d stayed about the same size for two weeks now so I assumed they were DONE. Since all I had in my cupboard were some carrots, onions and a ginormous bag of CA grown garlic (COSTCO!!! wink wink), I looked on the internets and found this mayo-less slaw. You remember a few weeks ago I posted a mayo-friendly broccoli slaw. G did not like that one. Here’s this one, G. Just for you, Baby!

You need:

Looks like I am plumb out of maple syrup but I had another full one in the cabinet. Also, forgot to put the sesame seeds in the pic.

INGREDIENTS:
Slaw
1/2 a red cabbage (I used a whole one since my cabbages were so teeny tiny), sliced thin
2 medium carrots, shredded (I used 4 small ones)
1 small onion, sliced thin
3 green onions, sliced
Dressing
2-1/2 TBSP rice vinegar
1 TBSP maple syrup
1 TBSP crushed red pepper (OR hot chili paste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP toasted sesame seeds

1. Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Taste and adjust anything to your wildest desires! It will be kind of thick due to the sesame seeds. Yum!

2. Combine slaw ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle 3/4ths of the dressing over it and toss to coat. Add more if desired!

3. Let your slaw sit for about 15 minutes before serving if you have the time!

TASTY!!!

Slightly adapted from Korean American Mommy.

Normally I spell yogurt without the “h” on account of I’m an American. But since I made it (the yog[h]urt) myself, I feel it needs an “h” to impart some sort of artisanal value to it.

What the #$@%??

Anyway – yog(h)urt how-to in next posting..

This can be a pretty spicy dish but the yogurt cuts the spice beautifully! Or you can halve the chili pepper amount. YUM I love this salad! Next time, when I’ll surely have my wits about me, I plan on serving it with the pilaf Yotam recommends. But at this point in life, I’m a single course meal type of gal.

Yotam tends to use “exotic” ingredients so I’ve adjusted this recipe to what I can get without visiting 3 more shops.

Here’s what you need:

and this:

INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs carrots, sliced into 1/2″ thick coins or semi-circles
1/3 c olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 tsp sugar
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 medium green chilies, finely chopped (I used Jalapeños)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sweet paprika (I didn’t have this so I omitted it)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 TBSP chopped preserved lemon (I used 2 TBSP lemon juice instead)
2-1/2 c cilantro leaves, chopped
Greek yogurt, chilled (I made my own yoghurt!)

1. Slice carrots into 1/2″ thick coins or semi-circles, for even cooking.

Put carrots in large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Carrots should be tender but crunchy.

2. In a large pan, heat the oil and sautee onion for about 12 minutes on medium until onion is browned. Be sure to stir every few minutes for even cooking.

3. Add everything else EXCEPT the cilantro & yogurt.

Stir and remove from heat. Salt to taste and allow to cool.

4. Just before serving stir in cilantro.

Serve in individual bowls with a dollop of yogurt.

Source: slightly adapted from “Plenty” by Yotam Ottolenghi