Garden Risotto

Risotto is one of the most time consuming dishes I've ever made. Instead of just waiting around for it to cook, you are constantly at work, but it's worth it in the end. I found this recipe in The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger (currently at the Windansea house if you guys want to check out the real recipe). The main difference between risotto and normal rice is the type of rice used. The base of risotto is Arborio rice, which has a high starch content that it releases gradually with each cup of broth making risotto naturally creamy. My favorite thing about it is that the texture makes it seem really fatty, but it's actually not. Arborio rice isn't hard to find, but it's much more expensive than regular rice for some reason. Here's the recipe:

1/2 pound asparagus
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 lightly packed cups baby spinach leaves
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Microwave the asparagus in a tightly covered microwave-safe bowl with 1 teaspoon water for 90 seconds and cut into 3/4-inch pieces, removing the woody bottoms; set aside.

Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over moderately low heat and cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add wine and simmer, stirring constantly, until absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup of the hot broth, the salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper and simmer, stirring constantly, until broth is absorbed. Continue simmering and adding hot broth, about 3/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing the broth to be absorbed before adding more, until rice is almost tender and creamy-looking, about 18 minutes.

Add the spinach and peas and cook until the spinach is wilted. Add the asparagus and cook just until the vegetables are hot. Stir in the Parmesan and more broth if the risotto seems too thick. Serve in soup plates.


That 18 minutes of adding broth to the risotto little by little (which ends up being about a half hour every time I do it) seems like a long time, but it's important to let the broth absorb before you add the next ladle-full to avoid mushy risotto. A positive side of this is that you just opened up a bottle of white wine, so pour yourself a glass! For the vegetarians, I bet you could substitute vegetable broth without changing the taste much. The combination of vegetables she chooses go really well together and the quantity makes this recipe nice and healthy. Also, sauteed mushrooms or garlic might be additions worth playing around with, but I haven't tried either.

I MADE BREAD

After 5 hours of hard work, here are the first loaves of bread I have ever made!! Too bad no one is home to share this glorious moment with me :(

It's delicious!! Here's an incentive to come over and also bring a fantastic dish of your own tonight ;)

Library Food

I'd like to study in the library more. I'm generally more productive there than in my usual study spot on my bed, but there are a few reasons why I'm not there too often. The one I'm going to address here is food. Either because my brain is working hard and burning calories or as a response to stress, studying makes me hungry so I eat really often. It's convenient to be able to go to my kitchen and pour a bowl of cereal, make a sandwich, or get a little more fancy if I feel the urge. Packing good food for the library would probably increase my efficiency, but I have a lot of trouble deciding what to bring.

Challenge #1: Noise level

A lot of convenient food is loud to eat and so much packaged food is loud to open. Baby carrots are one of my favorite study food for at home but the worst for the library. Eat those on the sixth floor in Geisel and you might get thrown through a window. Apples, pita chips, dry cereal, crackers, and most other food I would think to bring with me fall under this category.

Challenge #2: Packability

You need to find something that you can throw into your bag or backpack that wont get smushed and can be shaken around a bit. A pear, strawberries, or grapes would avoid the noisiness factor but could be damaged on transport if you're not careful. In addition, it has to be something that you can eat at room temperature. Leftover pasta or pizza are in this group if you're like me and prefer them warm.

Challenge #3: Cleanliness

First of all, there are rules about what kind of food you can eat in the library. My freshman year, I saw a student sent out of the library and forced to eat their salad outside. I haven't witnessed anything of the sort since then, but it's a good idea to be respectful and leave the place clean when you leave it. Most of the food that comes to mind here already wouldn't pass the packability test anyways, but anything that produces lots of crumbs like toast or any large, juicy fruit that you eat with your hands like watermelon or peaches is a poor choice.


Soulution #1: Mixed nuts and dried fruit. Make your own with soft nuts that won't be loud when you eat them or get one of those mixes from Trader Joe's.

Solution #2. Sandwich. Make sure it's not one that will fall apart or get soggy.

Solution #3: Fruit salad in a tupperware container. This would be perfect in the spring when melons are coming into season. I don't think it would be messy, but it's against Geisel's rules to eat something like this, so do so vigilantly. Don't forget to bring a fork.

Solution #4: Cereal with milk. If you like it soggy, it gets much quieter to eat as long as you're not a slurper. Pour milk over your cereal and let it sit for a while before you eat it. This is also against the rules, and the more I think about it, the worse idea it seems. I just really like cereal.

Solution #6: Couscous salad. See the recipe for the one I make after I post it. Ok, so pretty much all of these are against the rules.

Solution #7: Mahi's cold noodles. Rules, shmules.

Solution #8: Banana bread. Take extra bananas from a tournament a couple weeks before, let them get overripe, and then get baking. If the bananas are too hard when you want to make it, leave a few in a brown bag together and let the gas they release ripen them faster.


Looks like I didn't come up with much that actually meets all of my challenges, but please add to my list. Now that most of you are just getting out of finals studying mode, I'm hoping you have some good ideas. Actually, screw this. It's Spring Break! Sorry I made you read about studying. I only posted it because it took me so long to write.

Giving The Fans What They Want

After finals, what do you want me to blog about? Here some of my recent creations to choose from:




Chicken Tacos with Homemade Guacamole








Imitation Summit Stir-fry









Sauteed Cinnamon Apples atop Apple Toast









Thai Peanut Noodles with Chicken and Vegetables









Tomato-Spinach Pasta Sauce









Spinach and Cream Cheese Pasta









Garden Risotto









Fresh Couscous Salad









Sweet Couscous Salad









Carrot Cake









Karishma's Birthday Cake

Carrot Cake!

So I'm finally getting around to making my first post .. this is way overdue but better late than never! I made this carrot cake a few weeks ago, and it was delicious! Also the applesauce and pineapple are good substitutes for otherwise fatty ingredients; they also make the cake really moist.


INGREDIENTS:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp pumpkin-pie spice (make your own: 1/2 tsp cinammon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp allspice or ground cloves, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 large eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 cup nonfat sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups finely grated carrots (about 1 lb, I'd recommend a food processor if you have one; it's really annoying to have to grate it all by hand but doable)
- 1 can (8-oz) crushed pineapple in juice, drained

FROSTING:
- 12 oz fat-free cream cheese
- 2 tbsp nonfat sour cream
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

Grate carrots first and set them aside! Coat two 9-inch round baking pans with cooking spray. Dust with flour and tap out excess. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, whisk first five ingredients. In a large separate bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed (or super fast hand mixing), beat together oil, sugars and applesauce for 3 minutes. Beat in eggs and egg whites for 1 minute, then sour cream and vanilla for another minute. Reduce to low and gradually beat in flour mixture. Fold in carrots and pineapple.

Divide batter between the two pans, bake for 25-30 minutes (or use the toothpick trick). Cool in pans on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove cake from pans and completely cool.

Meanwhile: in a large bowl, beat together frosting ingredients until smooth. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with 3/4 cup frosting, top with second cake layer. Spread top and sides with remaining frosting. Chill one hour to allow frosting to set (I couldn't wait for this; the cake is delicious fresh out of the oven!!).

Jane happened to make a cheesecake the same week! Hers was also delicious; maybe you can post yours up so we can have a Combined Carrot Cake Concoction post :)

Patton Snacks

Sorry for the lack of posting, we have been cooking but with the addition of a new family member i haven't been on the computer any. Anyway, i'm sure you guys will never cook this but i had to put it up because Patton loves them :]

Mix 2 cups of mashed potatos, 2 cups of milk, 1 cup chicken stock, and 2 cups of chunky peanut butter together in a sauce pan. They won't become homogenous yet, you just want them all together. Add heat and bring to a boil. You will notice that the mixture will become homogeneous as you slowly apply heat but be sure to mix occaisionally because it will stick to your pan if you don't. Once it starts to boil, remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. I suggest leaving the pot outside for 20 minutes, just watch for ants and shit getting into it.

Mix one package of active yeast and 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. Once the yeast dissolves add it to the room temperature peanut butter mix. Add 3 eggs and mix well. Gradually add 3.5 cups of flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup rye flour, and 1 cup cornmeal. Keep kneading the mixture as you add the flour and you should see it turn into the consistency of dough. Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake at 300 F for 40 minutes. Break into pieces.

I tried the peanut butter mixture and it was a really weird taste with the potatos. But the final product did not have any taste of potato which makes me believe they were there for consistency sake. Peanut butter and wheat flour dominate the taste. Patton loves them (most probably because of the peanut butter) but they are kinda dry so he doesn't like them after exercise. Its actually really good he likes them so much cuz the recipe made almost 250 pieces and we feed him 1/2 piece at a time. :]

peace!

Hot salad

Here's a 10-minute healthy meal I whipped up for brunch:

Ingredients (serves 1):

• Olive oil
• 1 zucchini
• Diced onions
• 1 potato
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 1 cup baby spinach
• Balsamic vinegar
• Pine nuts
  

Directions:

Sauté the diced onions in olive oil. Cut the potato in thin slices and add to the skillet. When the potato is just about cooked, add in the zucchini. It's important to add the zucchini after the potato because potatoes take longer to cook and the zucchini will burn if added in the other order. Once both the zucchini and potato slices are ready, add in half a cup of shredded cheese. The cheese will melt almost instantly. I added some herbs for flavor, but the dish will still taste good sans seasoning. Transfer the food to a dish and top it with baby spinach. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar and pine nuts on top to put the finishing touches on the dish. Et voila! C'est fini!

I apologize for not having a picture; it looked and smelled so good that I devoured it immediately.