That is what are lives are full of right now! My sweet Dancing Daughter is out to break her cookie record and our house is full of cookies! Ack!
Little Man is completely confounded by the boxes and MAD that he can't get into them! My sweet Hubby is calmly dealing with the mess, but I HAVE to get the cookies out of the house fast.
My dear Mom came this weekend and picked up her many, many boxes and we had a great weekend. I sent her home with a Fruity share of organic produce! That's my new venture...
Annie's Organic Produce Buying Club! I am a coordinator. I receive a shipment once a week, sort it into shares for the members and take care of payments/communication/etc. I. Am. Loving. It! We are getting amazing fruits, veggies and milk! We get one full share a week gratis for my efforts! Yay! I am feeding my Eggs lots of new dishes and using veggies that we wouldn't normally purchase. So far, we have had Butternut Squash, Swiss Chard, Zucchini and Leeks. This past week I made a yummy homemade minestrone! And all the Eggs liked it! Papaw and Grammie Egg even liked it! (Papaw is a staunch Meat-and-potato man so I was PROUD!)
Here is one of the recipes I made this past week! (I will include my notes after the recipe!)
Asparagus and Crimini Mushroom Risotto
(by tableandspoon.com with my modifications)
- 1 bunch of asparagus, chopped into one inch pieces
- 1 cup (or so) of crimini mushrooms, sliced and quartered
- 3-4 TBSP of Olive Oil, divided
- One large Yellow Onion, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 cup Arborio Rice
- 3 Cups Vegetable or Chicken Broth
- 1 Cup Water
- Fresh Parmesan
- Salt and Pepper
Chop the asparagus in about 1″ pieces, discarding the tough ends at the bottom. (To just get rid of the dry ends, hold them in your hand and bend. The bottom part that snaps off is the dry part to toss or use in veggie stock!) Slice the Crimini Mushrooms in quarters. (Don’t wash your mushrooms!!! They soak up water. Wet a paper towel and wipe the dirt off… who knew!)
Heat a medium non-stick pan heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. I always flick a tiny bit of water. When it snaps, your pan is hot enough. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the asparagus and a little salt and pepper and sauté with the mushrooms another 4-5 minutes until the asparagus are green and crisp but not overdone. Set aside.
Get another larger, non-stick pan ready. Heat the rest of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for about 7 minutes, or until the onion softens. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan combine broth and water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat just slightly keep warm over low heat. Add the garlic and rice together with the onion and sauté about 1-2 minutes.
When your broth is hot and you’ve sautéed the onion, garlic and rice, add 1/2 cup of the broth to the rice, onion and garlic mixture. Gently and continuously stir the rice until the broth is mostly absorbed. (DO NOT LEAVE YOUR RISOTTO ALONE! It doesn’t play well by itself!) Once the broth is absorbed add another 1/2 cup and repeat. Keep repeating the adding and the stirring until all the broth is gone. This *should* take about 30 minutes (if it takes you two and a half hours, your heat is too low.) Try out a couple pieces of rice. If they are still a little tough you can add a bit more water and stir it in. When you feel good about the consistency of the risotto add the mushroom/asparagus combo, the juice of half of a lemon and the chopped dill. (I forgot the lemon and didn’t have the dill… it was still amazing!) Cook on medium for 3-5 minutes while still occasionally stirring. Salt and Pepper to taste. Top it off with a little Parm to your liking!
The whole crew LOVED it. I actually doubled the broth, water and rice so I would have plenty for leftovers! I used half with the asparagus and mushrooms, but I made spinach risotto with the other half! Easy-peasy! I put a HUGE bunch of clean, dry baby spinach in a bowl and dumped the hot risotto on top. The heat wilted the spinach and both my Little Man and Dancing Daughter preferred it! Success!
Well... it only took me 3 days to finish this post. lol Here is hoping I can get better about this whole blogging thing!
