Risotto Primavera Recipe

Wednesday Dinners have been moved to Tuesdays now to accommodate our new cooking buddy - J! J is taking dance classes up in San Francisco on Wednesdays (boy has moves!). Chef on Tuesday. Dancer on Wednesday. Here's our attempt at The Pioneer Women's Risotto Primavera. The end result was very tasty - we all ended up eating a lot more rice than we typically do. Props to people making risottos regularly - I had to pass the stirrer over to Alan for the home stretch.


Ingredients

• 5 cups chicken broth 
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced 
• 3 carrots, diced 
• 1/2 cup cauliflower 
• 1/2 cup broccoli 
• 4 oz mushroom 
• 1 yellow squash, diced 
• 2 tsp salt
• 1.5 cups Arborio rice 
• 1.5 cups dry white wine 
• 4 oz goat cheese
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• green onion

Instructions

1. Pour chicken broth into small saucepan. Heat to simmer. 
2. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp butter. 
3. Add diced onions and carrots. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. 
4. Add cauliflower. Cook for 1 minute. 
5. Add broccoli. Cook for 30 seconds. 
6. Add squash and mushrooms. Cook for 30 seconds. 
7. Sprinkle salt. Stir. Remove from pan and set aside. 
8. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to the pan. Heat over medium-low heat. 
9. Add rice and stir, cooking for 1 minute. Add half the wine and 1.5 tsp salt. Stir and cook until liquid is absorbed
10.  Over next 30-45 minutes, add 1 cup of broth at a time, stirring and cooking until each addition of broth is absorbed. 
11. Add other half of wine and cook until absorbed. 
12. Taste to make sure rice is the right texture; add another helping of broth if rice has too much bite to it.
13. Once rice is cooked, remove from heat. Stir in goat cheese, Parmesan, and vegetables until all goat cheese is combined.
14. Serve with green onion on top.  

Source: The Pioneer Woman

Nutella-Stuffed Browned Butter Chocolate Chips Sea Salt Cookies

J found this amazing recipe and made the trek over to my place that evening to try it out. I got impatient and didn't allow the cookies to sit long enough, so it was a bit difficult to roll them into balls. Nonetheless, the end result was amazzzinnngg - the final touch of sea salt - perfection.

Ingredients 

• 2¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp of salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp plain Greek yogurt
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup milk chocolate chips
• Nutella
• Sea salt

Instructions 

1. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt until combined. 
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, brown butter and set aside to cool.
3. Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. 
4. Mix in egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until incorporated. 
5. Gradually add the dry ingredients until combined. 
6. Fold in chocolate chips.
7. Place cookie dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours to let the flavors meld together.
8. Preheat the oven to 350F. 
9. Roll 1½ tbsp of dough and flatten the dough to make a flat circle. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled Nutella in the middle then place another flat circle of cookie dough on top. Crimp edges to seal.
10. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and bake 9-11 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
11. Sprinkle with sea salt and let cool on wire racks.

Source: The Bite Sized Baker

P.S. I realized that I have a lot of J friends. I should find a way to start distinguishing J from J from J. HAHA

Candy Corn Jello Shots

J's Teaser Pic (see Jello Shots on bottom left)

Made these for my Halloween party and J's "End of Summer BBQ."

Ingredients 
Milk Layer (used for both white & yellow layers)

• 2/3 cup water
• 2 envelopes Knox gelatin
• 1/2 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz can)
• 1/3 cup whipped cream flavored vodka

Orange Layer

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 envelope Knox gelatin
• 1 box orange flavored gelatin dessert mix (sugar free dissolves faster!)
• 1/2 cup whipped cream flavored vodka

Instructions

1. Pour water in small saucepan and add in gelatin. Allow to soak for 1-2 minutes. 
2. Heat on low heat for about 5 minutes, or until gelatin fully dissolved. 
3. Remove from heat and stir in sweetened condensed milk. 
4. Stir in vodka. 
5. Fill containers with white layer and place in refrigerator.
6. Repeat steps 1-2 for orange layer.
7. Add the orange gelatin mix and stir until fully dissolved. 
8. Remove from heat and stir in vodka. 
9. Remove containers from refrigerator. Fill containers with orange layer and place back in refrigerator. 
10. Repeat steps 1-4. Stir in a few drops of yellow food coloring. 
11. Fill containers with yellow layer and place in refrigerator.

 Source: Jelly Shot Test Kitchen

Chargers' Rivers, Cowgirl, Charlie Brown