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

Pork Chop by Chef J

Korean Beef with Rice

A just got back from his two-week Asia trip with his friend - finally back from our hiatus! This also meant he was two weeks behind at work since no one took over his projects. Alas, we picked another simple recipe. Simple, but delicious!

Korean Beef over Rice

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef 
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup brown sugar 
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp ginger, minced
• 1/2 tsp crushed red peppers
• salt and pepper
• green onion
• rice

Instructions

1. In large skillet, add garlic and sesame oil.Stir in ground beef, cook until browned.
2. Drain most of the beef fat. 
3. Add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt, pepper and red peppers. 
4. Simmer for a minute. 
5. Serve over rice. 
6. Garnish with green onion. Enjoy!

Source: ElizabethBryant

Chicken & Waffles Recipe

I recently learned that my roommate has a waffle maker - my mind went straight to Chicken and Waffles! My friend M got a deep fryer for K and me during Christmas last year, so it was perfect. However, he forgot to bring it, so alas, I resorted to the good ol' stove top.

Ingredients
For Chicken:

• 2 lbs chicken (I used drumsticks, but thighs work too)
• 3 cups water 
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon 
• 2 tsp seasoned salt 
• 1 tsp herbs (I used oregano, thyme, basil)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup flour 
• Crisco/Vegetable Oil 

For Waffles:

• 1 lb bacon (optional) 
• 1 3/4 cups flour 
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 cups milk 
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• Syrup

Instructions
For Fried Chicken:

1. Combine water and salt. Cover chicken with mixture for 1 hour. 
2. Combine herbs, garlic powder, seasoned salt, chicken bouillon, and pepper. Mix in flour. 
3. Remove chicken from water. Dip chicken into flour mixture and coat well. Let chicken sit for 5 minutes. 
4. Melt Crisco until 1 inch keep in skillet or pan. Heat to 375 degrees. 
5. Fry chicken, turning once every 5 minutes - be sure to cook chicken until done. 
• Alternatively, preheat oven to 375. Fry chicken for 5 minutes on each side. Let rest on paper towel to allow excess oil to drip off. Place chicken into oven to finish cooking. 
• Or you can take the easy route out like we did - after frying, microwave to ensure center is fully cooked. 
6. Rest chicken on paper towel until ready to eat. 

For Waffles:

1. Cook bacon until crisp. Drain. Crumble, and set aside. 
2. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking power, and salt. 
3. In a larger bowl, beat egg yolks, milk, and butter. 
4. Stir dry ingredients into large bowl until smooth. 
5. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. 
6. Add bacon (optional). 
7. Before making each waffle, stir batter. 
8. Follow instructions for waffle maker. 
9. Enjoy! 

Source: CopyKat | Taste of Home

Dan Dan Mien

My friend K told me about this recipe, A and I went right to it for our weekly Wednesday dinner. The recipe was surprisingly easy to follow despite having so many ingredients. A ended buying more meat than suggested in the original recipe, so we basically 1.5-ed the ingredients - portions may be a little off, but it worked. I was hesitant of this meal at first since I can't handle spice that well; fortunately, it wasn't bad at all. If anything, maybe next time, we should add more chili oil.

Note to Future Self: more chili oil, season meat longer, boiled egg

Ingredients

• Sichuan chili oil 
• Dan Dan Sauce
• 0.5 lb ground pork 
• 1.5 tsp soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp sesame oil 
• 6 cloves of garlic 
• 1 tbsp ginger (~1 piece) 
• 4 tbsp douban chili bean paste
• 3 tbsp rice wine 
• 4 cups chicken stock 
• 1.5 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• Asian white noodles (ex. flat udon noodles) 
• sprig of cilantro 

Instructions

1. Bring pot of water to boil to cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain and separate into two bowls. 
2. Meanwhile, mix ground pork with soy sauce and sesame oil. Set aside. 
3. Mince garlic and ginger. Combine with douban paste and peanut butter. 
4. In a medium pot, brown the pork in 1 tbsp oil. 
5. Add douban mixture and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes. 
6. Add rice wine. 
7. Add chicken stock. 
8. Bring to simmer. Then add 1.5 tsp sugar to balance out saltiness. 
9. Add white ground pepper and simmer for another 5 minutes. 
10. Serve into bowls. Add sauce.  
11. Add chili on top to taste
12. Add cilantro. Enjoy! 

Source: Lady and Pups