Creamy Risotto

It is a long strived for goal in my house to get my boys to eat more veggies! We've always maintained the rule: Eat what is on your plate or there will be no dessert. It worked well for N&N, but then the Lord blessed us with little T who came into the world bucking and will probably leave that way too! :)

So, with 5 very unique tastes, I have come up with a clever rating system (if I do say so myself... and I did). I have decided that, from now on my recipes will include a 5 star rating. One star for each 'unique eater' in my house.

Today, it's creamy Risotto. Now honestly, this can be made with any veggie that you have on hand. I had some mushrooms that were nearing their demise so my risotto has broccoli and mushrooms.

The secret to risotto is to keep your liquid boiling in a separate pot.

Now, I would love to show you the finished product, but the boys came in and before I could grab my camera, it was all gone. How do they devour food so quickly??? I'd be moaning with indigestion!

This recipe got 4 very large stars!!!

Creamy Risotto

2 cans chicken stock (sodium free)
Arborio Rice (or in my case, what ever rice you have)
Onions
Broccoli
Mushrooms
(again, this can be what ever you have)
Cheese (what ever your favorite is. I use cream cheese)
oil

Start by making the commitment: I WILL NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE LEAVE THIS STOVE. I WILL NOT HEAR MY CHILD SCREAMING MY NAME MERCILESSLY. I WILL IGNORE THE OVERFLOWING TOILET. I HAVE RISOTTO COOKING AND IT IS MY #1 PRIORITY.
Now, the hard part is over. :)

Begin by bringing your stock to a boil.

In a separate pot, add a touch of oil and saute your vegetables of choice. (at this point it may help to sing the Veggie Tales theme song.) Once the veggies are tender add @ 2 cups of rice and saute for a moment. Then add 1 cup of stock and let simmer until stock has absorbed. Then add another cup of stock. Repeat until rice is done. (if you run out of stock you can substitute with some water. There will still be lots of flavor, just make sure your water comes to a boil before adding to the rice)

Last add in the cheese of your choice. I used the new Philly cooking cream cheese with garlic because it was on sale, but you can literally use any cheese.

DISCLAIMER: There aren't any measurements for this recipe, because I winged it. I just threw together what I had. What makes risotto, risotto is not how much of this or that you use, but the way you cook the rice. Keep it slow and you'll do fine.

Bon Appetit!!!

Unity Grainy Bark Chocolate Tutorial

Disclaimer: I have never really done a cooking tutorial, so I hope this makes sense. Also, you should be forewarned that I had NO idea the grainy background stamp lines were so close. I had to improvise, but I think you'll get the idea.

First, stamp the image on the backside of a piece of wax paper. Then grease an 8X8 glass pan and put the wax paper inside. I place a paper towel underneath the plate so I can see my stamped image better.

Melt white chocolate and put in a plastic bag with the smallest tip you have. I used #2, but it still needed to be smaller. This is my tip for filling my bag. I place it in a cup so I can use both hands with ease.

Pipe along your design. Again,I had to improvise here, however, the Dream Tree worked like a dream! LOL!

Fill with your favorite fudge or chocolate bar recipe and cool.

Viola!

I'd love feedback on this so if you try it please tell me how it turned out.

Share pictures! :)

Thanks!

Mini Peppermint Meringue Cups with Ganache

Timothy LOVES these! He almost ate them ALL! :)

This recipe is from the Dec. issue of Martha Stewart.

(side note: My kids love that me and Martha have the same initials. And, yes, I am on a first name basis with Martha. Hehe!)

To give these cups their festive design, paint lines of red gel paste food coloring up the inside of an empty pastry bag before adding the meringue.

Meringue Cups

Vegetable oil cooking spray

3 Large egg whites, room temp

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. pure peppermint extract

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Trace 16 circles onto 2 pieces of parchment paper using 1 3/4 inch cookie cutter. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray and top each with a sheet of parchment, traced side down (duh!)

Heat egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl of a mixer set over a pan of simmering water, stirring, until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm to the touch. (about 3 min.) Transfer bowl to mixer. Whisk on medium high speed until stiff peaks form. Beat in peppermint extract.

Paint 3 stripes of red food coloring up the inside of pastry bag and add egg white mixture. Pipe coils to fill each traced circle. Pipe up sides to create cups.

Bake until cups are crisp but not browned and lift off parchment easily, about 1 hour 30 min.

GANACHE

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

Transfer chocolate to a heat-proof bowl. Bring cream to a gentle simmer in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Pour over chocolate, and let stand for 3 min. Stir until smooth. Loosely cover and refrigerate until firm. (1-1 1/2 hours)

Stir ganache, and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch open star tip. Pipe ganache into the center of each meringue cup.

Garnish with candy cane.

Enjoy!

Christmas With Flair!

I am READY for Christmas. Now don't get me wrong, I haven't finished my shopping, I haven't finished my Christmas cards, and I have TONS of baking to do!! But I'm ready for the Spirit to fill me with His joy. To know that through all this madness of life He is still with me and He is the reason for me. (if you can't tell... it's been a long and very hard week for my hunny and me). So making this card put a smile on my face and I hope it does yours too!

Prince Of Peace is absolutely one of my FAVORITE stamps!!!! If the artist is reading this or if you know who drew this one, please let me know! :) This was the first Unity stamp I ever bought. LOVE IT!!!

Next is a creation of mine. Now don't laugh too hard because this was my first run. I will keep practicing until it is perfected! ;)

This is CHOCOLATE!!!!

Isn't it WILD!!! I'm waiting for the arrival of my grainy background stamp. When I get it, I will be making Chocolate bark (Thank you Martha Stewart!) as Christmas gifts! I'm so excited! I will absolutely share the final project, but I thought the practice run came out pretty good... and it's almost gone!!! LOL!

Have a great weekend!!!


Unity Stamps: Dream Tree

YUMMO!!!

It is that time of year again. You know, when you bake all those yummy treats and put on 10-20 pounds!!! LOL! My first request was for a pumpkin roll for Thanksgiving. One of our family faves! I make 2 just for my house! This was the first one (they got better as I practiced).

Pumpkin Roll

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup pumpkin (canned solid pack)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup flour

Grease cookie sheet and line it with wax paper then grease the wax paper. Combine all ingredients together and spread evenly over the wax paper. Sprinkle with finely chopped pecans if desired. (I don't) Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Take out of oven and sprinkle with powered sugar on the top. roll up in a dish towel and let it cool completely in the refrigerator for one hour.

1 8 oz. pack cream cheese

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup powered sugar

Remove the pumpkin roll from the refrigerator and roll it back out.

After combining all ingredients for the filling spread the filling evenly over the pumpkin roll. Roll the pumpkin roll back up and refrigerate it for at least one hour.

Enjoy!

Sweet Grape Salad

This is the BEST snack I have EVER had. I'm telling you, you HAVE to try it!

Sweet Grape Salad

8oz. cream cheese- room temp

8oz. sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. white sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix the above together by hand.

4 cups green seedless grapes

4 cups red seedless grapes

By hand mix in the grapes.

I am telling you... you WILL NOT be disappointed! This is an AMAZING recipe!

Killer Blueberry Muffins

One of the many things I've decided to start is a cookbook. I haven't done a single page yet... but I have been taking pictures of the food that will go into the cookbook! LOL! That has to count for something, right!

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 egg

3/4 cup whole milk

2 cups fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and sugar. In another bowl, combine butter, egg, and milk and mix well. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and with a spatula, stir until just combined. DO NOT OVER MIX. Gently fold in blueberries.

Spoon batter into muffin tray, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake 20-25 min.

Bon Apatite