Pasta with Chickpeas and Tomatoes

I don't know why, but for the last two Sundays I have been utterly incapable of sleeping in. It's like my body realizes that this is my one chance each week to catch up on sleep, and it likes to make me irritated by making it the one morning I have no trouble waking up at 6. This morning I managed to get my taxes filed before 9, then completed a 10K, and was at the mall by 11 in order to be done before the rest of the world showed up (I was reminded this morning yet again how much I hate malls). In fact, I felt so productive, that now I'm contemplating watching TV for the remainder of the afternoon and procrastinating on homework. Except that I won't... because I am trying not to do that, even though I never remember any of the reading I do on Sundays by the time the following Saturday rolls around.

Before moving on to this week's recipe, I do have to make one comment on the weather in Denver this weekend: bizarre. Yesterday, I think it reached almost 80 degrees. Sitting in a hot, stuffy classroom all day was absolute torture. This morning on my run, I literally felt the weather change from sunny and 60, to windy with clouds rolling in. Currently, it is snowing and in the mid 30s. Of course. What else would it be doing on April 3rd in Colorado?

Okay, on to the recipe: I officially have a new favorite spice, and it goes by the name of Smoked Paprika. It adds such an amazing flavor! I would go into more detail, but my descriptive capabilities have always been on the more lacking side in my writing. Suffice it to say, it really made this recipe work in my educated cooking opinion.

This recipe is higher in Weight Watchers points values than the others I have posted, but I was looking for a change, and found it worth it. For some reason I have been craving wheat products recently. Not sure if that has to do with getting over the flu or what. The original recipe is taken from the February, 2011 Bon Appetit Magazine and I found it, as usual, on epicurious.com. I eliminated the oil and sortof doubled the recipe. In eliminating the oil, it mean that I couldn't cook the tomatoes the way that the recipe called for. I thought what I did came out fine, though. I also used bow-tie pasta instead of penne. I don't like penne for some reason, and I found out last night while grocery shopping that apparently neither does Mom. It's funny how tastes can be passed down in generations without the parties involved ever actually talking about it... Those were my main changes.

This recipe makes 7 servings and each serving is 10 WW PointsPlus. The whole thing took me about 20 minutes including prep.

Ingredients:
1 package bowtie pasta (about 14.5 oz - I LOVED the Barilla Plus pasta. Not nearly as difficult to force down as whole wheat pasta.)
2 lbs tomatoes, cut into pieces (original recipe called for using cherry tomatoes. I used tomatoes that were vine ripened, and about 1.5 - 2 inches each, cut into sixths. I also ate some of them before they made it into the recipe... I was hungry.)
1 6-oz container of plain hummus (It sounded weird to me, but it's very good.)
3 garlic cloves, pressed (got lazy after cutting all the cilantro... used garlic powder instead)
1 cup black olives, lightly chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (I would have used more, but it took too long and I got bored. And I don't think I really like cilantro very much after trying it today. It's fine, but not great.)
2 teaspoons smoked paprika


Instructions:
1. Cook pasta in boiling water for about 10 minutes. While it's cooking, prepare the tomatoes, olives and cilantro
2. Drain the water from the pasta, and in a separate, large pan, add all the rest of the ingredients accept the cilantro and hummus. Cook together for 5-7 minutes on medium-low until warmed through.
3. Add the pasta, cilantro, and mix in the hummus. Let it all cook together for another 3-5 mins.

I found this very filling and good. As I said earlier, the paprika made this dish what it turned out to be in my opinion. I also really liked the effect of the hummus as a sauce. It was all very good. I may try a flavored hummus if I make this again.

Lentil and Vegetable Stew with Kale

I knew I jinxed myself when I wrote that I was going to always post on Sundays from now on... I got sick last Sunday and have been sick pretty much since then. Never have I been more annoyed at myself for missing the free flu shot at work this year. Every time I don't get a flu shot, I come down with the flu. At least this time it wasn't over Christmas. I am now mostly recovered, but haven't been able to workout and missed a lot of work. I probably should have missed more than I did, too, since everyone made sure to tell me how terrible I looked on Wednesday. Tomorrow will be my first run since last Saturday, and the Colfax Marathon is coming up on May 15! I had intended to get caught up this week before school started up again, and ended up further behind. Oh, well. Veg time watching bad daytime TV wasn't too bad in retrospect, and since Mom's in town, I got to have someone take care of me for once. 

Spring quarter of school started today. I can't believe the difference an extra quarter makes. I feel like I am fully in the groove of being a student. It makes me so much more productive all around too. I just don't waste time. During my week off (the week before I got sick), I feel like I was totally unproductive. I am taking IT Strategies and Marketing. We had to fill out a profile about our current knowledge base for IT. I wrote that I am friends with the IT group at work, and I really like the British TV Show "The IT Crowd." I also know exactly who I need to call whenever something computer related breaks. I have a lot to learn.

I bought French lentils almost two months ago now, wanting to incorporate more lentils into my diet. According to Wikipedia, lentils have the third highest amount of protein in a plant form after soybeans and hemp. 3.5 oz of lentils (100g) has 26 grams of protein. Not bad. Not bad at all. I also impressed myself with this recipe because it calls for two additional ingredients that I had never used before: kale and rutabaga. Well, if I'm being totally honest, there was a third ingredient that I forgot to put on my shopping list that would have been a first as well, celery root. I had eaten kale and celery root before, but never cooked it before. I am unclear if I have ever had rutabaga, and after tonight, I still haven't as I realized when I got home and was looking up how to prepare it online, I seem to have purchased a turnip instead (they're in the same family)... oops. 

This recipe was adapted from one found on Epicurious.com under the same name, and is originally from the March, 2011 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine. For Original Recipe Click Here. The main changes I made were too add cumin and more herbes de Provence than called for, and I used French Lentils instead of brown. From what I can tell, French Lentils are more flavorful, and keep their shape and texture exceedingly well. They take about 10 minutes longer to cook, though, so that is reflected in my cooking times. I also decided to go without any oil. I've figured out that if I am cooking soup or stew, I can cook the onion and other ingredients for not much time without them burning on the pan, then I add the rest of the liquids, and am none-the-wiser for it afterwards. 

I am estimating that this recipe will provide 8 servings. If anyone is reading this who follows Weight Watchers, it has a Points Plus value of only 5. Almost too rediculously healthy for its own good. Start to finish was about an hour and a half for me because of all the prep for the kale and other veggies. Actual cook time wasn't bad.

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped 

2 large carrots, chopped 

1 medium celery root, peeled, chopped (in absentia in my case, but I'm leaving this here as a place holder to remember when I make this again...)

1 medium rutabaga, peeled, chopped (2 cups) (my turnip worked great - apparently the main difference is that the rutabage has a somewhat stronger flavor)

1 pound French Lentils

1 tablespoon herbes de Provence (used more than that)

1 tablespoon cumin 

8 cups water

1 large bunch kale (About 9 ounces), ribs removes, leaves coarsely chopped (took forever in my opinion. I'm wondering about the potential of using frozen in the future...)

1. In a large pot, combine onion, carrots, celery and rutabaga. Cook on medium heat until the veggies verge on sticking to the bottom of the pot (5 or so minutes.)

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, turn the heat up, and bring to a boil. (The kale takes up a ton of room in the pot until it cooks. I kindof freaked out about this and added an extra cup of water. Then the kale cooked down and I felt a bit stupid for freaking out...) (10 or so minutes)

3. Lower the heat, partially cover the pot, and cook for 30 minutes.

Done. Super easy recipe to make. The prep was the most annoying part. Will make again. I liked it a lot, and the lentils will add plenty of variety to what I've been eating. The cumin gives it a bit more of an Indian taste overall, and that doesn't go with the herbes de provence really, but it worked for me. I also read that the cumin is supposed to help with some of the less appealing side effects of beans/lentils... while I am immune to the effect that beans have on some people since I eat so many of them, I thought I'd add cumin, since this recipe needed more spice than what was originally included anyway.

Wheat Berries with Winter Squash and Chick Peas

It's interesting to me that I chose not to write this post on Sunday. I cooked this dish on Sunday. But I used the excuse that I had a take home final due not to write about it until now. I am not doing that again. From now on, posting on Sunday will be happening. Unless I'm sick again. That is an okay excuse I suppose.

The New York Times published a series of interesting recipes for people going Vegan during Lent (no, I'm not going Vegan during Lent, in case anyone was wondering). This recipe just seemed like it would be amazing so I gave it a go, and I'm really glad that I did, because besides finding another recipe with my new favorite cheapest grain product around, also known as wheat berries, I got to buy some new spices and now I'm excited to use them more often. Who knew that allspice was actually a spice in and of itself? I'd kindof always thought that it must be a blend of spices.

I also wanted to provide a status update on my health this week. Since the high blood pressure conversation with my doctor about four weeks ago, I've lost almost 10 pounds. I've cut out cheese except on limited occasions, and most salt. I've cut out as much sugar from foods as possible, and am trying to eat it only in it's natural form, so eating a lot of fruit. And I feel ten times better. It's amazing, because even as I was stressing around finals, the stress felt different. I didn't feel it in my chest the way that I normally do. I have also re-dedicated myself to working out, and ran almost 5 miles on Sunday without walking. When I stop to think about what I'm eating, it sounds pretty highly restrictive, even to me, but when I don't stop to think about it, it's just working. I really don't feel deprived at all. On the contrary, I am experimenting with new foods and recipes that I would never have considered before. And more importantly, I feel like I can keep doing this. I still have about 18 pounds to lose, and I want them gone by Summer. I'm also confident for the first time now that I'll really be able to run the entire Colfax Half Marathon on May 15. Yay!

Onto the recipe. As noted earlier, this recipe is adapted from one I found on nytimes.com ORIGINAL RECIPE. It states that this will serve 6. I think it's more like 4 if this is served as a main course. The only real change that I made was to reduce the olive oil called for from 3 tablespoons to 1. This recipe has a WeightWatchers PointsPlus value of 9 per serving (assuming 4 servings). The link to the original recipe includes a full nutritional breakdown with 6 servings and the extra olive oil. From start to finish this recipe took me just under an hour and a half. The squash can be prepped while the wheat berries are cooking.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (Okay, I changed that too... I used three. AND, very exciting, I treated myself to a garlic press at the grocery store! I'd never used one before. So much fun!)
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 cup wheat berries
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups water (the recipe initially calls for 5 cups, and then I think they forgot about the 5th cup, because they only mention 4 later... so anyway, 4 cups water)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill or mint (I used dill. Okay, and I cheated too. I used dried parsley and dried dill. There was so much flavor provided by the allspice and cayenne that I don't think it really mattered.)
1 pound winter squash (I used butternut), peeled, sliced and cut into small bite sized pieces
1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained

Note: This recipe did not specifically call for pre-soaking the wheat berries. I was surprised by this, and I think they're better for you and easier to digest if you do, so I still soaked mine ahead for about 6 hours. This also cut down on the overall cooking time, which I appreciated. If the wheat berries are note soaked ahead, I think step 4 will need to be 45 mins to 1 hour instead of 30 minutes.

Instructions:
1. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or similar pot with higher sides. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion just starts to cook.
2. Add the garlic and the allspice and cayenne. Stir together.
3. Add the wheat berries, 4 cups of water and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, with the pot covered for 30 minutes or so.
4. Add the winter squash, chick peas, half the overall amount of parsley and dill, and bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes more. At this stage the squash and wheat berries should be fully cooked.
5. Bring the cooking temperature back up to high, stir in the remainder of the parsley and dill (if not using fresh) and cook off the excess liquid until it takes on a syrupy consistency. I found that this took about 20 minutes (If using fresh dill and parsley, add the remainder at the end).

And that's it. This dish is meant to be served warm or hot.

The verdict: The more I cook butternut squash, the more I am learning to really like it. I loved how the cayenne gave this recipe a great kick, and the whole dish just tasted great. It was fun to make too. I'm somewhat disappointed in the photo that I didn't pick a bowl that coordinated better color-wise with the dish, but I'm learning. Won't make that mistake again. There's also a fair amount of protein in this dish from the combination of wheat berries and chick peas, and the portion that I had for lunch at work stuck by me all afternoon. I'm really glad that I came across this recipe.

Veggie Paella

So it turns out that going to the grocery store to do the weekly shopping, when I don't know what recipe I'm planning to make on Sunday, isn't the best idea. It's also not the best idea to buy the store brand Greek yogurt (It's disgusting, and for some reason, they felt compelled to add "natural flavors" to plain Greek yogurt. Whatever...).

I have one week to go before I have a week-long break from school. So far, I haven't resorted to throwing a frozen burrito into the microwave and photographing that as my weekly cooking masterpiece (I did have one in the freezer, just in case though... ). I had been pretty concerned that as I got closer to this part of the quarter I would be resorting to that. What I didn't count on was using cooking to procrastinate from doing homework. This is similar to last fall, when I somehow managed to find time to clean my whole apartment before finally sitting down to right my 20 page globalization paper... hmmm...

So anyways, I found this recipe yesterday mainly based off of ingredients online. It turns out, when you grocery shop on a weekly basis, you tend to have a lot more on hand than when you don't. Who knew? I only had to make a couple of substitutions on this one, but sadly, I didn't have a single spice that the recipe called for, so some improvisation was done. I have no idea what the spices in the original recipe were supposed to taste like, or what traditional paella spices are, but mine came out pretty darn well if I do say so myself.

There's a really interesting article on what a Paella is on wikipedia: Paella . Sadly, I didn't read it until after I had made mine, or I would have reconsidered its presentation. From the pictures, food is neatly laid on top of the rice concoction, to make it quite pretty. Instead, I omitted the final touches from what my recipe called for, and used whole wheat orzo instead of couscous (although traditional dishes use rice, not couscous). The pictures on wikipedia are quite pretty. Traditional paella is made with either meat or seafood or a combination of both. Since this is vegetarian, it pretty much goes against that anyway. But hell, I'm calling it Paella anyway. Sweet!

This recipe was found on epicurious.com, and is from Bon Appetit, 1997. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/4688 The ingredients listed below are what I used, not what the recipe called for.
I ended up adding more than the original recipe called for in almost all of the ingredients. And maybe that's why I am pretty sure that this will easily feed 8-10 people. The picture above is after I had removed my serving for dinner tonight. I was a bit concerned that the whole thing was going to overflow at points in the cooking process...


Ingredients: 
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chopped red pepper (I used three small red peppers. I am assuming that amounted to about 2 cups.)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (I actually used garlic instead of garlic powder. There's a first.)
5 tablespoons, or about half of a small can of tomato paste 
2 cups water1 15 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes with mild green chiles2 cups frozen peas (I only had frozen peas and carrots on hand, which worked out fine, except that I also added sliced carrots. So, lots of carrots.)1 15 oz can rinsed and drained garbonzo beans
1/2 cup chopped peeled carrot (I added 3 medium chopped carrots)
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
12 oz frozen package of quartered artichoke hearts, thawed1 1/2 cups whole wheat orzo


Directions: 
1. In a large pot, cook onion in the oil for about 3 mins. Add the red pepper, and cook until the onion changes color, about 15 minutes
2. Heat two cups of water to boiling, and stir in tomato paste (otherwise, you could substitute this step for vegetable broth. I've been trying to invent flavorful alternatives that don't involve so much salt. This worked for me in this recipe.)
3. Combine all remaining ingredients besides the orzo and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
4. Add the orzo, simmer for an additional 10 minutes, covered. Remove from heat, and allow any excess liquid to absorb for about 5 minutes.

Risotto-Style Barley with Mushrooms

Every now and then it seems that I forget what it's like to get sick and be miserable. So last week, I thought I'd test the waters and come down with a fever, sore throat and a cough to add to the fun trying to sleep. Oh, and mucus in the lungs. I can't believe I almost forgot that part. Silly Susie. Well, the verdict has just come in. Being sick is just as miserable as I remembered. And nothing really can beat having to write a paper and work on a presentation all the while wanting to crawl into bed and not move for three days straight.

Somehow I survived the in class presentation on Saturday, and thanks to two rounds of Advil provided by one of my professors, I even had a voice. Went home, made this recipe, and then promptly slept for twelve hours and thought I was going to keel over when I finally made it out of bed on Sunday around 11. Oh, to be young and home and have Mom take care of me when I am sick. But wait! I had the second best thing! Mom and Dad are visiting Denver from NH, and after I discovered that I had left my bottle of Advil at work, they came with a special delivery on Sunday for me. Almost as good as getting to stay home from school and watch a combination of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Little Mermaid, and The Princess Bride.

I'm finally feeling significantly better tonight. Well enough, in fact to post this week's blog entry. After last week's success with wheat berries, I've decided to test the waters by going through all of the grains I can come across in the bulk bins at Whole Foods. This week it was pearl barley. I don't know what the difference is between pearl barley and husked barley yet. But there was another bin for those as well. I also massively overstocked on barley, so I already have another barley recipe lined up for next week, if I can handle another week of it so close to this recipe. Only time will tell.

This recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit, November, 1998 as viewed at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/15672

This recipe yields 4-5 servings. Total recipe time: about 1 hour


Ingredients:
1 cup pearl barley (way costlier than wheat berries - I think it was a full $1.39/lb)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
12 oz baby bella mushrooms (I'm trying to teach myself about mushrooms, too. Baby Bella mushrooms are darker than the standard button mushrooms, and after trying them in this recipe, they have a lot more flavor as well. The original recipe calls for button mushrooms and one large portabella mushroom. Quite frankly, you don't need more than the 12 oz mushrooms in this recipe, and I will be cutting them smaller than I did as well. I sliced them. In the future, I will halve and then slice them.)
See original recipe for spice recommendations. I used dried basil and garlic powder (quickly becoming my two staples)
5 cups water (The recipe calls for either mushroom broth or vegetable broth. I made some vegetable broth in the original 4 cups of water, using one bouillon cube but frankly it wasn't even needed. When the mushrooms cook down they add a lot of liquid with a lot of flavor.)

Directions:
1. Cook the onion in a large saucepan over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until the onion starts to cook.
2. Add the mushrooms, cook until mushrooms have browned, about 15 minutes.
3. Add the barley and stir until it has absorbed the excess liquid from the cooking mushrooms (about 1 min)
4. Add 4 cups water and bring the whole thing to a boil
5. Reduce the heat back to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes, covered. (I didn't turn the heat down enough and the barley stuck to the bottom of my pot. Total bummer. Especially when you're sick and just want to go to sleep anyway.)
6. Add one additional cup of water, and stir off and on for final 10 minutes, uncovered. The barley and mushrooms will get creamy and totally take on a risotto texture and appearance.

So my initial reaction to this recipe was mixed, as I think my reaction always is to new tastes. But now that I've tried it again, I think I like barley. It's not as high in protein as quinoa and wheat berries, which makes me think I probably won't cook with it as frequently, but it does have a distinct taste. This dish does taste a lot heavier and heartier than the wheat berries do, and I totally understood why this would be served traditionally with meat. It almost tasted like it had meat in it, which was a little weird for me. I will likely make some form of this again, but perhaps substituting for a less flaverful mushroom.

Alright, bedtime.

Wheat Berry Salad with Olives and Tomatoes

Before I say anything else, let me just quickly say one thing: wheat berries are the greatest thing since before sliced bread. They've been around pretty much since the beginning of time, and since they are a primary ingredient in bread... but I digress. People are all talking up the awesomeness of lentils, of black beans, of all sorts of other foods (they are also good. I'm not saying otherwise.) that are a good bang for the buck. Well, forget them. I bought wheat berries at Whole Foods yesterday for $.69 a pound. Organic. I splurged, and bought a pound and a quarter for just under a buck. Then all I had to do was figure out what to do with them.

What exactly are wheat berries you might ask? Well, let me tell you everything I've learned about them in the past few days while browsing the internet/my cookbooks/ while I could have been being a productive member of society in some other way. Wheat berries are the whole grains of wheat with the husks removed. In order to cook them, they need to be soaked overnight, and then cooked for about an hour.

There are two main varieties from what I can tell: hard and soft. The hard wheat is typically ground and used for making breads while soft wheat berries don't have quite as strong a flavor, and are used in pastry flour. I bought soft wheat berries because they were forty cents cheaper per pound. (A penny saved is a penny I can save up to pay for my greek yogurt obsession). From what I read, they are also supposed to be easier to digest.

Wheat berries have all of the nutrients traditionally stripped out of commercial bread, and 7 grams of protein per serving. They can be used and substituted in recipes for rice or quinoa, or where one might use pasta (it sounds odd, I know). Wheat berries have a nutty flavor, and I found them to taste sort-of like quinoa and oatmeal combined. Only way better than that sounds.

Since I've now made the oatmeal reference, I was a little bit nervous heading into this week's recipe, because one of its suggested uses was in replacement of oats for a morning breakfast. While I think this would work, I think there must be far less starch in wheat berries, because there wasn't any stickiness in these, and a totally different texture, so wheat berries can go places that I would never go with oats... but anyways...

This week I made wheat berry salad. It's a really easy recipe as long as you remember to soak the wheat berries overnight, and are doing homework or something else around the apartment for the hour or so required for them to cook. (Once cooked, wheat berries can be frozen, so one of my cookbook authors recommends making large batches and freezing to avoid the long prep process.)

I altered the recipe from a WeightWatchers.com recipe I found with the same name. Then I changed it all. If anyone is reading this who is currently following WeightWatchers, this recipe is 6 PP (PointsPlus). It makes 4 servings of over a cup each.

Ingredients:
1 cup wheat berries, soaked overnight in water
2 medium tomatoes, seeds removed and chopped
40 black olives, coarsely chopped (This was the majority of a can of black olives. I didn't want to use the whole can, but if you really like olives, go for it.)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil (I didn't have any fresh ingredients, and other than the missing color that it would have provided, dried worked just fine thank you very much.)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar


Directions:
1. Rinse the wheat berries, and discard the water they were soaking in. In a medium size saucepan, add the wheat berries and about three cups of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour, until the berries are soft and fully cracked. As the wheat berries are about halfway through cooking, add a pinch of salt.
2. Drain the wheat berries and put into a medium size bowl. Add the tomatoes and olives, mix.
3. Add the garlic and basil.
4. Mix together the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then stir into the salad.

Easy, right? So crazy good tasting! I can't wait to make more with wheat berries. They're awesome. I can't believe that I'm writing this, but this blog is totally working. I'm starting to feel more and more like I'm learning my way around the kitchen, and figuring out this whole cooking thing. And the scary thing is, I'm liking it more and more too... who could have known?

Butternut Squash Risotto

Who knew that babies have the cutest little fingernails! Congratulations to Ethan and Kate. I'm now an aunt to an absolutely adorable and wonderful nephew named Andrew, and I can't wait to get to watch him grow. Andrew is the first baby who I have ever seen at such a young age. And I got to hold him too! The whole idea of the miracle of life got present for me today in a way that it never has before.

It's perfect, really, that I would become an aunt this week. I had a doctors appointment on Monday and was officially diagnosed with high blood pressure. In my defense, the nurse taking my blood pressure reading made the mistake of asking me how school was going while putting the inflatable arm-cuff thing around my upper arm. I could literally feel my chest clench as she asked the question. "Stressful," was all I could respond with. I knew I hadn't passed the test when she immediately took a second reading. "I shouldn't have asked you how school was going, huh?"

It just so happens that I had a finance paper due yesterday that was not started on Monday, that I may or may not have spent some sleepless hours thinking about on Sunday evening before my doctor's appointment on Monday. So no, she should not have asked me how school was going before checking my blood pressure. It didn't exactly make my day, though, when my doctor informed me that my blood pressure was what she would have expected in a woman more than twice my age. Oh to be young again.

This week's recipe reflects some changes as a result of the whole high blood pressure thing. I didn't add any salt at all, and didn't even add cheese to this week's recipe. That was no easy feat. I realized today just how addicted I am to cheese. One of these years I'll find an alternative to it. Until then, I'll just be cutting back a bit... maybe...

I found this recipe on epicurious.com. This website may just be my new favorite. I found the written instructions pretty confusing, however. The link to the original recipe: Kaboucha Squash Risotto with Sage and Pinenuts. It makes 6 large portions, and will take at least 2 hours from start to finish.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 2 1/2- to 3-pound kabocha or butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 6 generous cups)

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (The original recipe calls for sherry vinegar, which I didn't have, and only 1 tablespoon. I really like the zing of apple cider vinegar, anyway.)

2 onions, chopped (about 3 cups)

4 cups no-salt added vegetable broth (I couldn't believe they really made that. Good stuff.)

1 1/2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain rice

3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted, divided (I didn't toast the pine nuts. In retrospect, I would have looked up how to do this, as it would have brought out more flavor, I think.)

2 teaspoons cinnamon (this wasn't in the original recipe, but I thought it would work, and it did. Go me. I'm learning how to combine flavors. In some recipes, anyway.)

Preparation: 
Note: I used a large saucepan with high sides for this recipe. If I hadn't had that, I would have used a dutch oven. 
1. Preparing the squash took forever, and epicurious doesn't factor it into the total recipe time, which I found incredibly annoying. At some point growing up when there was nothing else on television, I watched a cooking show that mentioned that if you but butternut squash in the microwave before trying to cut it, it makes it way  easier to cut and prepare. It totally works. Prepping the squash still took a long time, but I didn't break any knives. As far as how small to cut the squash, I think 1/2 inch should be the max, and even smaller wouldn't be bad either.
2.  Cook the squash in a large saucepan in two tablespoons of oil for about 10-12 minutes, until the squash begins to get soft. 5 minutes into the process, add the sage and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Right before removing from the heat, add the 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.
3. Wipe out the pan and cook the onions in the other two tablespoons of olive oil until cooked mostly cooked (about 15 minutes). 
4. Add the rice to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes, until the color changes slightly. Stir the rice so that it doesn't stick. While doing this, heat the vegetable broth in a separate pot with 2 cups of extra water.
5. Add one cup of broth to the rice and onion. The rice must be stirred almost continuously. Once the liquid is all absorbed, add an additional cup. Continue doing this until half of the broth is gone. (About 20 minutes)
6. Add the squash to the pan.
7. Continue adding the broth 3/4 - 1 cup at a time until all of the broth is absorbed. (About another 25 minutes.)
6. Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
FINISHED.


The squash adds a lot of sweetness to this risotto, as well as a lot of volume. While butternut squash has grown on me to the point that I can eat it, it still isn't my favorite vegetable, but oh, well. I did like this risotto. I will likely eat it at work this week - and add cheese.