Diva’s First Risotto

Okay, so I HAVE made risotto before… but it came from a box.
*gasp*
and I freakin hated it.
I have had some amazing risotto… and when I was preparing myself for the possibility of making it to Round 3 in Project Food Blog, I received some cheese from Ile De France. They sent me a new Camembert and rather than make yet another baked cheese dish, i decided to try my hand at risotto.
yay!
And when i started generating ideas for my risotto, I thought I needed something else. Sure, cheesy creamy risotto sounds great but I need another little something to add to the mix.

Mushroom? Yeah, that will work. It wasn’t until after I made this dish that I told the foodie Dude about it and he said I should have used fancier mushrooms.

I hate when he’s right.

But when I grocery shop, sometimes I just pick up whats on the list and bounce… especially when so many other things are going on simultaneously. But my baby bellos were enough (for now) and next time, i will play with fancier ones.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (sauteed)
1 cup Arborio rice

1/2 cup DRY white wine
5 cups Chicken stock

1/3 cup Ile De France Camembert cheese, cubed
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

I started by heating my skillet and melting the butter. I toasted the Arborio rice for a few minutes. Then I added the already sauteed mushrooms.

I added the white wine and 1/2 cup of chicken stock. With the risotto over medium heat, i kept stirring it around to ensure the rice was absorbing all the liquids.
Dice up your cheese…and try not to pick at it. Yes, it IS delicious but remember, its for the rice!

STOP Munching on it!

Continue to add Stock 1/2 cup at a time until the rice is soft (this involves tasting – unless you are uber professional and can tell by lookin at it when its done)… and obvi- use your salt and pepper accordingly. My chicken stock was very oniony so i didnt have to add any additional flavors… just a few pinches of salt.

With the last bit of liquid, add your cheese and watch the cheesy goodness melt into the rice and transform it to the most creamy pan of wonderfulness that did NOT come out of a box.

Cheesy rice… with mushrooms.

Yes please.Now that I am No Longer a Risotto Virgin, I am going to toy with a few more recipes… maybe some butternut squash risotto! or some leafy greens wilted into a creamy bowl of risotto.

Oh the possibilities are endless!

Thank you Ile De France Cheese for the AWESOME camembert! It was hard to resist snacking on while preparing this dish. And it totally made this dish deelish in every way!

Inspiration

Inspiration can come from many different parts of life. Friends. family. Sometimes even a photo will give you inspiration. As a blogger, my inspiration comes mostly from Other Bloggers. I owe a lot of my foodie adventures to the dedicated people who log on every day and write, review, click, and post for my entertainment. Had it not been for bloggers i would not know the joy that is Oats in a Jar, baked Tofu, and all the latest physical challenges I have gotten myself into!
My newest adventure comes from One fit Foodie, Naomi. A natural diva. I love her cheery posts and her awesome workout tips. Half the time i wish I could mirror a day of eats as they are balanced and Freaking Delicious looking! If you want to mirror a blogger, shes on my top list of recs ( you can be like me too if you like, cuz im awesome too- but if you are reading this you already know that xoxox) A few weeks ago i made a batch of her chocolate cinnamon protein muffins and they were so delish and easy to make… when she posted an overnight oatbran recipe i was all over it!
Here i set up my “recipe book” aka my laptop and prepared the recipe with some tweaks…
one container of greek yogurt ( i used honey)
1/2 cup of oat bran
splash of milk
1/4 c fat free hazelnut creamer
1/4 cup water
cinnamon and one splenda.
sprinkle of chocolate protein powder
Mixed it all up and let it sit overnight.
It smelled like Cinnamon raisin rice pudding. mmm.

i could only eat half. it was so filling! and tasted like Dessert! I am so glad i got 10 chobanis last week. lol. and the box of oatbran has changed my life. I dont know if i can enjoy oatmeal again. Im serious. i dont know if i can.

Around lunch I had some tofu shirataki noodles with diced herb chicken, zuchini, and an instant pesto. I documented the instant pesto process but Knorr needs to be told their pesto is gross. Its cream based- should have known… but i tried to make it better as much as i could. the end resulted in a runny bland “cream” sauce that went right in the trash. i was better off making Papa Namaste pasta sauce.

I was full all afternoon. Might have snuck some popcorn or whatever but I was craving some cheese at din din. And Ijust happened to have some Ile De France Brie in my fridge!

I know… I LOVE cheese! My love for cheese is probably the top reason i can not be a vegan.

I had some brie. I wanted a grilled cheese. and a fruit preserve. The problem was I had 3 different jars of fruit preserves and didnt know which one i would like the best. So i did what anyone would do… Sampled it. in the end i went with the cherry preserves and the brie. I was in the mood for a sweet and tart combo with the brie. I toasted some whole grain bread and then broiled the bread with some brie to melt it.

smeared some preserves on it and was about to have at that baby open faced…

But thought the ooze action was too perfect to miss. It was an awesome combo.

About a week ago, I traded Mari some homemade muffins for some pineapple chobani that I didnt care for…

Yuuuuums!

What are the plans for the weekend?
I have a blind date tomorrow! and a Dinner date with Missy on Sunday!

Don’t Be Greedy With the Puff Pastry

Please forgive my unusual absence in the blogworld. I have been *SUCH* a scatterbrain these days. I took my flash drive home and left it home for two consecutive days. For two straight days I worked straight through the day.

*Pause for Reaction*

I know! its crazy. I even started doing research on having myself committed going back to school! Im such a nerd for school. Im 26 years old and I still dont know what i want to be when i grow up. But the good news is that giving it a lot of thought in my personal statement… or whatever piece of shit essay i have to write. Couldn’t i just add a link to this blog and say “here you go, here is my personal statement- BOOYAH!” But I dont think the admissions department would take a buddin psychologist who says BOOYAH on official documents seriously. Can you picture it?

“Dr. Food Snob, what’s the prognosis?”

“She’s demonstrating the behaviors of classic Border Line Personality Disorder, BOOYAH!”

What a funny world that would be. Wanna talk about food now? Me too.

The wonderful people at Ile de France sent me a cheese I haven’t tried yet, camembert (YUM). The plan was to try this cheese in a recipe and enter it in a recipe contest. The recipe contest isnt going to happen and you will see why later…

I had some Puff Pastry in the freezer from Thanksgiving and thought a baked cheese was in order.

I only had one sheet and i had a few different things to incorporate into my cheese… after defrosting the dough, i thought I would improvise.

I see three sections of dough… so i made three sections of cheese.

I decided on three fillings. Cherry, Blueberry and a salsa flavor. I sliced each cheese section in half…

added a layer of my desired spread..

sandwiched the cheese back together and pathetically wrapped it in the pastry dough.

See? Pathetic.

I then placed the different cheeses on a baking sheet and baked for 15 mins at 400*.

Then this happened. Sloppy dough skills led to spillage EVERYWHERE. Making photo ops virtually impossible. DAMMIT. I will say that each and every one of these baked camembert pieces was divine! I especially liked the one with Salsa!

So I missed the boat on my recipe contest because while it sounds delicious, most of you eat with your eyes and I wont lie…the above picture looks like i murdered cheese. Murdered cheese tastes delicious but looks gross.

Got a great recipe that LOOKS awful but TASTES great???

I need your Votes!

In a very rare occasion, I have entered myself in a recipe contest. I figured, I got some free cheese out of it why not just take a shot in the dark and enter the contest too… right?
Okay, so I made baked goat cheese for a Thanksgiving appetizer and so many other people entered their cheese recipe. If you would like to support me and help me win (cuz the only thing I win are those pesky scam -ups) please visit the Ile De France Cheese blog and, find my recipe (Monique’s Goat Cheese Ball) and rate it.
Dude, Now that I have checked out the competition, I really should have taken a Banging photo. The one they chose is pretty sad looking LOL- keep an open mind because it doesnt look pretty but it tastes fab!
Thank you all and stay tuned for more yummy recipes and reviews!

Baked Brie with Fruit Preserves

Pepperidge Farms hooked me up thanks to the Tastemaker Program. I was sent a lovely coupon for a puff pastry product. With Thanksgiving around the corner I knew that I had to make a baked brie. I made one last year that was really popular and the family requested i make it again.
First of all, This stuff is so hard to find come Thanksgiving! I mean I had to send my mom out to get some and even she had a hard time finding it. But We perservered and it totally paid off.
Baked brie is EASY and delicious! And what a great time for Ile De France to send me some Brie Love!

Start out by letting your puff pastry sheet thaw out- dont leave it out too long or you might have to roll it out like me because it was stuck together. I rolled it out.

Got a roll of gorgeous brie cheese from Ile de France. Sliced it in half.

and spread a generous amount of preserves from an open jar of fruit spread i had. But you can add whatever you want to your brie. I wanted to add figs to one and asparagus to another. But i only had one brie… and the other choice was sweet peppers but the fam requested fruit.

Once you smear your fruit onto the cheese sandwich it back together and wrap it with the brie. Trim off excess dough.

and attempt to make a pretty design with it. : ) waste not want not.

Bake in the oven at 375 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let sit for a few minutes and serve with crackers, toasted bread and garnish with fresh fruit. I really wish my camera was behaving because the spread was really quite beautiful.

This is a definite crowd pleaser. Looks nice, tastes great and is easy easy easy to make! Please bookmark this and bring it to your next potluck or family gathering!

For more Turkey day Gobbles see here!