Sunday, November 16, 2008

Settling in for the Winter

I know winter is coming. We've gotten a couple of snow flurries, although no accumulation, and just today I put the flannel sheets and electric blanket on my bed. (I also sealed my drafty bedroom windows with the trailer-trash plastic film, but I'd prefer not to think about that.)

But the real sign, I think, is how much I've been cooking, especially with the crockpot. This weekend, I used it to make risotto. I don't know about you, but I've always thought of risotto as something you ordered in a restaurant, because it's such a pain to make at home -- all that stirring! I was a little skeptical about this recipe, but tried it anyway. The only change I made was to add some sliced mushrooms with the parmesan.

in the crockpot

It wasn't exactly perfect risotto, with those separate but creamy grains of rice, but it was pretty close and incredibly easy!

I made focaccia bread, using my favorite pizza crust recipe, with a little olive oil and Italian herbs.

pizza crust turned into focaccia


I had a glass of this with it.

box of wine from target!

Yum!
mushroom risotto and focaccia

6 comments:

Chris said...

Sounds tasty! Yeah, I put my flannel sheets on last Wednesday. *sigh*

Anonymous said...

I have got to try that. I bought some arborio rice and chicken broth, but remembered all the stirring, and went "bleh!"

Bezzie said...

Looks good to me--perfect cold weather food!

Is that a pampered chef pizza stone? Hee hee, I love mine!

Steven said...

Dang -- you're making me hungry. It all looks so good. And in a persimmon Fiesta Ware bowl no less!

Anonymous said...

How much do I love your giant box o' wine in the fridge? :)

Courtney said...

How is that Pinot Grigio from the wine cube?