Taking a little study break so I decided I should post the recipe from dinner last night.  It. was. so. good.  Wow!  I halved the recipe since there were just two of us and I didn’t really have room in the fridge for leftovers.  It was the perfect amount for us with a little garlic bread on the side.  YUM!  Give it a shot!  Oh and I forgot to take a picture, but it was really pretty too!

Mushroom Risotto  (yields about 6 servings)

Ingredients:

5 cup(s) vegetable broth
2 tsp butter or margarine, divided
1 small onion, minced
1 lb crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/3 cups white wine (I didn’t have any on hand so I used veggie broth)
1 1/2 cup(s) uncooked arborio rice   
1/2 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

• Place broth in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover to keep warm.
• Meanwhile, coat a large saucepan with cooking spray; place over medium heat. Add1 teaspoon butter and cook until melted.
• Add onion; cook, stirring, until onion begins to caramelize, about 7 to 10 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms release moisture, about 5 minutes. Add wine; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; reduce liquid by half, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove vegetables from pan; set aside.
• Add remaining teaspoon of butter to same pan; cook until melted. Add rice; stir to coat with butter. Pour about 1/2 cup warm broth into rice; stir to keep grains from sticking to sides of pan. Keep stirring until all of broth is absorbed. Add another 1/2 cup warm broth and repeat process. Keep adding broth and stirring in this manner until all of broth is used and rice is just cooked but not mushy (should still be slightly chewy), about 18 to 20 minutes.

Stir in vegetables and cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Yields about 1 1/3 cups per serving

There’s not much better than a big bowl of oatmeal on a chilly spring morning!

Except for maybe a whole pot of my fav spring blend coffee (yup, a whole pot.  I have a problem).

Or a gigantic dog who has no idea how incredibly big she is curling up in your lap for a nap.

Nope, not much that’s better!

Had a great girls night last night!!  Went to Granbury with some friends, had some dinner, had some drinks, did some hanging out.  Good times!

This afternoon was Concert On the Lawn.  Except that it was raining, so it was concert at the convention center.  Paluxy winds sounded awesome- much better than we did at rehearsal on Tuesday!  But ya know what they say… bad dress rehearsal= great performance at the concert!

Tonight’s dinner was some super tasty Tempeh Tacos- they turned out SO good!!

So if you don’t know what Tempeh is, it’s basically just whole soybeans that are pressed together into kind of a cake form.  It’s soft and you can do lots with it.  Marinate it, grill it, sautee it, use it as a substitute for meat- anything really!

I decided to make mine into tacos tonight!  So here’s the tempeh that I used.  The kind I bought already had spices in it, so I didn’t need to add anything, but if you get the plain kind you will need to add some seasonings- it’s a bit bland in my opinion.

So I steamed the tempeh- you don’t have to steam it,  but I like the way it turns out better when I steam it first.  Not sure why though.

Then I sliced it into strips and sauteed it in a pan with a tiny bit of canola oil

Then it was ready for tacos!

The taco fixins’:

Whole wheat tortillas, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, cheese, dollop of Greek yogurt, and some unpictured salsa and cubed avocado.

YUM!  So good- the tempeh has a great spicy meaty flavor.  It’s delicious!

Here’s ma’ tacos…

Plans for the rest of the evening include watching Sherlock Holmes on Blu-Ray with the husband!

Adios!

Which is awesome for my plants, but not so awesome for the outdoor plans I have tomorrow.  Hopefully it will clear up soon!

Speaking of my plants, I don’t remember if I talked about this already but I’m doing a container garden this year!!  I don’t really have a place to plant a proper garden (nor do I have the know how or a green thumb, lol).  But I do have a patio!  So I’m doing some veggies in containers!!  Just my veggie plants and some organic miracle grow- no bug sprays or anything like that.  I can’t WAIT to taste those fresh yummy veggies!!

I’ve got two types of tomatoes going- yellow pear tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes- both heirloom varieties. I’ve also got yellow straightneck squash, zucchini, eggplant, okra, basil, rosemary, and sugar baby watermelons!  Oh I’m so stinking excited!  They are growing like crazy and I’m thinking maybe the end of June or beginning of July I’ll start getting some stuff I can pick.

Here’s what my veggies looked like last week…

And here’s what they look like today…

Look how big my eggplant is!!!!

I can’t wait to eat you little vegetables!!!!

Got up this morning and got on the treadmill.  I had planned to go to kickboxing, but it was raining and I just wanted to sleep in a little.  So I did.  But I made myself get on the treadmill and run.  I always feel great afterword, so it’s worth making myself do it!

Then I chopped some veggies to prep for next week.  And I peeled up a huge chunk of ginger- oh my goodness I LOVE the smell of ginger!  It’s so warm and spicy- I need to use it more often.  It’s fantastic and so cheap!

Then I put on a big ole pot of coffee (Spring Blend!!!).  I got a new coffee maker yesterday and I am enjoying my spring blend better in it than I was in the french press.  I like my  coffee with a little organic half and half.  YUM!

And I munched on some pretty delicious trail mix that I found at Whole Foods yesterday.

HOLY MOLY this stuff is good!!!!

So anyway!  It’s time to start figuring out what’s going to be for lunch, then it’s time to start getting ready for girls night!!!!  Woot woot!!  I can’t wait!

Catch ya later!!

What a day today was!!  I’m glad it’s Friday cause that means tomorrow is Saturday and I have a fun girls night planned for tomorrow night!  YAY!

Got up and did some Organic Chem homework- glycolysis.  Not so interesting at 8 in the morning!  Then did my discussion and response for my Food and Culture class, which is online.  Then it was lunch and grocery shopping.

Lunch was the same as it has been for the last few days- veggie burger with pepperjack cheese.  I’m LOVING the gardenburger veggieburgers!

Then onward to a marathon grocery shopping trip!  I hit up the local produce place here in town, then it was on to Whole Foods, then Central Market for my favorite Whole Wheat tortillas(they make the best tortillas EVER!!!)

For dinner I put a few things together and we kind of had a mismash of things.  I had some Annie’s mac and cheese in the pantry, so I made that and stirred a can of drained Rotel into it (thanks for the idea Amanda- it was delicious!  I can’t believe I’ve never tried that before!). 

Then roasted up some broccoli (if you’ve never had roasted broccoli you have to try it- it’s amazing!).  And sprinkled a little parmesan cheese on top.  YUM!

Then I tried a new product that I grabbed at Whole Foods this afternoon.  I’m always a bit wary of the veggie versions of meat- I’ve tried so many that were disgusting.  This is a brand that I heard about on a podcast that I like to listen to- it’s called Field Roast, and they make all kinds of veggie meats out of wheat gluten. 

I got the Mexican Chipotle style “sausage” to try.

Look- you can pronounce all of the ingredients!

Now I’m not going to say that it tasted exactly like sausage, but it definitely had a sausage flavor to it.  I just used one link for the both of us, so I’ll have plenty of other opportunities to try it in other things- there are three more of them left.  It was REALLY spicy though- so if you don’t like spicy stuff, you wouldn’t like it.  Overall, though, I thought it was pretty good!  I would probably buy it again.

I served that up with my broccoli and mac and cheese.

I’m exhausted- I think it’s my bed time now!  Nighty night!