Sweet Potato or Butternut Barley Risotto

Whenever I go on a Costco food purchasing binge, it's kind of a challenge to get to see whether we can eat everything I bought in the last week.  If we have to throw something away, Mr. Barefoot gets to be right and tell me I can't buy produce at Costco.

So how are we doing?  Last week, I bought a 6-pack of peppers, a 2 lb bag of green beans, 2 lbs of butternut squash and a giant bag of onions.  This week, I used the peppers as pizza toppings, and in the Quinoa and Pepper Saute, which was not very good.  Although it's better if you douse it in Greek yogurt or cheese. I used the green beans and butternut squash for the Indian Shrimp and Squash, which actually was pretty good.  Today, I used the last of the butternut squash in Sweet Potato Barley Risotto in the crockpot.  I went to link to this recipe and realized I'd never shared it.  How sad for my poor readers.  This recipe is from 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes and you must go buy this book.  Seriously.  

You will need:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 onions, finely chopped

1 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp dried rosemary leaves

1 1/2 cups pearl barley, rinsed

3 cups vegetable stock

2 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes (I actually cut them into 1/2 inch cubes - with the butternut squash, I just used about a cup and a half.)  

Optional: mushrooms.  I've added baby bella mushrooms to this a couple times now and it's generally pretty good.  

Recipe:

1.  In a skillet, cook the onions until soft.  Add garlic and rosemary and saute for another minute.  Add barley, stir until coated with onions/garlic mixture.  Add stock and bring to a boil.  

2.  Place sweet potatoes and/or mushrooms in crockpot stoneware.  Add barley mixture.

3.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or slow for 4 hours.  

I'm not normally a person that eats barley, but firstly, I'll eat anything with sweet potatoes, and secondly, barley is actually pretty good - it has that nutty, wholesome flavor that anything "good for you" has, but this doesn't taste that much like a crunchy-granola type of meal.  Plus, it's very good for you.  I don't really eat anything else with barley in it, but I think I would like to branch out a bit - any suggestions?

Meatless Monday: Red Wine Marinated Mushrooms

We have a few bottles of red wine hanging around the apartment, and it turns out that when you cook mushrooms in red wine, they come out delicious.

Ingredients:

• Mushrooms - we didn't use enough, because Mr. Barefoot always forgets how much they cook down. I would use about 20 next time, or really, the entire box.
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 1/2 cups red wine (or just pour until they are covered. You can also add some water.)

Procedure:

1. Slice and prep mushrooms.
2. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat.
3. Saute mushrooms in butter until soft and cooked. Add garlic and cook for until garlic is slightly cooked.
4. Pour in red wine. Allow to come to a boil, then simmer.
5. Simmer until wine becomes a thick sauce (5-10 minutes).

We had ours over salmon, but they would be fantastic with just about anything, or just served over cous cous or rice. Or risotto. Man that would be amazing.

Mushroom parmesean risotto

Last week I did something a little impulsive. And, I'm not gonna lie, I did it because Mark wasn't here to tell me that I couldn't. So I scoured Craigslist and I bought myself a brand new rice cooker. Because what girl living alone in Michigan doesn't need a 14-cup rice maker? I agree, I should have asked what size it was and gotten a more reasonable size.
However, on Monday night I cooked myself 2 cups (four servings) of rice to go with the delicious sweet and sour tofu and yellow curry I was planning to make this week. It worked out very nicely - it took a little longer than the internet said it would to cook, but I put 2 cups of brown rice in and washed it thoroughly, and then put in two cups of water. I hit the on switch, and 45 minutes later, I had rice. I would recommend not starting the rice cooker when you have a slow cooker of food all ready to go though, because my sweet and sour tofu got cold.
It makes perfect sticky, fluffy, Chinese food restaurant brown rice. Brown rice is just better when it's fluffier, it's true.
So here I had 4 servings of rice, which it turns out, is a lot. So I actually got most of my meals for the week out of it. Last night I made an amazing risotto with the last of it. Here's the recipe, although feel free to play around. Quantities are not exact. Just pour.
Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked brown (or other type) rice
• 6 small white mushrooms (because I only had six - go ahead, use more)
• chopped garlic
• olive oil
• half and half
• salt
• pepper
• veggies for a side
• parmesean cheese (probably about a cup, shredded)

Procedure:

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat, saute garlic until yummy.
2. Add mushrooms
3. Add half and half (I would say pour in at least a quarter cup)
4. Add rice. Mix into half and half until half and half bubbles and is absorbed.
5. Add cheese. Stir until melted.
   
6. Add salt, pepper, and other spices if you are lucky enough to have them.
   
7. Serve with veggies (I had brocolli and asparagus.)
   

Pretty darn good, and waaaaay quicker than a standard risotto.

Vegetarians at the Grill: The Food

I went to a barbeque yesterday and brought vegetable grillables. I like to grill red peppers, mushrooms, and onions in a foil packet. I marinate them in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and garlic. What I found out yesterday is that you can take an entire bulb of garlic, peel it, chop off the hard part on the bottom, and then stick it in your Cuisinart mini-prep mini food processor and in 3 seconds you have minced garlic. Then you pour in the balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and you have a marinade. I like to add more spices, but we didn't have any.
Yesterday was the first time I tried marinating the mushrooms for more than a few minutes, and they were amazing - they had a really sharp garlicky flavor to them, probably because of the entire bulb of garlic that was minced up really tiny. In the future, I will probably cook them longer to tone down the garlic. I might also try roasting the garlic first...mmmm.
Another thing I tried was potatoes in tin foil on the grill - these were amazing. Take potatoes (the white ones with the thin skin, or redskins) and chop them up into small pieces (about an inch) and wrap them in foil with some olive oil and salt and pepper (I also used Montreal steak seasoning.) It is actually best to roll up the foil like a tootsie roll so you can flip it. Toss them on the grill at the beginning, and then flip after about 10 minutes so both sides get crispy.
These were both big hits at the barbeque and makes me wish I had a grill here.

Vegetables

I have a new thing - mushrooms. I've been starting to eat them slowly, usually preferably marinated in some balsamic vinegar or something. They're still slimy and the same Kingdom as the stuff that grows between your toes, but every once in awhile I do like to try something new.
But here is a good roasted veggie recipe for the mushroom, pepper, and onion person in your life.
Ingredients:

1. 1/2 lb mushrooms
2. 2 red peppers
3. 1 sweet onion
4. 2-8 cloves garlic (depending on taste)
5. Garlic powder
   
6. Balsamic vinegar
7. Olive oil

Equipment:

1. Oven at 350
2. Jelly roll pan
3. Cutting board/knife
4. Bowls for marinating
5. Saute pan

Procedure:

1. Wash all vegetables.
2. Chop mushrooms and put them in the bowl.
3. Combine 1/6 (eyeball it) cup olive oil and 1/6 cup balsamic vinegar and pour over the mushrooms. Turn mushrooms to coat and allow to marinate.
4. Chop red peppers. Put in a bowl and coat with a little olive oil. Set aside.
5. Chop onions and garlic.
   
6. Prepare a saute pan and pour in some olive oil.
   
7. Saute onions until fairly tender, but not brown. (Transparent is good.)
   
8. Combine marinated mushrooms (with the marinade), red peppers, and onions in jelly roll pan.
   
9. Spread vegetables to be about one to two vegetables thick.
   
10. Bake in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until tender, delicious and the red peppers have become yellow-orange in color.