I wanted to bake something, and this weekend Meredith said, “Get rid of the cranberries!” So I decided to get rid of the cranberries.

CRANBERRY WALNUT SCONES (that started out as cranberry walnut cookies)

2 cups arborio rice
ample amounts of hot veggie or chicken broth.  use veggie and this will be a meatless meal.
a couple cups of dry white wine
five or six medium-sized beets
three celery stalks
one big-ass yellow onion
three or four garlic cloves
three heaping cups of chopped swiss chard
a bunch of grated parmesan cheese
butter
fresh thyme
salt & pepper

take the beets, wash them, put them in a baking dish with 1/2 inch water in the bottom.  don’t peel them!! cover it with tin foil, put in a 375 oven for a log time.  they are hard to overcook.  check them after about an hour by poking with a fork to see if they’re tender.  when they’re done, take them out, let them cool a bit, then peel and chop them into smaller bits.  in a big, flat pan, heat about three tablespoons of butter.  add chopped onions.  make them small.  caramelize those bitches until they are brown and sweet.  add a little sugar if you need to.  take them out of the pan, add more butter and cook the chopped celery and garlic for a little while, until they get softish.  add the chard and a little salt, turn the heat pretty low and cover.  let it cook for ten minutes or so, chard is pretty dense so it wont wilt to nothing for a little while.   it’ll release some water as it cooks, but leave that in there as it adds a nice earthy flavor.  add the rice.  turn the heat up a bit here and add some olive oil or more butter, and let the rice cook a little bit without any liquid.  once it starts to look slightly translucent (three or four minutes) throw in a few cupfuls of the wine.  let it evaporate/absorb.  yum.  then turn the heat down and start ladling in the broth, one cup at a time and stirring, you know, the risotto thing.  once it reaches desired consistency (loose and soft with al dente rice, not sticky or gummy!) add the caramelized onions, chopped beets, fresh thyme, cracked pepper and parmesan cheese.  eat immediately, with more grated parmesan.

this shit was so good.

kwlr

xxox

kwlr

Today I: called my mom in frustration this morning, stared at my computer for two hours, made a delicious lunch, and went to the downtown library for four hours and applied to many jobs. A productive day!

My delicious lunch was: an open faced mushroom sandwich. Melt swiss cheese on a slice of bread (I just used regular, but nice bread like baguette or something would be better) in the oven or toaster over. Saute about five mushrooms in garlic. (If you’re just doing this for one person. If more, change accordingly.) Put a handful of spinach on the melted cheese, then cover the spinach with mushrooms.

Also my own personal blog is at explodingviolet.wordpress.com.

-k

http://www.feastforbush.com/home.htm

combining regrettable political decisions with a on-cohesive menu leads to internet fun for the whole family!

Also This (clearly a busy day at work):

http://www.rimag.com/article/CA6708914.html

Upcoming food trends-mostly they’re based on being poor, but if that means chefs are butchering their own meat, beers are being brewed on-site, and there’ll be more (and better) all-veggie options, being broke aint too bad.

8 or 9 large red po-ta-toes
small log goat cheese
handfuls of favorite fresh herbs (i used parsley and dill, but rosemary would be great here too)
buttuh (i used one stick, or .5 cup)
salt
pepper

it’s so easy.  cook the shit out of the potatoes (they’d be great roasted in the oven, with skins, covered in butter, salt and garlic, but i just boiled them to hell and it was great).  mash them up with all the other stuff.  i left the skins on because that’s how i roll, but if you prefer not to, that’s between you and your god.  put the herbs in at the very end, right before serving so they stay fresh and flavorful.  the goat cheese adds a little undertone of goatiness– it’s not enough to overly dominant.  it’s like sour cream, but a deeper flavor, i think.

today SUCKED at work.  rich people are so awful, especially around the holidays.  at least i am making out decently in commissions.  i go home tomorrow via megabus.  i think we’ll be thanksgivinging on friday night instead.  it’s weird, but i am really looking forward to being in the quiet boonies for a couple days.  most of the time chicago suits me fine, but i miss trees.  my neighborhood is very urban.  and dirty.

happy thanksgiving babies.  welcome to the nerdblog, kat!

I was going to be an asshole and take pictures of the pizzas and thai food I bought and be all, “oh man, this was so good,” and kind of make fun of your food blog because I don’t cook but do you know how lazy I am? yes, you’re my friends, so you know.

I don’t have a job! it’s two-thirty in the morning on a tuesday (err, wednesday?) and I’ve had a bottle of wine tonight because, I mean, what else am I going to do? go to work? not hardly. I love you guys, and I’m sorry I haven’t kept in better touch. not only am I lazy, I’m also an asshole. at some point I’ll post my pie recipe that wilson was talking about earlier, it’s tasty (especially when you don’t confuse salt with sugar).

kat

…and I love love love that weird painting as the header above, so I stole it.  Even though I put it on here, which I should have okayed you guys to begin with.  Anyways, my little blog on the internet.

the anemone grows

CQ