Black Bean Risotto

As I was cooking dinner for my family tonight, I was thinking about how much I love the meal I was making. Then I thought that if I love this meal so much, I should share it on TAL! And so...here it is.

Tonight, I made Black Bean Risotto. It's so good--everyone I've ever made it for has loved it! I found this recipe years ago on the Food Network website. I was on a risotto kick and was looking for some new innovative ways to prepare it.

Now, for those of you who are fearful of making risotto, don't be. I know you've heard that it's a lot of work, but it's actually quite simple. Take the arborio rice, put it in a pan with some butter and/or oil (I typically use a mix), heat it until it becomes a little opaque, slowly ladle in hot chicken broth (or any other hot liquid, like vegetable broth or a mixture of wine and something else so it's not too strong...I made that mistake once!)--I do 2 ladlefuls at at time--and stir until absorbed or mostly absorbed. It only takes about 4 cups of chicken broth (2 cans!) to make 1 cup of risotto...which will EASILY feed a family of 4. The trick to making good risotto is to stir...pretty much constantly. But, it only takes 15-20 minutes to complete, and, yes, it is ok to walk away from it once in a while! Plus, risotto is super versatile. You can throw just about anything in there and make a meal of it.

Here's tonight's recipe. I have tweaked it a little from the Food Network version, and find that I like mine better. I hope you enjoy it too!

All done and ready to eat!

Black Bean Risotto:
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chopped jalapeno or a sprinkling of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup cooked black beans or 1 can black beans, drained (I typically use 1 can even though that's more than what the original recipe called for.)
1/2 cup chopped plum tomatoes (I often use 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained--again, more than what the original recipe calls for, but I like the extra heartiness and flavor.)
1 cup arborio rice
4 cups chicken broth, heated
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 tbsp butter (can substitute another tbsp olive oil)
Cheese for garnish (optional, but I love cheese...)
Chopped cooked chicken (optional, but I use it because without it, this dish feels more like a side than a meal)

Add 1 tbsp of the olive oil to a saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, jalapenos and onions and saute for about 3 to 4 minutes. (If you are using red pepper flakes, add them when you add the other spices, not here.) Do not brown. Add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, beans and tomatoes (and the chicken if you are using it). Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes until all ingredients are warm, then set aside.

Add the other tablespoon of olive oil and butter to a large pan and saute the arborio rice until warm and nearly opaque. Keep stirring and adding liquid to the rice, 2 to 3 ladlefuls at a time, until the rice is tender and no liquid broth remains in the pan. (There will be a creamy, whitish liquid in the pan.) The rice should be creamy.

Add the salt, pepper, and vegetable mixture (with chicken if using) to the arborio rice. Stir, garnish with cheese and serve.

My second helping...delish!

Enjoy!

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at theaccessorizedlife@gmail.com

Sweet Valentine

I remember being in elementary school and giving everyone a Valentine Card.  I loved going with my mom to pick out the fun box of cards to give all my friends.  Well, grown up me doesn't always give out cards. Now, I'm all about the baked goods!  I come from a baking family. My mom is an amazing baker, and everything I know I learned from her!  To me, baked goods = love!

This year I made some sugar cookies (recipe below) and will be giving them to my family and friends.

Now, I love icing on cookies and have searched for a good Royal Icing Recipe for years.  Well by some off chance, I finally found it!  I've always said to people that all my baked goods taste good, even if they might not look pretty.... Finally, finally, I feel like my cookies came out pretty!

Finished look! 

Different sizes

With some sprinkles

I hope everyone is having a Sweet Valentine!!

Love,

Sugar Cookie Recipe: Old family recipe:

2         Cups           Sifted Flour
1 1/2   teaspoon     Baking Powder
1/2      teaspoon     Salt
2/3      cup             Softened Butter
3/4      cup             Sugar
1                            Egg
1/2      teaspoon     Vanilla Extract
2         teaspoon     Grated Orange Peel
4         teaspoon     Milk

Mix Butter and Sugar together until Creamy.  Add Egg, Vanilla, Flour, Baking Powder, Salt, Orange Peel and Milk, Mixing after each ingredient.  Chill dough for 15 minutes. Then, using a pastry cloth and rolling pin, roll out some of the dough and use whatever cookie cutter you want (i like to make sure the dough isn't too thin)

Place on a cookie sheet that has parchment paper on it.  Bake for 11 minutes at 375 degrees.

Once the cookies are cool, then do the icing!


Royal Icing Recipe, Found at allrecipes.com

1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups confectioner's sugar or more as needed.


Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at theaccessorizedlife@gmail.com

Valentine's Dinner...In a Snap!

With Valentine's Day rapidly approaching, Lauren and I made it our mission to create the perfect dinner to cook for your valentine, without it being too complicated, too fancy or too heavy.  (I mean, who wants to be feeling the food coma when you should be feeling your date...if you know what we mean!!)

This meal looks like it would be a difficult meal to put together...in other words, it looks fancy schmancy. However, it is easy, delicious, and mostly healthy!

For our dinner, we decided on making roasted chicken caprese for our main course with roasted mixed vegetables as a side.

Veggies for Roasting

For the roasted vegetables, we decided to use a mix of red peppers, green peppers, red onion, eggplant and zucchini. Feel free to adapt your vegetable choices to your and your guests' unique tastes-- Lauren hates mushrooms, thus why we didn't include them, but Stacy loves them!  We just cut the veggies into chunks/strips (all roughly about the same size so they cooked at the same rate) then drizzled them with olive oil, garlic, oregano and pepper and roasted them in the oven for about 60 minutes at 375/350 degrees. In fact--we roasted the veggies at the same time as we made the chicken and the roasted tomatoes (see--this meal is EASY PEASY!!)

Sauce for our Chicken

The roasted chicken caprese is easy to make. All you need to be able to do is measure a few ingredients, cut up tomatoes into quarters, cut up mozzarella cheese into cubes, squeeze a lemon, chop some basil, put it all together and throw it in the oven. So. Easy. Now, Lauren and I are all about making our lives super, duper simple. So, we bought the thin sliced chicken breasts--they are more expensive, but they are such a time saver. If you want to save money, or if you like your chicken breasts a little thicker, get the family pack or the regular chicken breasts--you can cut them into thinner breasts, or cook them as is. Your choice.  For the mozzarella, we used the packaged kind you can find in your grocer's dairy case.  We find that it tastes delicious and is a little lighter on your wallets.

Dessert is Assembled!

And, what good is a romantic meal without a special dessert? We made indoor s'more sundaes. Yes, they were as amazing as they sound. They look so fancy and like they'd be such a difficult thing to make, but, they were the complete opposite.  All you need to be able to do is crush a few graham crackers, melt some butter, scoop some ice cream, put it in the freezer and then under the broiler. The recipe says you should melt semi-sweet chocolate morsels to make a chocolate sauce. But, as the evening went on, we found making the chocolate sauce right after dinner, because we wanted it to be fresh, would take too much time, so we went with Hershey's chocolate syrup instead. This dessert wowed our guests!  Once dessert hit the table the talking was at a standstill and everyone became way more interested in the cupcake style desserts than catching up on their daily activities.  (We can't wait to make these again for a dinner party or a girls' night in or any other special occasion like, you know, next Tuesday, a snowy Saturday...)

The dinner? Deceptively simple, filling without being heavy, delicious and a huge hit.

When you have the best Valentine's Day dinner ever, you can thank us. We accept cash, checks, jewelry, cookies... Just kidding (mostly). Hope you have the best Valentine's Day!

Our Completed Dinner

The Best Dessert Ever

Love,

The recipes are as follows:

Roasted Chicken Caprese -- Serves 4

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (1lb)
6 medium roma tomatoes (or whatever's in season)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4" pieces
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper

Lemon Vinaigrette:
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Place chicken in 1 gallon zipper bag. Add lemon vinaigrette, seal and marinate in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cut each tomato into quarters, lengthwise. Place them in a medium bowl and gently toss with sugar, salt and olive oil. Spoon tomato mixture onto a rimmed cookie sheet so tomato pieces don't touch. Roast for 30 minutes. Spoon tomatoes and all accumulated juices into a small bowl. Add the cheese, basil leaves and pepper, tossing gently. Let this mixture sit at room temperature while the chicken cooks.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade. Place the chicken on the same cookie sheet. Roast for about 30 minutes, turning once, or until cooked.

Spoon the tomato and mozzarella mixture over the chicken and serve.

Indoor S'more Sundae -- Serves 4

Graham Cracker Crust:
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 5 whole graham crackers)
3 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Salt (just a pinch)

4 scoops vanilla ice cream
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Quick Chocolate Sauce:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp whole milk

For the graham cracker crust: Mix the graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, cinnamon and a sprinkle of salt together in a bowl. Firmly press the crust into muffin tins to make individual crusts. Top each crust with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Press the mini marshmallows into the ice cream, covering the scoop completely. You will have 4 s'more "domes." Freeze at least 1 hour.

For the quick chocolate sauce: Immediately before serving, heat the broiler to low. Toss the chocolate chips with the milk in a ramekin or small bowl and microwave 30 seconds. Stir until smooth and set aside. Place the s'more domes under the broiler until marshmallows brown, about 30 seconds. Watch them constantly as they burn easily. Place each s'more on a plate and drizzle with the chocolate sauce.

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at theaccessorizedlife@gmail.com