Tomato Basil Risotto

I love risotto.  I love all kinds of risotto.  It's probably my favorite dish.  However, it's not very healthy because most risotto dishes use heavy cream.  As a result, I try not to eat it too much.  It also is one of the more expensive dishes at a restaurant.

I found this Tomato and Basil Risotto recipe that doesn't use heavy cream.  It looked amazing in the picture, and I had all of the ingredients, so I figured why not.

It was amazingly delicious.  I would definitely make this again.  I didn't put any sugar in it since it said to put in just a pinch of sugar, and I figured that if it was too tart I could add that in at the end.

I also used canned, diced tomatoes instead of grated fresh tomatoes since I didn't have fresh tomatoes.

Rotini bolognese

I've seen Bolognese sauce at restaurants before and usually just associate them with being a ground meat sauce.  I've never really had cravings for them.  I just thought they were tomato sauce with ground meat.

This recipe had much more flavor, even without the anchovy and porcini mushrooms.  The recipe called for these, but I didn't have any mushrooms since Mike hates mushrooms.  I also didn't know where to buy anchovy and didn't think Mike would touch this dish if it had anchovies in it.

I also have pancetta, so I used about 10 small pieces of thinly sliced ham that I had in the freezer.  I don't remember why I bought this ham.  Perhaps it was for Mike to make himself sandwiches for lunch?  It had been in the freezer for a while, so I wanted to use it.  I figured that pancetta is often described as being similar to ham, so why not sub ham for pancetta?

I was supposed to chop the carrots separately from the pancetta, mushrooms and anchovies, but since I was only going to process the carrots and ham, I just made them at the same time in the Vitamix.  Most of the carrots were finely chopped, but some did turn out a little big.  When I put the mixture in the Dutch oven, I just put the 2 or so pieces of carrots back in the Vitamix and chopped them up with the tomato sauce.

The dish was delicious, and a great way to cook carrots, since you really can't taste them!  I wasn't sure how long to cook the pasta, since I used Rotini instead of Linguini (which I didn't have).

New England Clam Chowder

I love New England Clam Chowder.  I tend to forget that there are actually two types.  I love the creamy goodness of the New England Clam Chowder.  It's much better than it's tomato based "cousin".  I'm sure it's not as healthy, but it's worth it for a good cup of clam chowder.

I've wanted to make my own clam chowder for a long time, since I love it so much, and the taste really does vary, depending on where you get the soup.  A while ago, I had tried to make it using the crock pot.  However, the recipe we used called for a specific amount of clams, and we weren't sure if that amount was the "dry weight", or with juice.  We ended up using double the amount of clams because we like clams, and it was supposedly the correct amount.  The soup turned out very clammy, and tasted terrible.

This soup was OK, but was rather bland, even after I added the salt and pepper (to taste) to it.  I bought a big can of clams from Costco (about 51 ounces) and weighed the clams/juice to get the amount specified in there recipe.  It could be that I did not get enough clams or juice, but I don't think that was the issue.

This recipe uses a small amount of bacon to get the "fat content" and smokey flavor without being too unhealthy.  I found the recipe in Comfort Food Makeovers, where the recipes for popular dishes are updated to be healthier than the original versions.  The problem may have been that I used turkey bacon instead of regular bacon.  As a result, the bacon probably didn't impart as much flavor, or have as much fat as the original dish created by the recipe writers.

I also wasn't sure what they meant by "instant potato flakes".  I bought instant mashed potatoes and used those instead.  However, I think I might have used too much instant mashed potatoes.  The potato flakes are supposed to thicken the soup, but it made it too thick.  If I had to make this recipe again, I would put half or even less of the instant mashed potatoes.

My quest for a good clam chowder recipe continues, as I don't think I would make this recipe again.  If I'm going to eat a soup that is rich and on the unhealthy side, it might as well taste good.

Pasta Milano

While continuing my quest to use up the heavy whipping cream, I stumbled on a recipe for Pasta Milano Soup.  It can be made into a sauce by adding more flour to thicken it, and it can then be served over pasta, as I did.

I didn't use sun dried tomatoes since I don't like the taste of them.  Instead I used the same amount of canned tomatoes.  This would obviously change the taste of the dish, but I like how it turned out.  I also used baby Portabella mushrooms instead of button mushrooms.  I just like the taste of Portabella mushrooms better.

I probably would not make this dish again since it is not very healthy, maybe once in a while, as a treat.

Shrimp Scampi

I love Shrimp Scampi and have always wanted to try to make it at home.  Mike was nice enough to find this Shrimp Scampi recipe, which does not use lemon, since I didn't have any lemon at home.

Mike wasn't sure how much Parmesan Cheese we had, and wanted to err on the side of caution, so he didn't put much Parmesan Cheese in it.  It turned out rather bland.  When I added some Parmesan Cheese to my dish, it was pretty decent.