Oh-Zoat Oh-Zoat, aka Risotto- gluten and optional dairy free!

Girlfriend loves her some "oh-zoat oh-zoat". If you have not had risotto, you are missing out. It's Italy's delicious version of a rice dish which means gluten free for all you pasta lovers who can no longer enjoy pasta! Though it looks creamy, the base is just white wine and chicken stock. Bonus points if you use your homemade chicken stock since it's one of the healthiest things on the planet to eat.

Here's my go-to risotto base recipe. It is, of course, Michael Symon. He uses vegetable stock since he was making a vegetarian dish, but I use chicken stock. And I typically only need half the amount he says to use. I also add meat because I'm married to a Serbian who needs meat at every meal. This time, I used zucchini and summer squash and a bunch of garlic scapes (it was clean veggie drawer dump day) and I didn't have tomatoes so I used salami. why not.

I threw in the onions first, then the rest of the veggies, then the salami, and then the rice. but I followed the directions for the most part after that.

pre-rice, all cooking up in the dutch oven

Mangia!

PS- the parmesan at the end is optional if you are dairy free.

Quinoa Tabbouleh and Mini Meatballs

delicious, nutritious, and adorable. cause mini.

Recipe courtesy of Michael Symon, of course. It comes with a meat option as well, but it's not what I had defrosted so I didn't use it. I pretty much followed his recipe except I didn't add quite as much mint or lemon. hubbs is not a lover of all things lemon like I am.

And I just through the mini meatballs together.

1/2 lb organic grass fed ground beef
1 organic egg
1-2 slices of bread soaked in milk (I used some of the baguette I made. If you use sliced bread I would only use 1 slice)
a spoonful of roasted garlic
salt and pepper

mix all together. make small balls. toss em in a hot cast iron skillet with some extra virgin olive oil.

Dinner is served. In about 40 minutes, including quinoa cook time.