Leftovers

In an attempt to recreate the attitude of "make do and mend," I decided to cook dinner using leftovers. We'd roasted a chicken the night before and there was still enough meat on it to cobble a meal out of, so I decided to make risotto.

I'm proud I was able to throw it together in the end, given my distinct disinterest in cooking in general. I skimmed a few recipes off the internet and modified one to meet my needs.

In a wok pan (hey, it was the biggest thing we had around), I combined a scoopful of butter and a few dashes of chili olive oil (for spice), chopped half a red onion into fine pieces, and simmered them over low heat. Then I added uncooked rice, swirled it around to coat it fully in butter, oil and onions, and added enough water to cover it.

After the water had boiled off/soaked in (reduced? I'm no chef, whatever!) I added more water again and then about a bowlful of shredded chicken pieces. The chicken added some more flavor to the dish. (Some recipes call for white wine and chicken stock; I didn't have any on hand so just used water. It worked fine.)

In another pot, I steamed broccoli and then added them to the mix. After about 20-25 mins, the rice was tender enough, so I served up:

Note: You don't have to use salt. I didn't. I added some black pepper and some garlic pepper. It worked nicely. In the future I might add 1/4 a cup of wine and some diced garlic. At the end, I diced some aged cheddar and mixed it in for a nice cheesy flavor.

Made for a nice meal. If I'd had the energy and the ingredients, I would have made a salad, but I was lazy and stuck the last of the spinach leaves on the plate.

To keep to the theme of "leftovers" I dished up the remaining lowfat vanilla yogurt and the dregs of the strawberries. We're still good on bananas, but I added them anyway:

Mmmgh, yum. I don't have a recipe book or anything fruity and housewifey like that but I'm definitely going to remember this and make it again.

Snow and other things

It snowed on Sunday, and a bunch actually stuck to the ground (well, until noon or so...). I took this picture from the kitchen looking out onto our balcony and down the steps to the yard. Our back yard isn't shown - the two you see on either side are our downstairs neighbors'. Our yard is actually behind that reddish snow-covered tree and a bit off to the right.

Went in for an ultrasound on Friday - It's a hermaphrodite! We're so excit-- wait, what? April Fools was when? Oh. Right.

Well, it's a BOY! And yes, I'm finally starting to show. And yes, it does kick like crazy. He, even. I'll have to get used to calling him that.