My kid is awesome

[nex0s]

So, Jaeger is awesome, of course. But you don't know HOW awesome. Yeah, he's adorable and whatnot, but he's awesome about food in particular. Now, I know that kids develop preferences later on, and that he'll probably stop being adventurous... HOWEVER

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[nex0s]

Have you ever made risotto? It was one of my standards when I was a vegetarian, and you can very easily veganize it. The important part is to have Aborio Rice, which is Italian rice for risotto. It's important to use this rice because it has a different starch content than regular rice (higher) and that contributes to the creamy mouthfeel of the risotto. Once you make risotto once, you'll see that it's easy to make it a thousand different ways.

Serves a bunch - we had dinner for three, plus leftovers for lunches.

1 bunch wild garlic or chives
olive oil
1/4 pound wild mushrooms
6 cups stock (vegetable stock is great)
1 cup white wine (optional)
1 lb Aborio rice

Clean and cut up chives and mushrooms. I like to dice them basically. Saute vegetables in olive oil. When limp, add Aborio rice and saute briefly.

Slowly pour in about 1 cup of the stock. Continue cooking and stirring while you lower heat to medium or low. Slowly simmer the stock into the rice. As it dries up, add another cup of stock and do the same thing. You want to slowly add all the liquid over the course of cooking (anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes depending on how low your flame is). Cooking this slowly in this manner, allows the starches to release from the Aborio rice, making a creamy rice dish. Towards the end, add the white wine as you would stock. You may also add fresh herbs, salt, pepper, and (if not vegan) parmesean cheese.

Risotto Milano is the same dish but with saffron & peas. You can add any vegetables you like, though usually not tomatoes or peppers or eggplant as they are quite strong flavors. But you could and it would still be a really nice dish :) Rarely, people add meat to risotto - sometimes fish - it's a pretty delicately flavored dish, so light, sweet veggies are great: sugar snap peas, green beans, sweet pumpkin squares, etc.

N.