Not the best picture in the world, but one I was able to snap with my phone before the risotto disappeared from the face of the earth!

I had only made risotto once before and while it was okay, I found it a little lacking.... sort of. I wanted flavor! So when I found a recipe that had more oomph, I immediately changed it up to suit my tastes!This is a recipe you can have some fun with...

• 6 slices thick applewood smoked bacon-sliced super thin
• 1/2 red pepper-diced
• 1/2 sweet onion-diced
• 20 or so stems of asparagus- rinsed and cut in 1 inch pieces, 1st 3 inches only
• clove garlic- minced
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1 1/3 cups Aborio rice
• 5 cups organic chicken broth- heating on back burner
• Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese- shaved, to taste

After slicing the bacon into little match sticks, I set those to simmer in my pot while I diced my pepper, onion and asparagus. The recipe also called for mushroom, but I tend to avoid those.

Once my bacon was mostly done, I tossed in my veggies along with some garlic, salt and pepper. I then scrambled to find white wine because I didn't have an open bottle like I thought I did! Once I found a very nice Chardonnay, I was back in business. After adding the rice and letting it toast a little bit with the veggies, I poured my wine on top and let it simmer gently.

Once the wine is mostly absorbed, I poured about 1/4 of my heated broth in and began stirring gently. As each portion of broth was absorbed, I added another 1/2-3/4 cup of broth. Don't stress out about measuring, just keep adding, stirring and replenishing.

Once I had all my broth in, I turned it down a little more, took my zester and shaved the cheese in, stirring gently all the while.... shave, stir, shave, stir. I stopped adding cheese when the risotto became so creamy I couldn't stand it!

Three things I love about this dish...

So versatile. Goes with anything or stands alone!

Texture - it's so creamy. And surprisingly, it isn't the bacon adding texture, it's the yummy bits of asparagus!

Surprisingly easy to make!

Enjoy!

Asthmagirl has become quite fond of topping her morning berries and yogurt with granola. If finally occurred to her, that as careful as she was with her berries and yogurt, she wasn't entirely sure what was in her granola.... but it sure tasted good!

Thus began some research and experimentation and at last, a loose protocol for how to make reasonably healthy granola. And it couldn't be easier.

It goes something like this:

3 cups organic oats (not quick oats)

1/2 cup flax seed

1/2 cup organic oat bran

1 cup chopped nuts (Asthmagirl currently has hazelnuts due to last summers travels)

Spices (Asthmagirl is using fresh ground nutmeg as well as cardamom and Saigon cinnamon)

At least a 1/2 cup of honey

At least a 1/4 cup of very light olive oil.

Once you've mixed your dry ingredients, simply add the honey and olive oil and stir...

The more fluid you add, the more of the little flavor nuggets you get as the moisture picks up the flax seeds and oat bran. So you can easily make adjustments in this stage depending on how dry you like your granola.

Then spread your lovely granola on a baking pan. I use a silicone baking sheet, but you could use parchment paper as well. Bake at 300 for 30 minutes. Your house will be smelling terrific! Give it a stir and bake for another 15 minutes.

Hello toasty, yummy goodness!

Just so you know, the granola must cool to get it's crisp on. It will still be soft when you remove it from the oven. This stores well in ziplock bags, so even though it's a good sized batch, it's still yummy a week later!

There are always variables to what you can add. I've read that this is awesome with unsweetened cocoanut flakes, but that's not really my thing.

I've also read that adding dried fruits ala raisins, dried cranberries, dates, dried apples etc, should be done as soon as your granola comes out of the oven. Do not bake those!

So there you have it. Pretty darn healthy granola that tastes pretty darn good! It's too back this blog isn't scratch and sniff because my whole house smells amazing right now!

Yes, the lungs are acting up. And this has somehow spawned a cooking frenzy. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Pictured: Asthmagirl's Super Moist Banana Bread, The Creekside Cook's Bean with Bacon Soup and Spicy Turkey Meatloaf!

The spicy meatloaf is a combination of 16 ounces ground turkey, 12 ounces spicy ground chicken sausage (Isernios), 2 eggs, quarter of a sweet onion-diced, 1/4 cup of finely diced carrots, 1 diced Telara roll (kind of like sourdough). I also threw in a little bit of whole wheat crust. I mix all that together with a good dollop of Sweet Baby Ray's bbq sauce until I get the consistency I want. For The Old Goat, I baked them in the mini pans for 30 minutes. They're perfectly sized for dinner when I don't feel like cooking and he wants something yummy.

The Moist Banana Bread is a family favorite! I mixed it by hand this time so no getting the big mixer out.

Start with 3 ripe, ripe bananas mashed in a large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup butter melted, a squeeze of honey, 3 tbsp lowfat vanilla yogurt (can sub sour cream), 2 room temperature eggs and a tsp of vanilla. Combine and add dry ingredients: 1 2/3 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar. Begin folding ingredients together. When barely mixed, sprinkle a handful of pecan halves over the top and finish folding ingredients until just combined. With the hand mixing, I like that I may get a bit of a chunk of pecan or banana. The wonderful thing about this recipe is that you can pull out the stand mixer and whisk the heck out this before adding the dry ingredients. Its good either way! This recipe can be baked in 4 of the small pans or a regular loaf pan. The small pans bake at 350 for 35 minutes or so. The loaf pan will take 50 minutes or so at 350.

So take a break from your wheezing...

Get in the kitchen and make some comfort food!

AG out!

With fall weather, I'm all about the crock pot and having warm, hearty meals at the end of a cool day. This is especially true after football games!

While I've come home from work and put in the time to make homemade lentil soup, this crockpot soup is perfect for coming home after a long day and just eating!

The night before, do your prep work:

• 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced
• 1 leek, slice and rinsed
• 1/2 sweet onion, sliced and diced
• 1 pound lowfat Italian chicken or turkey sausage
• 1 can (14 oz) fire roasted tomatoes
• 3-6 sprigs of thyme, stripped
• 6 basil leaves, minced
• organic chicken broth

Prep veggies for soup while you cook the lowfat sausage. Place cooked sausage in crockpot and start veggies (with little olive oil) in same pan you cooked sausage. sprinkle with fresh (or dried herbs) while cooking. Add lightly cooked veggies and tomatoes to crock pot. add chicken broth just to cover. Refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, add one pound bag of lentils to crock pot. Add another carton of organic chicken broth, salt and pepper. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. When you get home, use immersion blender to smooth-i-fy lower level of soup. Retain some sausage and lentils on surface for texture.

Serve in bowl with minced basil!

I didn't take a picture, but I should have. I've always wanted to make a great chicken chili, but I've always had to be satisfied with an "okay" chicken chile.

I finally did it! Here's how!

• Two -three chicken breasts, cleaned and cut into bigger than bite sized pieces
• 2 cans great northern beans, drained
• 1 can of pinto beans, drained
• 1 can fire roasted tomato pieces
• 1 small can of green chilis
• 1/2 poblano pepper cleaned and diced
• 1 orange bell pepper cleaned and diced
• 1 mango, skinned and diced
• 3/4 of a sweet onion, chopped
• I cup frozen corn
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• .5 tsp corriander
• .5 tsp cayanne pepper (more or less to taste)

The night before, put beans and tomatos in crock pot. In large pan use a little olive oil to saute chilis, peppers, onion, mango and spices until just tender. Dump on top of beans and tomatoes. Add a little more oil to pan and lightly saute chicken breast pieces just to get spices from pan onto chicken. Add a little organic chicken broth to skillet, swirl and dump chicken into crock pot. Cover and refrigerate overnight to let flavors blend.

In the morning, add corn, more chicken broth and a little white wine (can substitue a nice IPA). Set on low and start your day! Whether it's work or a football game, this fantastic chili whill be waiting for you when you get home.

Recommend serving in bowl with dollops of low fat sour cream.

I've been eating this by the bucket. It's relatively healthy and easy to make and tastes so good when the weather is warm.

To make:

One box of whole wheat, whole grain rotini, cooked

2 chicken breasts, grilled, diced

red grapes, halved

3 stalks of celery, thin on the mandolin

fresh pineapple

craisins

lowfat poppy seed dressing

You could probably put just about anything in here that you'd like, but this combination works for me.  I've tossed raspberries in here, but it was a little too tart.

Enjoy!

AG out!

Um, yeah!

Then he texted me yesterday about what time... Oh yeah! I'd forgotten it was set up for Monday night! My evening just improved like a thousand percent.

(It's worth noting here that we've had The Electrician in our lives since like 2003 at least. We still like him. In fact TOG bumped into him at the baseball game last week and was so excited to have seen him. We know The Electrician and K2/Girlfriend are just friends now.)

So anyway we get to this tiny place and it doesn't look very glamorous. But when you open the door... the smell! The smell! And then I saw the awards....

Dude has won some BBQ awards from some Kansas City competitions! The anticipation builds! After much contemplation, we made our selections and ordered. I settled for the pulled pork plate with two sides. The Electrician went for the Boss Hog with the Memphis (hot link and slaw) on top. [Editor's note: please note that you can buy pulled pork by the pound to take home. AG is doomed. Doomed I tell you.]

And here they are...

Pulled pork... note the "burnt end pieces" in the sandwich. OMG! And you can see the rub (which is perfect). I started pouring the sauce and then realized it was going to be more than I could handle and I just dipped instead!

Here's The Electrician's "Boss Hog". It comes pre-sauced. Uh oh. That's gonna be a mess....

A couple tasting notes here. The rub was fantastic. It accentuated and did not overpower the smoky flavor of the pork. The sauce was amazing. It was not sweet (vinegar based) and the flavor built over time. Halfway through the sandwich, the flavors were a full symphony in my mouth. The beans... The Electrician and I thought they were a little "tabasco-y". The corn bread. OMG. They put lemon zest in their corn bread. This was very light and not too sweet, but the zest totally cooled off the rub fest on your tongue. It took your taste buds completely the other way. Amazing.

Best of all...

They have a hand wash station right in the middle of the dining room.

These guys have it down. I'll definitely be back.

Thanks Electrician!

AG out! 

Cupcake: (noun; proper) Used by Asthmagirl as a term of affection for those she loves. In it's casual form, describes small cake in paper wrapper that is the perfect "after dinner" delight. See phrase "pass the cupcakes, Bubba".

The pub has started offering cupcakes. We have started bringing one home for K3, much to her delight. This is a stout chocolate cupcake, made with the pub's famous No-Doubt Stout ale! The icing is a peppermint creamcheese concoction that is just right... not too sweet and not too runny.

Perfection!

(And yes, I promptly sent my hand model (K3) to the kitchen to wash her hands. Sorry for the goober-y finger... and the hang nail!) 

Did you ever have one of those dinners where everything on your plate was calling out to be eaten first?! With The Old Goat at work and no one to please but ourselves, K3 and I decided to go all out and spoil ourselves tonight....

After much discussion, here's the menu K3 and I whipped up for dinner...

Our favorite Ballpark "lite" hot dog, grilled of course! Asthmagirl's famous tarragon potato salad! And fresh fruits and berries drizzled with fat free vanilla yogurt!

It's almost healthy! And it sure beats the heck out of canned soup!

What did you have?

AG out!

But really, it was low key and fattening tasty!

Behold, the jazz band....

The warm up act in the food is always the Brew-hole-io. Made from brewers grain and rolled in cinnamon and sugar and served blazing hot, I love them. Tog... not so much. He claims they are not sweet enough....

TOG's breakfast...

Spicy Sausage Hash topped with poached eggs, home made salsa and sour cream.

My breakfast:

Malted blueberry banana pancakes with cinnamon butter. And a "mug o' mimosa"! Across the table you can see the tahini stuffed french toast...

And the preferred breakfast...

Chorizo and gravy over biscuits topped with poached eggs!

 I'm still full...

AG out!