Artichoke Risotto

This is really not a very good picture.  (photography is not my strong suit!)

Anyway, I have always wanted to try and make Risotto...I did it once with regular rice

-don't do that-  

Spring for the Arborio rice.  It is so much better and this turned out fantastic.  The only 

complaint from the kids was the amount of artichokes.  I however thought 

they were delicious.  YUM!

Posted by Lisa

source:  www.foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• 1 quart chicken stock
• 10 baby artichokes
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
• 1 pound arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (I omitted that and used more chicken stock)
• 1/4 cup grated Sicilian pecorino
• 2 tablespoon fresh minced Italian parsley
• 1 sprig thyme, leaves removed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Bring the chicken stock to a boil over high heat.

Clean the artichokes, leaving the tender inner leaves attached to the hearts, and halved. Rub with 1/2 lemon.

Cook artichokes until tender, about 10 minutes.

In a saute pan over low heat, saute onions and garlic together in olive oil. Add rice and toast to harden the outer starch. Add wine and slowly add chicken stock, only adding as much as will evaporate in 1 minute, until rice is cooked and creamy.  (this takes about 30 minutes so be prepared to babysit it)

When the rice is cooked, remove from heat and allow it to set for a few minutes to absorb any remaining liquid. Just before serving, mix in the artichokes, cheese, chopped parsley, thyme leaves, and salt and pepper, to taste.

Pizza - Homemade

This pizza was really good.  I had some family over and needed a quick meal.  I decided to make pizza for them, but I didn't have any meat...no pepperoni, or sausage or ham...nothing!

I did however have some delicious fresh baby spinach in the fridge so I went with that.  It was really good.

Take about a grapefruit size of the Boule dough, and roll  it out thin onto a piece of parchment paper.  This is important because you aren't going to be able to pick it up and move it to the pizza stone after you top it.

If you don't have a pizza stone, then just roll the dough out and place it on the baking sheet before you top it.

Ingredients:

Dough  (click for recipe)
1 can chopped tomatoes (or fresh chopped tomatoes)
1/4 cup sauce (I used some spaghetti sauce I had in the fridge)
1 can artichoke hearts chopped
1 handful of baby spinach, rolled and sliced thinly
2 tbsp of Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic (if you don't have that, then some fresh garlic smashed and smeared)
2 tbsp of parmesan cheese
2 tbsp of Pizza Spice from Penzy's Spice Store  (the best! look them up online)
Mozzarella cheese to your liking
Olive oil

Pre Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Roll the dough out thinly, it will rise some when cooked.

Brush drizzled olive oil over the dough, and edges of dough.  Sprinkle the pizza seasoning, garlic garlic, and parmesan cheese over the dough.  ( the measurements are approximate..I just sprinkle each of these until I have some sprinkled over the whole dough)

Spread the sauce and tomatoes evenly.  Add the artichokes and spinach.  Now cover with the cheese to the thickness you prefer.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are browned and the center is bubbly.