Today was opening day for the farmers market at the local library. I got some fresh peas, sweet potatoes, and wildflowers. On the way there, I stopped at the outlet store for the local health food store, and got some canned fire-roasted tomatoes and vegetable Better Than Bouillon. It all added up to risi e bisi for dinner!
It’s basically rice with peas, but with risotto. I used Rachael Ray’s recipe, using the fresh peas, along with the bouillon base for the stock. I also used a tip I found online, making a broth with the pea pod shells (simmer shells with water then pull out the shells, add the bouillon and a pinch of saffron). It wasn’t that complicated, I just boiled the pea pod shells while I chopped the onions and garlic.
I added more parmesan on top. Risotto isn’t something I normally make, but it was thundering & raining at the time and seemed like a comforting thing to do. That’s why the photo is sort of yellow, because it was dark & gloomy outside. I’m going to make baked arancini with the leftovers this weekend.
Something else I made today was a knock-off on Larabars. I think the only actual Larabar I ever had was the key lime flavor, but honestly, I don’t remember. Mostly because they are pricey and not something I would normally buy. I tried this homemade version today, with dark chocolate and cherries. What I like about it is that it has a small list of ingredients: almonds, dates, dried cherries, chocolate, pecans, and salt (I skipped the salt). And no baking! I added some chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds I had, along with the cherries and chocolate. I had to add a little water, too, to get the mixture to clump. These are now my favorite energy bites and I can’t wait to try new flavors. I found this raw food blog that has a myriad of ingredient suggestions for different flavors. I want to make one without chocolate, that I can keep in the car.
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