Mushroom Risotto

I was in a blah mood yesterday – the cold, gray, rainy day certainly didn’t help – and I wanted something creamy and comforting for dinner. What I really wanted was linguini with mushroom carbonara sauce (hold the bacon), but I was out of eggs and had no intention of going out into the rain to more. I had my mind set on something creamy and mushroomy (and no, cream of mushroom soup was not even close to what I wanted, I've never even eaten the stuff), and then it came to me: risotto!

Risotto is totally easy to make, it’s just a little time consuming because of the slow addition of the liquid to the rice, which is why I think people are afraid of it. Normally I wouldn’t make risotto for myself (I’m really lazy when it comes to cooking for myself and frequently resort to frozen veggie burgers and strange foods which I dare not mention on here for fear of sullying my good name), but it was the perfect comfort food for a dreary day.

Candy Cane Cupcakes

I made these mini cupcakes last week - they were supposed to be taken to my department's holiday party, but I ended up giving them to the bf and his coworkers because I ended up going home due to my not feeling so hot (I''m totally better now, save the for minor congestion).

The cupcakes are simple vanilla cupcakes, recipe courtesy of Amy Sedaris. I don't have the recipes for the frostings with me, but all I did was grind up candy canes in a spice grinder and replace some of the confectioners sugar in the frosting with the candy cane powder (the pink frosting is a vanilla cream cheese frosting, the chocolate frosting is a cocoa frosting made with Ghirardelli cocoa powder). After piping the frosting onto the cupcakes, I topped them off with a sprinkling of crushed candy cane.

White Bean, Kale, and Butternut Squash Pizza

I’ve always liked the combination of white beans, kale, and butternut squash, but I’ve only seen it as a stew – kind of boring. My recent culinary solution to everything is pizza, so I figured that these ingredients would be great on a pizza.

I made a version of this a few weeks ago, and while it was good, it wasn’t quite right. I thought about it for a while, came up with a solution, and, being the easily distracted person I am,never got around to it. Well, I finally did the other night, and this second version of it is really really good. All of the flavors shine – nothing gets lost like it might in a stew. And it’s a pizza. Who doesn’t like pizza? (Weird people, that’s who.)

Quick Tofu Green Curry

The fever finally broke last evening, leaving me with a seriously stuffy head and a congested chest. Not so fun, but a major improvement from the sweats and chills (gross). I couldn’t breathe very well, and I wanted something really spicy to clear out my sinuses.

I had been craving Pad Thai in the afternoon and was contemplating ordering some from the place on my corner, but the reviews on the place were very mixed and it seemed that the Pad Thai was not so good. After eating only my leftover tomato soup for lunch, I was seriously starving and needed something tasty and spicy – and quick. I rummaged in the fridge and freezer and found that I had everything I needed to make a Thai green curry, and so I did just that. It was better than what I presume the Pad Thai would have tasted like, and it helped me breathe easy, if only for a little while.