goodness!

The past few nights have been filled with VERY good food -- indulgent, cheesy goodness, and healthy, creamy goodness!

I was feeling sort of icky when I got home from work on Thursday night, so I didn't bother eating dinner before we went to the co-op to pick up our week's worth of food. By the time we were done shopping, I decided I'd maybe eat something after all, so I picked up a small treat for myself:

I hardly ever have bread and brie for dinner, (or lunch, or breakfast, for that matter,) but what a treat it was! I think I'd take slices of baguette and good brie over any dessert you can name, any day of the year. (Isn't that strange, given my sweet tooth?)

And last night, after a long week, I decided I needed to make something healthy and "meditative" for dinner --

Making risotto, with all of that stirring, is kind of meditative, isn't it? I made this barley risotto recipe from Real Simple, with a few changes . . .

1. I didn't use any wine; subbed an extra cup of vegetable broth and a splash of white wine vinegar
2. I rehydrated about 8 dried mushrooms in the vegetable broth for about a half-hour, before mincing them and adding them to the recipe with the asparagus
3. I added about a dozen white button mushrooms, sliced, with the chopped onion

I think I might prefer barley risotto over "regular" risotto! I like the denser, firmer texture of the barley better, and it has a nice, nutty flavor, too! Yum!