Sounds like Summer- Summer Lemon-Vegetable Risotto

This time around for the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club, it was my turn to choose the theme. Since we are smack dab in the middle of summer here in Georgia, I decided on Sounds like Summer. The first thing that I really wanted to make was the Shrimp Cobb Salad that was featured on the cover of the June issue of CL. That was the plan until I saw this recipe in the July issue of Cooking Light. I have a love of risotto that is on-going. There just isn't any possible chance that I could pass up one that is chock full of vegetables. Summer veggies? Even better.

This risotto recipe turned out fabulously. I was going to fix the asparagus and sugar snap peas in a different way, but decided to stick to the recipe. I put my asparagus/sugar snap peas in a ice bath after they were done blanching, so they wouldn't lose their bright green color or crispness.

I just wanted to mention also that you really don't have to continuously stir risotto. Here are some of the things I did inbetween stirs- made a fresh corn & tomato salad, thawed shrimp in the sink, made peanut butter frosting, blanched some of the veggies, sauteed the zucchini & summer squash, put together whoopie pies, roasted shrimp, photographed all of the above mentioned food. And, my risotto turned out perfectly creamy and delicious. I also don't warm my broth and it still works perfectly. This risotto had nice hints of lemon and all the veggies made it fabulous.

Let's take a look a how the menu turned out this month. I brought the

Summer Lemon-Vegetable Risotto,

Val -Poached Salmon with Creamy Herb Sauce,

Roz - Chocolate-Amaretti Peaches,

Sandi - Peach Ice Cream,

Jamie - Summer Peach and Tomato Salad,

Jerry - grilled pizza with prosciutto, arugula, and lemon

Once again, I wish that this was not just a virtual supper club- I would really enjoying trying everything on the menu!

Here is the recipe for Summer Lemon-Vegetable Risotto from Cooking Light
* I used low sodium chicken broth instead of the wine & vegetable broth
* I didn't warm my broth- it was added at room temperature

Vegetable Fried Rice

What do you do with leftover rice?
I had some brown rice leftover after I made Caribbean Red Beans and Brown Rice and knew right away that I was going to use it to make some version of fried rice.
I really wanted to make a vegetable version and found a great recipe online. I just wanted to add a couple more vegetables and ended up doing the recipe my way. I adapted the recipe according to what I did and also included a link for the original recipe.

We had this alongside the salmon in the previous post and it was a really great combination and a really delicious dinner.

There was enough leftover from this recipe, that I was able to add some cooked, chopped chicken to it and it provided us with another dinner later in the week. I love it when that happens.

Vegetable Fried Rice adapted from Eating Well

2 cups cooked brown rice

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons canola oil

8 oz sliced mushrooms

1 lb asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

2 cups sugar snap peas

4 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1. Heat canola oil in the pan over medium-high; add mushrooms and cook for two minutes. Add asparagus, bell pepper, scallions, garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until the vegetables are just tender, about 2 minutes.
2. Scoot all the veggies to one side of your pan and add eggs. Cook and scramble for about 1 minute. Mix into vegetables.
   
3. Add the cooked rice, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar snap peas to the pan; cook until the liquid is absorbed, 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sesame oil and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.

Original Recipe for Vegetable Fried Rice

Kung Pao Veggies

Usually, I plan weekly menus and don't really have to think about what I am going to fix for dinner. But, once in awhile it gets close to dinner time and I think to myself- What am I going to make?
That is what happened last week. I had cooked spaghetti noodles in the fridge and tons of vegetables. I remember seeing this recipe for Kung Pao Chicken over at Barbara Bakes and I figured I could make it quickly. I printed off the recipe, chopped my veggies and warmed up the noodles. Dinner was ready in a flash!
I used zucchini, carrots, sugar snap peas, and a yellow onion. I left out the chicken because I didn't have any ready. I just stir-fried the veggies in the sesame oil and then added the sauce after a couple of minutes. I served it over the noodles and topped it off with some cashews.
This was a quick and easy recipe and it was really simple to adapt it with what I had on hand in my fridge. I included the recipe that Barbara used, but just keep in mind that it is really easy to adapt.
My family loved it!

Kung Pao Chicken seen over at Barbara Bakes, who adapted from For the Love of Cooking

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into bite sized chunks

2 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 tsp sugar

6 green onions, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1 1/2 cup pea pods, steamed until tender

Combine chicken and cornstarch in a Ziploc bag and toss until evenly coated. Combine the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a bowl and set aside for later.

Heat a large skillet or wok with sesame oil over medium high heat. Once the pan is smoking hot add the chicken and stir fry for 5-6 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the garlic, ginger, red pepper and green onions (leaving a few for garnishing) to the pan and stir fry for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the soy sauce, vinegar and sugar mixture to the pan along with the cooked chicken, peanuts, carrots, and pea pods.

Cook for a few minutes until sauce thickens up a bit and carrots are tender. Serve over rice or noodles and top with remaining green onions.

Up Next-Root Beer Bundt Cake