Experiments

It's freezing cold outside (woke up to minus 26), so no pup walks this morning; he is currently contentedly sleeping on the bed.

A new year invites new beginnings and experimentation in your life; sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. We don't make New Years resolutions, rather we make goals of things we'd like to achieve. This year we're trying to become more healthy (who isn't?) so one of our goals is that one day a week we have fish, one day a week we do vegetarian and one day a week we include beans/lentils. These are our minimum goals, there's nothing saying we can't have beans twice a week, and all this refers to suppers which is our main meal of the day.

I love mushroom risotto, but it always bothered me that it was made with white rice. We eat brown rice in general, so I got to thinking about how I could make this healthier. A friend and I had gone to the local foodie store a while back (Vincenzos, where your idea of budgeting is left at the door and you find yourself buying $80 worth of cheese) , and there was a lady doing a tasting of various olive oils, explaining that depending on where the olives were grown, that they all taste different and are used for different purposes. They were yummy but über pricey. She mentioned how one was good over risotto, and I said how I loved risotto but didn't like that it was white rice; she told me when she cooks it she substitutes whole spelt for the arborio and it worked fine.

I decided to give it a go this week. Finding whole spelt was kind of tricky; Bulk Barn didn't sell it anymore so I ended up buying it from Ayre's. I was so excited to see how this would turn out! Cooked the mushrooms first then on to the rest, cooking it just like risotto (all that damned stirring).

Then added the cooked mushrooms and their liquid back in.

The result? An overly chewy, not really creamy mushroom risotto. I was so disappointed! My hubby valiantly tried to eat his bowl but after a while said, "This stuff is making my jaw hurt, sorry hon, I can't eat it anymore." Yes, I cooked it for a hell of a lot longer than normal risotto so I don't think under cooking was the problem. I think perhaps spelt is better served in salads where the chewiness would be more appreciated as it is less at the forefront.

(You know those blogs where people try new recipes, projects, crafts, etc. and they all turn out great on the first try, so that when you try them and you don't succeed or have your stuff look as beautiful, you're thinking, "What the heck did I do wrong or am I a total idiot?" Well, this blog is not like that. I am not perfect. My experiments don't always turn out. Most shocking, I do not wear pearls and a pretty dress while I vacuum. So take heart fellow mortals! Not everything you do works out but at least we tried and have learned something).