Mushroom Risotto: My first time

Well. I was going to make a post about the Mediterranean restaurant that Shane previously posted about, because I was also there, and ate similar food to write about. But it was a very similar experience, so instead, I made risotto for the first time and decided to write about that instead!

First of all, I should tell you that not only have I never made risotto, but I have never actually eaten it either. I'm please it report that it was successful on both accounts!

I'm surprised how long it took to make, and how much stirring it required. I mean, I guess I knew this, but still. Doing it yourself is different when watching it on the Food Network...real life doesn't have that handy little time-lapse feature while you are doing the boring parts of cooking.

Stage one: Sauteing the mushrooms, onions, and garlic. 

I used baby portabella mushrooms, yellow onion, and a few garlic cloves and sauteed them in a skillet with some olive oil. I also added 1/3 cup of some white wine that was left in my apartment after a Christmas party...haha. After the mushrooms were cooked, I removed them from the skillet and set them aside. 

Now comes the boring part of cooking: the stirring and adding veggie stock...very...slowly.

I first melted a pad of butter in the skillet and added 1 1/2 cups of arborio rice to the butter and stirred it around until all the rice was nice and kind of toasted. I then began the process of adding veggie stock (I had the stock simmering in a pan next to the skillet so it would be hot when I added it to the rice. It took 5 cups of stock.) One ladle-full at a time, I added the broth to the rice and stirred until it was absorbed, then I added another ladle and did the same until it was all absorbed.

This is about 1/3 of the stock. 

 This is how it looked after about half of the liquid had been incorporated. 

All the stock has been absorbed by the rice and I added the veggies back into the mixture.

At this point, after stirring the mushrooms and onions back in, I also added 1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese into the risotto. It was so creamy and amazing, and had this great rich texture and taste. It felt very fancy for something that I made! 

I ate it with some asparagus and baked chicken: 

I know it's been mentioned here before, but I am currently on Weight Watchers. Low and behold, this risotto recipe is actually a Weight Watchers recipe! It's only 7 points for the amount (1 1/2 cups) on the plate. With the chicken and asparagus, this was seriously a 10 point meal, and I was so satisfied and actually pretty full when I was done eating. Shane had some too, and liked it enough to comment that he would like to make it for his mom, since non-dieters would seriously love this too!