4 thin slices prosciutto

3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

12 asparagus spears, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 shallot, finely chopped

3/4 cup Arborio rice or medium-grain white rice

3/4 cup Champagne

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the slices of prosciutto on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake until the prosciutto slices are almost completely crisp, about 6 to 8 minutes. The slices will crisp up even more as they cool. Reserve for garnish.

In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Blanch the asparagus in the chicken stock for 2 minutes. Remove the asparagus with a slotted spoon. Set the asparagus aside and keep the chicken stock at a low simmer.

In another medium saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the shallot and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the Arborio rice and stir to coat in the butter. Continue toasting the rice, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes more. Add the Champagne and simmer until the liquid has almost evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the simmering broth and stir until almost completely absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking the rice, adding the broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and allowing each addition of broth to absorb before adding the next, until the rice is tender but still firm to the bite and the mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes total. Remove from the heat. Gently stir in the asparagus, remaining butter, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Spoon the risotto into serving dishes and garnish by breaking the crisp prosciutto into smaller pieces over the top of the risotto. Serve immediately. 


Lemoncello with Raspberry Champagne (we omitted the ice just used everything chilled)

1 cup Champagne or sparkling water

1/4 cup limoncello liqueur

Crushed ice

2 tablespoons fresh raspberries or frozen raspberries, thawed

 

In a small pitcher, combine the Champagne and limoncello. Place a spoonful of crushed ice into each of 2 Champagne glasses and top with raspberries. Pour the Champagne mixture over the ice and raspberries. Serve immediately.

Hope you enjoy!

Where will they go?  This is the question that I would like to ask Gov. Rod Blagojevich here in Illinois.  What does he plan on doing for all the people who receive services from the programs that he cuts?  I got very bad news yesterday (Thursday).  The governor has cut funding to the DASA program in the state of Illinois.  This program provides funding to all agencies that provide substance abuse services to adolescents in this state.  What that means to me is that if the Senate does not veto this budget by Wednesday (yes less than a week from now) I will no longer have a job effective that same Wednesday.  But that's not the worst part.  The Lord has always provided for us and Currey and I both have such a peace about the situation.  But where will my kids go?  They come to us because we are free.  We are safe place, where they can work at getting better.  It's a great place to be a client and to work, at least most days! :)  We have hundreds of clients as an agency that will no longer have a place to go.  And there are several other agencies throughout the state that will be impacted as well. 

So my heart breaks for all the kids that won't get services.  And for all the other clients at all the other agencies that will loose the people they trust and the people that they know care about them.  What a huge disservice to people that are already hurting.  What a mess....

Here's a link that discusses what's going on.  And the title is misleading.  The opening is that it's been reversed but then goes on to state only if supported by the Senate.  It does not look good.   

7/12/08

Today we are celebrating the day that we brought our sweet puppy home!  I can't believe that we've already had him for a year.  Since we don't know the actual day he was born we decided to pick the day we adopted him as his birthday.  He's had quite the day already.  We started the morning off with a trip to the dog park.  From there we headed to Wet Nose.  It's our favorite pet boutique and the owner loves Bentley!  Of course we think everyone should love our dog as much a we do.  Joe at Wet Nose is Bentley's favorite human after us as he gives Bentley lots of treats and convinced us almost a year ago to do raw food.  We got Bentley a giant birthday bone cookie and have spent the afternoon napping, which is Bentley's favorite activity.  Just a few pictures...

The cute box

The Super Cute Cookie

Bentley sniffing and ruining the photo shoot

Bentley tried to get a lick in during pictures

My Boys!!!  Oh so cute!!! 

I have a renewed love for the library.  Strange I know but it's completely true.  I have ALWAYS loved to read.  I have so many memories of the summer reading club at the library, reading the same book with my mom a million times and being so wrapped up in a book that I can not function as a person until it's finished.  But sadly this love of reading and books faded.  I blame AP English which required reading dreadful books known  as "classics", followed by college reading and then even more reading in graduate school.  (and of course I read every word! :)

When we moved to Chicago we were walking distance from a small library but the selection was small and the staff was less than helpful.  When we moved to the south side there was minimal parking at the library and the quality and selection gave me a new appreciation for the one I'd left behind.  I'd all but given up on reading.  My mom would send a best seller my way or I would go through the month long process of having a new release sent to my new library and it would sit in my purse, reserved for passing time while on the train or a bus.  But that was it.

Then we moved to Wheaton.  I must admit that I didn't even think about the library until we went home for Christmas and needed our stack of books on CD.  I was overwhelmed!  The place was HUGE and voted one of the top 10 libraries in the US.  Who knew people kept track of that!  And now I am back to my love.  The magazine selection is as good as Barnes and Noble and you can check them all out!  You can put holds on books on their web page and they send email reminders when your book are about to be due.  It's amazing!  So on my days off this week I'm devouring books and magazines galore.  I'm already half way done with the book I checked out this morning!  Oh books, how I've missed thee! 

So I realize that this is a strange post, especially on the 4th of July.  But Currey has to work so I'm home hanging out and I've been meaning to write about this for awhile.  Since there hasn't been much about cooking on my cooking blog I figured I should add a post.  

I love cooking but I am also incredibly cheap.  This leads to many interesting and creative ideas in the kitchen.  I often omit really expensive ingredients and rarely buy gadgets because I don't think they are useful.  That being said I have never understood the sense in buying a zester. Isn't it basically the same thing as a grater?  Why buy both?  I've made several recipes that required some sort of citrus zest and I used a grater.  NASTY!!!  I got more than zest and it was horrible.  But I've continued to cook and omit zest from all recipes.  But I also love the Food Network and so many of the chefs use zesters for all sorts of things.  This lead me to believe I might be wrong.

So on a recent trip to Williams-Sonoma I broke down and bought one.  I seriously don't know what I did before I got this thing!  I use it all the time and think it's a great tool.  So if you cook often buy a zester!  It's currently my favorite tool in the kitchen so it gets it's own special post.  

Hope you all have a Happy 4th of July!