Food for thought...Parmesan Beef Risotto

First, I want to prepare you for the delicious tasty risotto recipe in store below. Second, I want to let you know you can hide nearly any vegetable in this and it's still delicious. It's positively, absolutely delightful. Added to the fact that it's incredibly easy to make, it became a staple in our house. Here's what you need:

1 lb. ground hamburger (we use 90/10)
32oz. beef broth
1/2 medium sized onion (diced)
1/2 cup vegetable o' the day (diced) we used a pablano pepper
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 cup uncooked rice (or risotto)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

The only thing I forgot to add in that picture was the parmesan cheese. One day, my ingredient pictures shall be perfect and amazingly staged. Until then, we have these.

Step 1. Add the beef, onions, garlic, and vegetable of the day to a large pan. The hubbs loves this pan because he can easily burn things in it clean it since I make him wash all the big pans. Cook on medium heat until the meat is crumbly and brown.

go from this...

...to this

Step 2. Add in the cup of dry rice and combine well with beef mixture. Pour in the beef broth, you could also add vegetable broth if you want, and bring the pan to a simmer. Cover and continue simmering for 10 minutes. This will cook your rice.

add the rice and mix that up

bring this bad boy to a simmer (try not to drool with the delicious aromas you're wafting)

Step 3. After 10 minutes, your rice should be nice and plump. Remove the cover and continue cooking over medium heat. Risotto is supposed to be a "wet" type of dish but while your mixture may still be soupy, you want to let some of that cook off. When you pull the rice toward the center of the pan, there should be very little broth seeping from the rice. If there is a lot, keep on cooking but don't let it get to where there's absolutely NO broth.

here you still need to cook some broth off

this is about two minutes from done

Step 4. Sprinkle your parmesan cheese on your rice and beef combo. Fold the rice and beef on top of itself until well blended with the cheese. Remove from heat and let sit for five-ten minutes. Serve in pasta bowls.

this binds it all together

ta-da! it's risotto!

Step 5. Enjoy! Your bowl might look something akin to slop but it's a delicious bowl of slop.

The recipe makes about four heaping servings. And remember, you can pretty much add whatever vegetable to this. You can even add two! We've tried adding diced tomatoes and green peppers. Just watch it with the tomatoes because they get hot and stay hot, those malicious delicious mouth burning fruits.

In case you were wondering how to get rid of 25 lbs of rice in a year, this is the ticket. I hope you like it! If you try this out, let me know what vegetable you used or what you tweaked. I'd love to try it too. Except, please don't try corn. Ryan's been begging me to use it and I just can't bring myself to. I mean, corn and rice? *shivers* I don't know if I could do it.