Stuffed Shells and Potatos

Kind of a random mixture of food, but both are sort of Italian based.

STUFFED SHELLS
2 tomatoes
1 can tomato paste (8-12 oz)
2 c water or broth (chicken or vegetable)
3 T Italian seasonings
2 t garlic powder
2 t chives
12 jumbo shells
1 egg
1 white onion
1 c mushrooms (optional, we just added these because we love mushrooms)
1 1/2 - 2 c ricotta cheese
1 T sour cream (optional)
1 c parmesan cheese (I didn't use any because we ran out, oops)
1/2 - 1 c mozzerella cheese (I used smoked mozzerella)salt and pepper to taste

Boil the tomatoes until the skin comes off easily. Chop them, then put in a pot with the water/broth and tomato paste. Feel free to add more or less of the water/broth if you want the sauce to be thicker or thinner.
Chop a little over half of the onion and add to the sauce. Add 2 T of Italian seasoning and the garlic powder. Let simmer.
Cook the shells to al dente.
Set oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix all the cheeses (except 1/2 a cup of the parmesan cheese), sour cream, egg, chives, and 1 T of the Italian seasonings. Add about a quarter of the onion, finely diced. Add the mushrooms, finely diced as well and mix.Stuff the shells with the cheese mixture, placing them in a greased casserole dish. Pour the sauce generously over the stuffed shells.Cover with aluminium foil and put in oven for 25-30 minutes. Take foil off and sprinkle the last 1/2 c of parmesan cheese over the top, then pop back in the oven for about 5-10 minutes.

POTATOES
5-6 red potatoes
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 T Italian seasonings
1/2 small white onion
1-2 T chopped garlic

Chop the potatoes, then boil them until soft in water.
In a skillet, add all the ingredients including the potatoes over medium-high heat. Stir to coat and mix everything evenly.Let cook until the potatoes are slighly crispy and the onions are transparent. Don't stir it too much otherwise the potatoes will get mushed.

And that's it!

Mushroom risotto

Here's one of my favorite dishes. I made this a lot while I was in Italy and although it can be time consuming, it is well worth it. Again, there is room to play around with the recipe and make it your own. I'm hoping to be able to give you more pictures like this post rather than just the finished dish picture, but it depends on if I am meaning to post the recipe to the blog or I just randomly cook and decide it would be great to post.

First thing: rice. There's MANY types of rice. Here's some common ones: (left to right) plain basmati long grain rice, Arborio rice (Italian short grain rice), and (short grain) brown rice.
I always use the Arborio rice for risotto. Arborio rice is a lot more starchy than regular rice and gives the risotto the creamy aspect. It can also absorb a lot more liquid than regular rice without getting mushy. That's why it's so ideal for risotto.

I cut the recipe in half from what I made because chances are that you won't need to make as much as I did unless you are feeding more than 3 people.
1 c rice (your choice, but like I said, I always use Arborio)
3- 3 1/2 c hot vegetable or chicken stock
1 T oil
1/4-1/2 large white onion
2 t chopped garlic (less if fresh)
1- 1 1/2 T white wine vinegar
1 1/2- 2 c diced mushrooms (again, your choice)
1 1/2 t black pepper
1/3 c heavy whipping cream (you can substitute with 2% or low fat milk, though it will be less creamy)
2 T butter or margarine
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese.


First, chop up the onions and cook them with the oil and garlic until they are slightly clear over a medium-high heat.
Then add the rice. Mix around so that all the rice is covered with the oil. Cook for about 7 minutes or until the rice has gotten clear around the edges, stirring the entire time. Add the butter and then add one cup of the stock. Let the rice absorb the stock and wait until the stock is almost gone before adding another cup. Keep stirring the entire time and continue this process until you use all of the stock or until you check the rice and it's done enough for you. Arborio rice is always a little more al dente than regular rice, so if it's a little harder than what you're used to, don't worry.

Add in the vinegar, mushrooms and black pepper, stir. Turn the heat down to medium. Let the mushrooms cook about halfway done (3ish minutes) and then slowly add the cream and parmesan cheese. Mix until everything is well together and the mushrooms are completely cooked.
Then you're done! You can add parsley or Italian seasonings as a garnish, or even fresh vegetables. We used fresh steamed broccoli.