The past few months I’ve really enjoyed being able to cook more at home. I’d chalk that up to having a much better kitchen to cook in, but it’s also a function of trying to eat healthier and save money. I’ve been cooking for most of my life, but these days it seems to be more frequently.

A few weeks ago I tried making my first risotto, and I was really happy with the results. Since then I’ve made it a few times and I’m surprised by how creamy and filling it is without any heavy cream or butter.

So the main ingredients I used to cook this were the good quality Arborio rice, a good white wine (I don’t drink wine so I had to rely on the wine store guy on this one), homemade chicken stock, shallots, Parmesan, asparagus, and a variety of wild mushrooms.

A lot of people say cooking risotto is too complicated for cooking at home. I beg to differ! It is actually super easy… but it takes quite a long time to make and it is quite labour intensive (stirring a pot for 45 minutes can get tiring!) but it’s totally worth it. And leftovers for lunch re-heat really nice.

I also quickly browned up some homemade pecan and panko-encrusted chicken breast strips to add some meat to the dish, but it’s definitely not necessary to enjoy.

So give it a try if you haven’t already! If anyone would like the recipe for this or anything else I’ve posted in the Food category to the right, please let me know.

So I know I said I was going to have a moving timelapse video up on the weekend but I got stuck finishing off Resident Evil 5 on the Xbox 360. I can’t help it — I’m a sucker for good video games .

P.S. Looking forward to the Canucks game tonight anyone?