Impress Your Significant Other Shrimp Risotto

Risotto is a meal that requires patients and a lot of stirring, but it's easy and people are always impressed when it's successful - so you should give this one a try on a date night, get a movie, a bottle of wine and get to stirring!

Ingredients 
1/2 pound shrimp, cleaned, peeled (with tail removed), and de-veined
Oil and spices to marinate the shrimp (I used 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a pinch of cayenne pepper)
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup clam juice
2 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 shallot, chopped
1 1/2 cups of arborio rice
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

1. About an hour before you are ready to begin cooking, marinate your shrimp in olive oil and whatever spices you like.
2. After an hour, heat a medium saute pan over medium heat, add about a tablespoon of olive oil, and cook shrimp until they are pink and cooked through. Remove the cooked shrimp, do not wash the saute pan.
3. In a medium sauce pan combine chicken broth and clam juice, let simmer and keep warm, but do not boil!
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the saute pan until the butter is melted.
5. Add the shallot, garlic, half the parsley, and tomato and saute for 4 minutes
6. Add all the rice, and coat with tomato mixture. You may need to add an extra tablespoon of olive oil for the entire mixture to coat the rice. Stir the mixture for two minutes.
7. Add 2 cups of broth to the rice, and stir to allow the liquid to be absorbed into the rice.
8. Continue to add 1 cup of liquid once the previous cup of liquid is absorbed, the rice will expand as it becomes cooked. Taste the risotto as you get towards the end of your liquid, to ensure the rice is cooked.
9. Once your rice is cooked through, add your shrimp, the rest of the parsley, and the cheese. Stir until combined, and serve immediately.

 Step Five!

 The finished product!

Cauliflower Soup

I'm a huge fan of soups that taste like they're full of heavy cream, but actually aren't. This soup has a ton of veggie and garlic-y goodness and is very filling.

Ingredients
1 Cauliflower head, cut from the crown into florets
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1 inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup of light cream or whole milk
1 cup of milk (you can use whatever milk you like, I used unsweeted almond milk)
3/4 cup of parmaesan cheese
2 tablespoons oil
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large pot, place the cauliflower florets, about a quarter of your chopped onion, and smashed garlic cloves. Set the pot to simmer until the cauliflower is soft.

2. While the cauliflower cooks, put potatoes in a pot to boil until they are fork-tender.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saute pan. Add onions, carrots, salt and pepper, and saute until tender. 

4. Once all the vegetables are cooked you can begin to puree them all together. In a food processor add your cooked vegetables, garlic, potatoes, along with cream and milk, mix until smooth. Depending on the size of your processor you may have to do this step in batches.

5. Once you have a mixture that looks a lot like smooth mashed potatoes, you can transfer everything to your large sauce pot, add the vegetable broth, stir until combined, and add the bay leaf, and cheese.

6. Simmer covered on low heat for an hour, then taste and adjust salt and pepper seasoning to your liking.