Asparagus and sun-dried tomato risotto

I have the great pleasure of guest posting for The Cottage Diaries today! My husband and I are trying to get healthier, and take in more foods that are better for our reproductive health while we go through our fertility treatments, so I decided to make this very tasty dish, and share it with you all! I bet just by looking at this, your stomach is starting to grumble with hunger, so let's get started! 

If the name of this dish doesn't immediately send you into the kitchen, trust me that the taste will.  Let's start gathering our ingredients.

(Makes 4 servings)

2 cups of vegetable stock, and 2 cups of chicken stock

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 tbsp of butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

6-8 sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups of risotto rice

8 oz of fresh asparagus, cooked

salt and pepper

freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Finely chop the onion, and slice the sun-dried tomato and set aside

2. Bring the stock to a boil in a saucepan, then reduce the heat and simmer over low heat while you cook the risotto

3. Heat the oil and butter in a skillet. Stir in the onion and sun-dried tomatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion is golden brown

4. Reduce the heat and add the risotto. Mix to coat the grains in the oil and butter mixture. Cook, stirring continuously until the rice is translucent

5. Gradually add the hot stock with a ladle, stirring between each pour so the rice absorbs. Increase the heat to medium so that the liquid simmers. Add the salt and pepper. Cook for 25-30 minutes (most importantly, until the risotto is tender, the liquid is mostly absorbed but creamy.

6. While the risotto is cooking, cut your cooked asparagus spears into one inch pieces and slice. Fold into the risotto in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

7. Sprinkle in some Parmesan cheese and stir

8. Divide into warm serving bowls, and sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on top.

I hope you all love this dish as much as we do. I was pretty happy when my husband finished his last bite and said "I really want to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!" - Yes! Winner Winner! 

Thank you for spending some time with Wonderful at Home today. I hope you will stop over and see me more often! 

Lessons in: Adventures in Babysitting #1

Calloway. I love that name don't you? I love it because it's original and I love it because it belongs to a little boy I love as much as if he was my own. About once a week, I get to spend a few (or 8) hours with my little Calloway. You may hear him scream "Aunt Kristen, I need to go potty!!!!!" as loud as tornado sirens. You may hear him say (with the biggest cheesy smile ever) "Play with me Uncle Chris! Play with me!" And my heart just melts. 

I could never tell you how much I love this child. I could never have predicted this when my cousin called and told me she was pregnant, and although our "technical" family tree doesn't support him calling me Aunt Kristen, or my husband Uncle Chris, and it may annoy some people, this is up to me and his mother. And his mother and I, are the only ones who know how much we mean to each other. 

Today would have been just like any other day with Cal, except my husband is home on vacation this week, so he joined us for the day. Now this is like Christmas for Cal. Every week when he comes over, he asks me about 20 times, if Uncle Chris is coming home. And Chris never does before Cal leaves to go home. So we had a BIG day planned. 

Calloway joined us today at 7:30am. Yes, AM. And if anyone knows me, I do not do 7:30AM well. I try, but it is always an epic fail. I learned my lesson last week, when he proceeded to put his cheerios up to my nostrils every time I fell asleep after another 7:30am arrival, and yelled out "hey Aunt Kristen! Don't fall asleep!". My lesson #1 this week: I knew I didn't have a chance to try and get a quick cat nap in with all the excitement of my husband being home, so we put on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ate breakfast, and got on the move.

First, we went to the Nature Center in our hometown. They had pens of animals, trails, an outdoor playscape that included a waterfall that we climbed all the way down, and managed to throw in every single water toy they had in the bucket next to the pond. I am so excited that this is something our hometown has to offer, and for only a small donation, it is hours of fun! I suggest you do an internet search for something in your area like this. During this little adventure, even though we asked him not to lay down in the water, he tripped over a rock and SPLAT! Fell right in. Lesson #2 this week: Always have extra everything. T-shirt, pants, underwear, socks. Everything. Now this is something I had figured out months prior, but my husband, got his lesson in today.

After the nature center, we made it 10 minutes down the road, when I turned around to check my very quiet little man out (don't worry, hubby was driving), and I saw the little man's eyes fluttering, so I knew we better pull over and get some food in him before getting to the dentist which was 40 minutes away. After getting our seats, and orders in, Chris wanted to go wash his hands. I decided to send Cal with him, and after both of us asked him twice if he needed to go potty, they came back to the table and sat down, in time for him to say "I have to go potty!" So lesson #3 this week, just make the kid TRY to go to the bathroom when you know it's just about that time. 

And.... Lesson #4:  Getting the child out of the car seat and into the house (or the dentist), is doable, but not easy! We both looked at each other and hubby said, "I think I will watch how you get this done". Once inside, we were thanking the good Lord that he guided us in the direction of our small SUV rather than the VERY VERY small compact car we had considered. Whew! 

 

Once I got out of the dentist chair, Cal and Chris were playing on the floor of the dentist waiting area with  some toys. Chris' appointment was going to be close to 2 hours, so we needed to find something to do other than sit on the lobby floor. I knew the area pretty well, so we hopped back in the car, and drove about half a mile over to a small grassy area in the middle of this cute little downtown. We threw some pennies in the fountain and grabbed some frozen yogurt. We played in some trees, and chased some birdies. Even though he would have probably liked to be at a REAL park, one with slides and swings, we made do, and I am sure the ice cream helped that! At this time, "we" had asked "WHY?", about 4,672,073 times. Approximately. I know that most of those "whys?", are not to be annoying, but because his little brain is trying to take so much in all at once! So Lesson#5 - have the patience my husband has to answer him, and teach him with every single WHY.  I cannot tell you how often I get choked up at the thought of my husband being a dad one day. He has no idea what an amazing father he will be. 

 

 


Those are the lessons I learned this week. I can't wait to see what I learn next week!

"It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men"
~Frederick Douglas

Wonderful Wednesdays Linky Party #3 with features!

I hope you do not mind, but I am starting the party early.... my nephew will be over at 7:15am tomorrow morning, and although he is the best kid I have ever been around, I usually do not have time to work on the blog while his 3 year old precious little head is running around in circles. Plus, husband and I have to fit in a dentist appointment each, after taking him to the nature center and probably the park, so yea - let's just do this early! This last week, I had every intention of baking some yummies, trying out some new recipes, and working on some projects - and in turn, having a few new posts to share with you, and BAM - bronchitis hit. And although I should say that it hasn't hit as hard as last year at this exact same time, It is NOT one bit of fun. I would much rather be in the kitchen baking, or painting furniture, or working on some projects around the house that I desperately need to get done. So I have had to spend a couple days in bed, I worked at the antique mall a couple extra days, we moved into our new booth today which took 8 hours and we didn't get all the way done, so frankly, with all of that, my posts have suffered. I am really hoping on Friday I can get into that kitchen without coughing all over the goodies!  This week, I didnt even have time to make sure the features have a backlink to Wonderful at Home, so I decided to go ON FAITH!
I hope you accept my apology for this. So let's get to the features, so we can start the party!


First, we have this Goodwill Lamp and Burlap Shade project from Mod Vintage Life. I just LOVE IT. I can't wait to go to the goodwill and see what lamps I can find to redo for around my house!

Next, we have this wonderful Music Dresser that Createinspire worked so hard on! I love the heavy distressing and the sheet music front.

Last but certainly not least, is A Dish of Daily Life's post about how to Keep your Audience Engaged by using Facebook Insights. I love reading how to better myself, so I thought this was great!

Here are the guidelines:

• Please follow Wonderful at Home on as many networks as you can
• Please grab a button from my sidebar and put it somewhere in your post, or on your sidebar, or even on your "where I party" page in order to be eligible for a feature
• Link up as many links as you like - just make sure you consider them WONDERFUL 
• Visit at least two other link ups
• HAVE FUN!

Lucy! I'm home!

A little humor before I start this post:

I did an "interesting thing".  I am a 32 year old Marketing major, with no kids, and I quit my job. So, pull your chin up off the floor and let me explain. 

I started working in the gaming industry in my hometown in 2006. It was a slow start from the bottom for me, after having stayed with a recreational company for 10 years, 5 of which I managed the company. In 2008, around the time that I met my future husband at this company, I was promoted to a Manager, and the economy took a huge dive. My future husband and I worked about 8 out of 10 hours a day together on average, Management companies were called in, and all HELL broke loose. Even if I explained it to you, you could never imagine the pain that the company caused myself, and the others working in my department. My boyfriend at the time (who is now my husband), went to the hospital a few times with chest pains, our 32 year old best friend had a heart attack, my 50 year old boss had a heart attack, and I ended up in the hospital a few times with very serious stress related issues. It was a horrendous time. Over the years, management company after management company came in to try to "save us" but ended up stressing the situation and everyone in it even more. There were so many times where I asked to be fired, that I lost count. My boyfriend ended up escaping the company, and soon after, I sustained an injury and I was out of work for 7 weeks. Near the end of those 7 weeks, I was shaking with fear and misery, knowing I had to go back in there...when my boyfriend said "just don't. I cant continue like this, we have to eliminate that place from our lives". I remember wanting to jump up on the bed and scream I was so happy, but the numbers of my salary flashed through my head and I became very... very scared. There was no way that this was going to be possible. I made a good living for a 30 year old. I needed health insurance, I needed money to pay my car payment, and to contribute to paying off debt, and eating. How in the heck, were we going to manage this? We had gotten engaged 6 months prior, so he and I decided that we would get married in a private ceremony so that I would have health insurance, and not tell anyone as our big wedding was 9 months away. But we still had the issue of the salary. He had lost a good chunk moving to the new company, and if we lost my salary on top of it, would we be homeless? Ok, ok, not homeless, he still made a very good living, but how much money could we lose and stay afloat? I started thinking, maybe I should just go in. Maybe I should just try and suffer a bit longer. Maybe they will fire me? But if so, why hadn't they already when I begged and pleaded with them to be fired? I never once wondered "would I be ok not working?". Would I feel like an incomplete woman? I have worked for 16 years of my life... I have had my own money for a long time. How would this work? I did not even think about those things. Now, here comes the truth. I wanted and was ready to be Lucy. Lucy Ricardo. Most women look at me with disgust when I say that, but I have to be honest. I was ready to take care of the household, have dinner ready when my husband got home, bring him his slippers (ok, lets be real, he doesn't wear slippers), but you get my drift. If you knew me, your chin would be on the floor. Since I was 15, I have worked. Mostly because I wanted to. I wanted to be hugely successful, I wanted to be able to take care of myself in life if I ever needed to. Now, I wanted to be a housewife. So, that is exactly what we made me into. You wouldn't believe the things people say, or the looks they give me. My husband and I started telling people that I am a stay at home cat watcher. We had to say something... people were looking at me like I made the cardinal sin. BEING A HOUSEWIFE. I mean my goodness, its not as if I said I was going to be a serial murder. But you would think from peoples reactions, that it was exactly what I had said. 

Listen, I spent many many years taking care of myself (lots of times with my parents help), but my mother DRILLED into my head that I needed to be able to support myself my whole life. I spent many years being that girl/woman who is determined to rule the world, managing as the first woman manager at a company where almost everyone (except 3 people) said I could not do it because I was a woman. And now, it was my turn to be who I wanted to be. I literally remember driving somewhere right after I quit my job, and there is a song by Kina Grannis that made me cry every time I heard it.... and the lyrics went:

One day I woke in the rubble
Knee-deep in damage I'd done
I was ashamed of it
How did it come to this?

And how did you know that I couldn't be
What everyone wanted me to be
And how did you know that I wouldn't see
When everything falls away from me
When everything falls away from me

And that is how I felt. I felt as if there was so much damage done to my soul, that I had become unrecognizable. It makes me ill to think about, and I couldn't continue to try and be what everyone wanted me to be.... it just wasn't in me any more. Now, in the 1950's, women were encouraged, even forced to stay home and take care of the household. These days... well it is like exact opposite. Besides the looks I get, any of these responses can accompany them when people find out such as "well, what do you do all day?", or "how did you manage that?" or "I guess that's fine if your husband makes enough money to support you". Ohhhh well thank you for your permission.  Can we as women do anything right? First, we are barely allowed to work, now if we don't, we are looked at as lazy, moochers and gosh knows what else is running through peoples minds. Is it not enough to be good and take pride in sustaining the household, taking care of your children, taking care of your husband? And for those who think that I am unable to be happy because all I am is a housewife.... should come to terms that they are sadly mistaken. 

I have made a decision to be proud of who I am. Only myself and my husband know what is right for us. And what is right for our marriage. And this, this is what is right for us.  We should all try to be a little happier for each other, especially when we are doing what is making us happy. 

Wonderful Wednesdays Linky Party Week #2 & features!

Hello everyone! It's already time for another linky party! But first, we need to talk about our featured posts from last party!


The Refeathered Roost shared their lovely vignettes



Debbie Dabble shared these wonderful photos of her trip to Plains Antiques and Home Furnishings store




A Little Bit of Everything shared her wonderful Pyrex buys from the week!



Now onto this weeks party! There are very few rules, but just take a look at the couple bullet points below to be sure at the end, you can be featured!

• Link up as many links as you want, but be sure that they are not the same link, and that they are wonderful!
• Be sure to grab a button from our sidebar, and have it somewhere on your blog (or a link is fine)
• Visit at least two other links in the party, and tell them you visited
• Three links will be featured at the start of the next party, and again, you will only be featured if I can find Wonderful at Home's button or link somewhere on your blog
• Most importantly... HAVE WONDERFUL FUN!