Food: Getting Back to the Basics: Cheesy Risotto and Lemon Pomegranate Scones

As the week progressed and my refrigerator became barer, it became increasingly difficult to put together dishes for lunch and dinner. However, yesterday I was successful at creating an excellent lunch of mixed greens with cheesy risotto. The cheesy risotto was prepared by first sauteing onions and garlic in a little olive oil and butter. While the onions and garlic were cooking, I added a cup of Italian style rice to the rice cooker. (Yes, you can make a risotto style dish in the rice cooker. The rice cooker is a lifesaver when you have a needy toddler attached to your hip and don't want to risk burning the two of you by stirring rice continuously over a hot stove for an hour.) I then added 3 cups of homemade chicken broth that I keep in the freezer and defrost when needed. Lastly, I stirred in the caramelized onions and garlic along with a cup of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. After the rice cooker gave its signature "beep, beep, beep" (i.e. "I'm done!") signal, I plated the risotto, grated a little more cheese on top, and served it with a side of mixed greens drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Later that afternoon while my son was napping, I managed to test out a variation of my scone recipe. This time I added lemon zest and pomegranates to the batter. The taste was amazing (almost all 5 scones were devoured by the time we went to bed), but I'm still working on the texture. Although I used less heavy cream this time, the scones still did not crumble like I had hoped, so next time I will try baking them at a lower temperature. Here is the recipe I have been playing around with for those of you that are interested (they are still better than any scone you can buy). I cut this recipe in half and it still makes 5 small scones.