Farro Risotto with Mushrooms

Welcome back! Well, mostly welcome back for me. Sorry about the hiatus. Things got really crazy leading up to my interview at Carnegie Mellon. The interview went really well though (fingers crossed!) and now I am off in sunny southern California to regain my sanity and get some substantial cycling hours in. Seriously, it's amazing here. We climbed a mountain yesterday, which was awesome (although we did have to descend and there were some crazy motorcyclists around) and have many more fun miles planned ahead. I'm really glad for the chance to practice group riding techniques and descending: both skills will be very useful in the races to come this year!

The view out the front door for the next week... heck yeah!!

Anyways... back to food. I can't wait to get back to my normal cooking groove, but in the meantime, I have some recipes to share. The first of which is a farro risotto that I made a week ago and have been enjoying. I really wanted a creamy cashew sauce and mushrooms, and felt like risotto, but needed more substance than normal white arborio rice. So I based my risotto on farro, added some other veggies and this recipe was born!

Farro Risotto with Mushrooms

1 package Trader Joe's quick cook farro
1 package mushrooms
3c frozen green beans
2c frozen peas
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well
1/2c cashews, soaked and food processed
1/2c nutritional yeast
1 bunch fresh basil
garlic to taste
salt and pepper (optional)

1. Soak cashews overnight.
2. Cook farro according to directions on the package.
3. While farro is cooking, wash and slice mushrooms. Add to a pan with the green beans and peas. Sautee until soft.
4. Food process cashews until smooth.
5. Drain risotto, return to pan. Add cashew paste, veggies, and nutritional yeast. Stir to combine.
6. Add sliced basil, garlic, and other spices. Enjoy warm.