Vegan Wild Mushroom Risotto (and. . . the fall critter invasion)

I did not cook last week. I took a break. I was eating solo, so I felt it was a good time to just stop. No blogging. No menu planning. It was refreshing to do so. I ate miso soup for dinner four nights in a row. (I'm easy like that). On the last night, I had a baked potato with it--the soup was delicious every single night I had it. I caught up on Grey's Anatomy, too. I also finished my wonderful hummingbird cake--it served as my dessert course each night. I ate the entire cake minus one piece my husband shared with me prior to leaving town. Plus, the Irish Soda Bread. . . mmmm, I ate plenty of that, too.

My week overall was quite eventful. I am planning for a fundraiser that takes place in six days: Sweat-4-Pets. I am a mess right now! I am distracted and all nervous. To top it off, I hit myself in the face on my lip with the leg of a table I was setting up in my garage to house the boxes of pre-registration packets--it really hurt. But after about an hour of holding a bag of frozen corn on my face, I think I might have prevented a total face implosion. Right now I have a swollen, bruised lip, a sore mouth, a week of anxiety ahead of me and to top it off . . I had an invasion of some kind while my husband was out of town. Before you think this is just crazy talk. . . let me tell the story. I had purchased a new box of treats for the canine kids on Wednesday--the extra large size box. By Friday morning when I reached my hand into the treat box, every single morsel was gone! Now, mind you, my husband was out of town. I had a mystery to solve (Agatha Christie I am not, however, this one took a special kind of detective). On the night before this discovery, right before bed, I heard something in the basement. Being the chicken that I am, I just stomped really hard and flashed the lights on and off (that will stop them. . . crazy wacko trying to use a light show to dissuade an intruder). I grabbed the dogs (who, by the way, were not phased by this one bit!), and went to the bedroom to read a bit, hoping that whatever it was would not find its way up to my walls! Lo and behold and one hundred dollars later (I called critter man--these guys are used to dealing with hysterical women)--I shared my exploits. I showed him the evidence knowing full well this guy is listening to me and wondering if I really HAD bought an entire box of treats at all. I was certain I had. I had no idea how anything could have gotten into this house. . . and drag over 100 treats out of a metal tin box in its mouth or hands! Then critter man found this hole in the corner of my wall in my basement--lots of debris on the floor: proof that something had indeed entered this house. Not human. I suspected a raccoon. Mice could never do this. (Though my husband, funny man that he is started humming the theme song to Fantasia and doing imitations of mice in a work line taking turns carrying treats out--real funny!) Long and short, it was critter man's belief that based on other evidence, this most certainly could not have been a raccoon as there was no point of obvious entry. Though he did suggest that something might have snuck in when I let the dogs out. First of all, that is so laughable, I nearly slapped him for suggesting this--I have dogs, remember--if something came in with them, it was their appetizer! Husband came home to my still "hysterical" state and spent Saturday at Home Depot then super sealing this very old house. We also re-designed our storage for dog stuffs and hermetically sealed our food as much as humanly possible. Update: not a single shred of evidence that critters have invaded. I suspect they are still enjoying the bountiful cache of dog treats and really see no reason for stopping by the buffet table any time soon. Being vegan does not mean the wild kingdom can stop by any time for a treat or take up residence here!

Now for this risotto. I took another cooking holiday yesterday and Saturday. I just was not feeling the love for cooking. It happens. It happened to Julia, it will happen again to me. So my husband who is so wordly now with his travels shares his best meals with me upon his returns. This time it was a wild mushroom risotto he had requested as a fine meal substitute for his vegetarian needs. The chef obliged. He loved it. He wanted to try his hand at it. This was the best risotto I have ever had! And, there is not a shred of cheese in this! I say his ability to jump in an turn out this wonderful dish has something to do with his being a trained scientist. He knows chemicals. He knows things about things that I wish I knew. He wrote this down in his illegible script that I think I have decoded correctly and am now sharing with the vegans of the world. It was amazing and so delicious! I hope you try it! Meantime, I will try to get back into the kitchen today!

Vegan Wild Mushroom Risotto

*from VeganThyme's husband

1/4 cup minced onion

4 tablespoons Earth Balance Butter Sticks

4 cups total of thinly sliced fresh mushrooms (he used oyster, portabello)

1 package dried shitake mushrooms, reconstituted in white cooking wine, sliced thin

2 cups arborio rice

2 cups white cooking wine

1 cup white cooking wine

5 cups veggie broth, warmed in a pot

1 cup hot water

1 vegetable boullion cube

Spike or salt and pepper to taste

Place dried shitakes in 1 cup of hot water with veggie bouillon cube to rehydrate. Place a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan and add the fresh mushrooms. Add one cup of white cooking wine. Cook until the wine has reduced and the mushrooms have released their juices and have begun to brown a bit. When finished, set aside. This should take about 10 minutes. In the same large saute pan, on medium heat, melt butter and add onion. Cook until the onions are translucent. Now add the rice and cook to coat the rice and to heat it a bit--stirring on and off for about 5 minutes. Now add the white cooking wine and stir until the rice absorbs the wine. Next, begin adding your broth in 1 cup increments over a period of about 20 minutes. So, add 1 cup broth mixing well until it is absorbed. Keep doing this: adding broth, mixing until broth is absorbed, until all broth is gone. How to tell if broth is absorbed. Drag your wooden spoon down the middle of the pan, if there is a trail of pan showing, your broth has been absorbed. Incorporate the broth from the shitake mushrooms to your additions. You may not be using it all, depending upon the consistency of your rice after this 20 minute adding liquid stage. Use your eyes and taste for this part--being careful to not burn your tongue! Now, add all mushrooms to the risotto. Mix well. Enjoy!