Risotto and Roasted Broccoli

From Lila:

“Today I made risotto as you probably know from the title.  Tonight’s dinner was slightly less tedious than the previous dinners that I have made just because it didn’t involve any really pesky vegetable washing. So today I started making dinner at 4:30 because of the all of the homework and relaxing I had to do, but mainly it had to do with the fact that my mom had yet another park slope food co-op shift to do. So while my mom was out doing a co-op shift I was doing my summer math homework [uggh] and sitting around re-reading one of my MAD magazines. It’s kind of weird thinking that 91 degrees isn’t that hot but it was unfortunately hot in my kitchen. Even though it was like heat extortion being in the kitchen, it was so worth it for the risotto. I know that probably sounds crazy to most people especially the heat sensitive [like me] but there aren’t a lot of things I wouldn't do for a good bowl/plate of food. So bye I have to get back to relaxing. P.s. my mom will post the link to the cookbook that I made the risotto from and will write about the roasted broccoli that she made. “

Ambika here - This was actually Friday’s dinner but we got busy going to the pool and whatnot, so I’m just posting it now. I got the idea for roasted broccoli from my friend Marsha (thanks Marsha). I LOVE cooking it this way for a change since I cook so much broccoli. Here is a good recipe from epicurious. I of course simplify so I just use olive oil and salt.

The risotto recipe is from Real Simple: Meals Made Easy. It is very tasty and is relatively easy to make. We used chicken stock from a box but if anyone out there has a recommendation for vegetable broth in a box, please let me know. So far all I’ve tried are pretty terrible.