Day 348.
It’s another birthday today, my husband’s this time and as his dinner, he gets this incredibly non-photogenic, but creamy delicious risotto. I adapted it from a delicious recipe for Corn Risotto in Stephanie O’Dea’s Make It Fast, Cook It Slow cookbook. The corn version sounds super tasty, but our kids are broccoli addicts, and we happened to have about a pound and a half in the fridge.
Slow Cooker Broccoli Risotto
Adapted from CrockPot Corn Risotto.
Ingredients for 4 servings
Main ingredients: 
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 1/4 cups Arborio rice (raw)
  • 1 teaspoon minced onion flakes
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 3/4 pound broccoli florets, shredded in the food processor
  • 4 cups Easy Slow Cooker Vegetable Broth
  • 1 tablespoon butter*

 Mix-ins after slow cooking:

  • 1/4 cup whole milk*
  • 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded*
  • 1/2 cup Mushroom Bacon Bits  (optional)
*Note: To make this recipe vegan, substitute margarine, dairy-free milk and Daiya dairy-free cheese in equal amounts.
Directions
Using a 4-quart slow cooker, put the olive oil into the crock. Swirl the rice and onion flakes around in the oil. Add garlic, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper. Stir in broccoli and vegetable broth. Drop butter in on top. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours, checking every 45 minutes (mine was done in 1 hour, 35 minutes).
When liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, unplug the slow cooker and add milk, Mozzarella and bacon if desired. Mushroom bacon can also be served on the side to mix in later.
The Results
This was pretty good and the kids went crazy for it. For the adults, we both thought it needed a little something to really make it great. We decided on bacon (my husband wanted real bacon, but when I mentioned the mushroom bacon, he decided bacony mushrooms would be good too). If we make this again in the future, we’d have the 1/2 cup of bacon mushroom bits on the side as an optional mix-in.