Mushroom Risotto With Vegetables

I had a recipe forming in my mind, for a quinoa-vegetable casserole, in the grocery store. . .then saw this risotto mix! 😋 I've never made risotto from scratch, so I decided a boxed "cheat" would be okay for a first attempt.

I made this separately from the vegetables, and it tasted really good just by following the package instructions, and eliminating the two ingredients recommended after cooking.  Since the rice, beans and kale would absorb some of that flavor, as well as impart their own, I decided to season it a bit more than I normally would, sticking with the mushroom-truffle flavor palette.  

1 pkg. Italia Truffle Risotto

- make according to directions

1T mushroom BTB soup base

¼c Italia truffle Alfredo sauce

2T truffle oil - add at the end

1# green beans - 1" slices

⅓ lg. orange pepper-sliced

1 sm.-med. onion-chopped

5 cloves garlic-sliced

½t black and red pepper

1-2T butter

¼ lg. pkg. of kale - sliced

Make risotto in a 2qt. pot, eliminating the butter and cheese recommended on the box.  When rice is al dente', remove from heat and add the next 3 ingredients and cover and set aside.  Meanwhile, simmer the beans in a 3qt. pot, in a little water, covered, until they're just tender.  In another pot or pan, combine the first 3 vegetables, seasoning and butter.  Saute' until barely tender.  Add a little water and the kale.  Cover and continue to simmer-steam another 5-8 minutes or so.  Combine these with the beans, then gently stir in the rice.

Transfer to a covered casserole dish.  Serve as a vegetarian main dish, or as a side to steamed fish or chicken.  Cut a lemon wedge as a garnish for each serving.  When a dish has this much richness, the acid in lemon juice cuts that, and balances everything nicely. . .Lin