Thursday

Cate's springtime risotto soup (recipe in the comments from April 12, 2008)
A few slices of mustard seed cheddar
Whole white wheat bread

Hot cocoa
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Spring has really been fighting to come out here in Western New York over the past week or so. We had gorgeous weather this weekend and this week has been lovely. Today was supposed to be colder and gray, but it ended up less cold than we expected and sunny basically all day. We're really happy to have the warmer weather, no snow, and the first crocuses up. The snowdrops are already beginning to wilt! It feels so renewing outside. At any rate, this meal is intended as a celebration of the new season - officially here sometime tomorrow morning. We had white asparagus from a local hot house at our store and took advantage. That makes the soup less colorful, but white asparagus always seems festive to us. Between the pound of asparagus and the spinach, this really can be a one dish meal with bread and a few cubes of cheese. That said, broiled tomatoes would be excellent additions.

Note: We made this with Better than Bouillon's Organic "Not Chicken" vegetable base, which is a lighter veggie broth. I knew we'd both be taking this for lunch tomorrow - a Lenten Friday. We both give this product two thumbs up, but I doubt we'll find it in Buffalo. We moved it from Ann Arbor :)

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Onions, lemon rind, asparagus, spinach
Time: 30 minutes
Make ahead: We do this last minute so the rice doesn't soak up too much of the broth and get soggy.

Reaction
J: "Happy equinox eve!"
M: "Perfect early spring dinner!"