Back to adjustments as usual.

I was going to do this week's theme a couple of weeks ago, but my other half went out of town and I switched some things around. It's "Dinner Tool Week II". More recipes from DinnerTool. The ones I'm doing this week come from their top visited page "5 Healthy Crock Pot To Make Now".

"Barley Risotto with Fennel" (6 quart pot)

The original is HERE.

~2 t fennel seeds
~1 cup of pearl barley
~1 c baby carrots, halved
~1 large shallot
~2 garlic cloves, minced
~4 c chicken broth (or veggie broth if you want to make it "officially" vegetarian"
~1 c water
~1/3 c dry white wine (I used St. Michael's Viognier.)
~2 c of frozen French-cut green beans
~1/2 c of grated Parmesan cheese
~1 T freshly grated lemon zest
~pepper

Spray crock pot with pam.
Crush fennel seeds with the bottom of a saucepan.
Combine the fennel seeds, barley, carrot, shallot and garlic in the slow cooker.
Add broth, 1 cup water, and wine.
Stir to combine.
Cover and cook on low for 3 1/2 hours.
Shortly before serving, cook green beans according to package instructions and drain.
Turn off the crock pot.
Stir the green beans, Parmesan, lemon zest and pepper into the risotto.

6 servings.

We don't do olives, so I left them out. I was muttering "Whatthecrapisafennelbulb?" while perusing Safeway. I couldn't find them, so I (sadly) left them out, too.

This was really good. My other half wasn't a fan of the lemon peel, but I blame myself for that. I didn't finely chop them and I really should have. Oops. I'll look a little harder for the fennel bulbs next time. I've never had them and I was looking forward to trying something new. Still, I'd make this again. With adjustments.