comfort food thursday.

this week's addition of comfort food thursday comes to us all the way from the california kitchen of my inspiringly creative cousin (much more on her and her blog to come) this recipe includes so many of my favorite things - sweet potatoes, thyme, edamame (it's just fun word to say!) and a good ol' slow cooker.

now if only i had thrown all of this together this morning, my vermont kitchen would smell simply delicious tonight. sigh. maybe risotto for breakfast tomorrow?

sweet potato and barley risotto

what you need:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 ½ cups of sweet onions chopped (about 3)
• 3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 2 med-sized sweet potatoes peeled and chopped
• 2 med-sized carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 ¼ cups uncooked pearl barley
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth (recommends “better than bouillon” stock bases – they are concentrated – as opposed to buying the boxes – and have no artificial stuff. we like that.)
• 1 cup of frozen shelled edamame, thawed
• 2 T fresh parmesan cheese

what you do: in skillet, heat olive oil. add onion. saute 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent. add garlic. cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is softened. spray slow cooker with cooking spray. add sweet potatoes, carrots, barley, thyme, salt and three cups of broth. stir. add in the cooked garlic and onion mixture. stir again. cover and cook on low 4-5 hours. thaw edamame in remaining one cup of broth. stir into the barley risotto mixture. increase setting to high, cover and cook another 25-30 minutes until edamame are tender. serve in bowls and sprinkle with parmesan.