Quinoa Creamy Carrot Risotto

This was an invention of mine. I really really like risotto, but it's not very good for you. So I came up with a way to make it a lighter and healthier dish. Firstly, I decided to use quinoa instead of rice. Partly because I had quinoa at the house and partly because it gives the dish some protein. Next I decided to make the cream sauce from carrots and light cream cheese instead of pure cream and ricotta. I did this by first sautéing some carrots with rosemary in vegetable stock, with a splash of white wine. While I did this I cooked the quinoa in the same mix of veggie stock and white wine. While I was preparing these components I chopped some red capsicum, zucchini, red onion and carrot and placed them to roast in the oven with sprigs of rosemary. When the carrots in the pan were sufficiently softened, I placed them and the veggie tock/wine mixture I cooked them in into a blender. I blended it until it was fairly smooth. Then I added light cream cheese to taste. Blending as I went until I had a creamy mixture for the sauce. Next I added this creamy mixture to the cooked quinoa, with a bit more white wine. I mixed this together, simmering it on the stove at a low heat. As I was doing this I stirred in shredded parmesan cheese. I left this on the stove covered on the lowest setting until the other veggies were done roasting. Then I combined them with the risotto, as well as the roasted rosemary. I throughly mixed this together to make a flavorful and wonderfully textured risotto dish. I'm really proud of this dish because while it has a lot of components every part added something to the dish, making it into an elegant and textured meal. The carrot as the base made this dish have a sweet flavor. The wine and rosemary tied this sweetness together with the rosemary roasted veggies. The cream cheese added texture to the dish and went really well with the carrots. The roasted veggies added something to the dish, turning it into a meal rather than a side. And the quinoa really was an excellent substitute to the normal rice, so much so that I don't know if I'll ever attempt rice risotto when this was such an excellent substitute. 

Thoughts on this dish:

• I like using a veggie like carrots as a base for risotto. I would try making a tomato basil version of this dish next.
• Adding the parmesan really added something to the dish, giving it a melted cheese taste and texture that the cream cheese along won't fulfill
• Could probably have blended the carrots a little more.
• I realize now writing this post over a week later, that I didn't really measure anything rather, just used what looked right. I think I used 2.5 carrots, using 2 in the sauce and 1/2 for the roasted veggies. I used an entire capsicum, a whole medium sized zucchini, and 1/4 of a red onion. I used about 1/2 a cup of quinoa. I used 3/4 of a cup of veggie stock to cook the quinoa, and 1/4 for the carrot sauce. Cream cheese, parmesan, wine, and rosemary were all put in to the taste. 

Can't wait to make this for my family since they all really like quinoa and risotto. This one is the best of both.