Easy Vegetable Risotto

I love making comforting meals that feel warm and cozy but also healthy and energizing.  Vegetables and whole grains are such a staple in our household.  One of the coziest little dishes I can think of containing these two items is risotto.  It is your basic Italian comfort food.  I had a lot of produce that needed to be used and some short grain brown rice so I decided to try my hand at vegetable risotto.  It turned out to be so wonderfully satisfying that I am going to post the recipe and add it to our family's list of favorites.
The key to risotto is patience, of which I have none.  All of my patience tends to go into child rearing so I don't have as much by the end of the day when dinner rolls around.  But I would wait happily all day for a bowl of this stuff. This risotto is as creamy as brown rice can get.  True Italian risotto does use white rice but I am not a fan of it when brown rice feels so much more filling and robust.  It also has all of those great nutrients still intact within the grain (i.e. whole grain).
I used the vegetables I had on hand, which happened to be onions, garlic, kale (always), mushrooms, carrots, and sundried tomatoes.  I am sure that artichokes, peas, broccoli, Lima beans, etc. could also make great additions to risotto.  Anything that's makes your tongue tingle when you think of it being mixed with some butter, rice, and cheese could really work.
This version is not vegetarian because I used chicken stock, as that is what I had on hand.  However, you could use vegetable or even mushroom stock to make it a vegetarian meal.  Furthermore, your vegan friends would love you if you omitted the butter and cheese.  This would make the dish less creamy, but there may be substitutions you could look into and experiment with.  I have seen a few trends lately that use ground cashews to create creamy sauces.

Vegetable Risotto

1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, finely diced (think approximately 1/4-1/2 inch cubes)
8 oz mushrooms, finely diced
Olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups chicken stock (or other type of stock)
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
Salt to taste
1 bunch of kale, finely chopped
Handful of sundries tomatoes, finely chopped
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Sauté onion, carrots, and mushrooms in olive oil until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and stir constantly for one minute.  Add rice and toast until the grains become translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add white wine and allow rice to fully absorb.  Now usually you would add the stock a little at a time and constantly stir the rice for a few hours.  Not my idea of an easy task when you have a toddler pulling at your shirt, asking you to play.  Not even an easy task if you don't have kids whining at you. Instead, I added it all at once and gently simmered the rice, which still came out super creamy and yummy!
 Add stock, bay leaf, and a little salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a gentle simmer.  Stir occasionally.  If the liquid absorbs and the rice is not as creamy as you would like, add more a little at a time.  Remove the bay leaf, add in the butter and stir.  Add in the cheese.  Serve right away!  And bring a bowl over to my house while you are at it!