Creamy Parmesan Orzo

Ah, back to the daily grind of cooking. Well, only sort of. We got a fancy schmancy new grill and cooked ahi tuna steaks on it. Yum! They were already marinated, so all I did was cook up some orzo and broccoli. I had kind of forgotten about this recipe until Jen B. made it recently. I don't know how I forgot about it--it's one of my favorites! And it's so yummy. I'll have to get it back in the rotation.

Creamy Parmesan Orzo
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup orzo
1 1/4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons pine nuts, toasted

Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add orzo, and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in broth and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until liquid is absorbed and orzo is done (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat; stir in cheese, basil, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle with the pine nuts. Serve immediately.

*****

I could have sworn the recipe called for 1/2 cup of parmesan. Oh well. A little extra cheese never hurt anyone, did it? :) I didn't have fresh basil, so I just used some dried. I think it's good either way.

It was definitely challenging trying to get dinner on the table at a decent time since the baby is ALWAYS hungry. I had to stop feeding him to work on dinner, which meant I was working on dinner with a screaming baby in the background. Fun stuff.