Peach French Toast Bake

I decided to make this for Easter brunch this past weekend and it was a great option for a breakfast casserole. In the past when I've made breakfast casseroles, I've usually done the ones with potatoes, eggs, meat, cheese and veggies and they've been delicious. This time, I was in the mood to try a new recipe and got this one from a friend through a post on facebook where I asked for input on people's favorite brunch items. If you are looking for an option that's a bit fruity, but not too sweet, then I'd recommend giving this one a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

1 large whole-wheat baguette (about 8 ounces)

8 eggs

1 cup low fat milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups sliced peaches, fresh or frozen

1/2 lemon, juiced about 1 1/2 tablespoons

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Spray a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Slice the baguette into 1/2-inch slices and arrange the slices in a single layer in the baking pan. Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk and vanilla. Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the pan. In a medium bowl, toss peaches with the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar. Scatter the peach slices evenly on top of the bread. Combine the remaining brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Cover and refrigerate overnight.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover and bake for 40 minutes. Serve warm with (or without) maple syrup.

Gina's Turkey Chili Taco Soup

I threw together a big pot of this soup on Sunday and it got two thumbs up from our house, so I thought you might enjoy the recipe for your home. This Turkey Chili Taco Soup comes from Gina's Skinny Taste website, which is a new favorite of mine. I did make one change to the recipe below, I cut out the refried beans and used a half can of great northern beans instead of kidney beans. This change clearly indicates that I'm not a bean girl, but it was a huge step for me to use any beans at all, so the smaller white great northern beans are a good choice for me as I try to expand my horizons into the work of legumes!


Here's the recipe:

• 1.3 lbs 99% lean ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 10 oz can rotel tomatoes with green chilies
• 15 oz canned or frozen corn, drained
• 15 oz kidney beans, drained
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 16 oz fat free refried beans
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 2 1/2 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth

In a large pot, brown turkey on medium heat, breaking up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. When cooked through, add onions and pepper and cook 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes, corn, beans, tomato sauce, refried beans, taco seasoning and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer about 10-15 minutes.

Serve with a few baked tortilla chips and your favorite toppings such as low fat sour cream, jalapeños, reduced fat cheese, chopped scallions, onions, or chopped fresh cilantro. Freeze leftovers in individual portions for future meals.


I did make some homemade baked tortilla strips for this dish - it was so simple. Take a few flour tortillas and brush each side with some vegetable oil. Stack them and cut them into strips. Place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, flipping at the half way point. Just keep your eye on them so they don't burn and they're a great addition to put on this soup with some shredded chedder cheese. Enjoy!

Meatless Meals #2

Guess who went and stole my idea....Oprah...that's right, I said it. "Lady O" owes me some money I tell ya, because it was just two weeks ago that I posted about wanting to start cooking more Meatless Meals for dinner in our house. And wouldn't you know, what was yesterday's Oprah show about - going vegan - and she talked about having Meatless Monday's at her Harpo studios in Chicago. I'm telling you, girrrllllll owes me some money for copyright issues, don'tcha think?!!?

If you didn't see the show and have any interest in this hot button topic, then I highly suggest you check it out. Here's a link to her website with more about the show. There's an interesting segments where correspondent Lisa Ling visits a slaughterhouse. While this segment might be hard for some to watch, it was the first time I recall seeing or hearing about the details on how cows are treated at the feed lots, transferred to slaughterhouses and put through the process of becoming packaged meat.

Now on to another recipe that I whipped up last night. This is what I call cooking without a plan. I pulled out some veggies from the fridge and we had some cooked thin spaghetti noodles. So here's my take on another meatless meal:
Chop up some fresh broccoli, onion, tomatoes and flat leaf parsley. Heat some olive oil in a medium size saute pan and add the broccoli with some garlic. Once that is cooked, set aside and to the same pan add the chopped onion, tomatoes, and parsley. Squeeze some lemon juice over that mixture and saute for a few minutes. If you so desire (which I did), add in a little white wine too. After the onion mixture softens, add the broccoli back into the pan and toss in some cooked spaghetti noodles. I let all this cook together for a few minutes and below is a picture of the finished product. It was pretty good and the lemon juice gave it a very fresh flavor, which made me think that this would be a great meal to eat during the summer months. You could easily add grilled chicken this dish to satisfy the taste buds of the carnivores in your life too. Enjoy - and don't forget to post any meatless meals you and your family enjoy in the comments section - Thanks!

Turkey & Rice Stuffed Peppers

The original recipe for this dish comes from Gina's Skinny Recipes. This gal has a great blog where she posts a new recipe almost every day and she includes the weight watchers info for each dish for those who are counting points with that system. I really liked her take on stuffed peppers - she suggested cutting the peppers length wise, which I thought was great because it made the peppers easier to cut up and eat with out loosing a bunch of the filling. The other great thing about her recipes is that you stuff the raw peppers with the filling, then you add 1/2 cup of chicken broth in the bottom of the pan, cover it with the foil to cook, which ends up steaming the peppers.

Here is my take on the recipe:

• 1 lb cooked ground turkey
  
• small amount of minced garlic
  
• 1/4 chopped onion
  
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp chef tony's creole spice mix
  
• salt & pepper to taste
• 3 red bell peppers
  
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cook rice according to directions on box. In another pan, saute onion, garlic and parsley for about 2 minutes and add ground turkey. Add spice mix and cook for several minutes until meat is completely cooked through. Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, mix together and cook on low for 5 minutes. Combine cooked rice and meat together.
Cut the peppers in half lengthwise, and remove all seeds. Place peppers in backing dish and add meat mixture into each pepper half and fill it with as much as you can. Sprinkle each pepper with cheddar cheese. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of chicken broth on the bottom of the pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 40 minutes.

The finished product - Enjoy!

Meatless Meals

In an effort to make adjustments towards a healthier lifestyle, I've been looking for some meatless recipes. Many websites & blog promote "Meatless Mondays" and offer lots of suggestions on how to make the switch, which is helpful to get more ideas other than pasta & salads.

While we have not fully adopted Meatless Mondays in our house yet, I am trying to make one meal a week that does not include meat, poultry or seafood. So, here's my first recipe for a meatless dinner:

Mariana, Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
2 portobello mushroom caps

Mariana sauce

Fresh spinach leaves

Feta & Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to broil setting. On medium heat, saute mushroom caps in some olive oil on for about 5-10 minutes, flipping the caps to cook on both sides. Place mushrooms in baking dish and fill the caps with marina sauce, spinach, feta & shredded mozzarella cheese. Broil in oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This is a very informal recipe - I didn't do any measuring of the ingredients, so just go with the flow on this & fill the mushrooms with whatever amount looks good to you and bake them up. I'm sure you could also bake them on 375, but I like the cheese a little browned, so the broiling them worked out great for my tastes.

If anyone has any suggestions for meatless meals, I'd love to have your recipes. One good thing for me is that JJ will eat anything, so that's great to have someone who's up to trying new things. I am the one with the less than adventuresome taste buds, but I am trying to expand my palate and have done so in the past few years. I feel this challenge will help push me beyond my comfort zone when it comes to food. Just this weekend we enjoyed a night out at some friends house and I tried some chili with beans, so that was a big step for me. I didn't eat all the beans, but a few snuck in and it wasn't too bad!

So, suggestions and thoughts on this topic are welcomed. Let me know what types of meals you & your families are eating this year!

Shrimp & Veggies with Pasta

One website I enjoy checking in on often is The Pioneer Woman - she's got tons of recipes and often has awesome give-a-ways too. While reading her blog one day, she told readers about a guy named Ryan who was going to be doing a guest post for her. Turns out Ryan runs a blog called This is Reverb and he's a pastor at a local church here in Cincinnati. Apparently, in addition to being a Pastor, Ryan is also quite a cook . So, this part of this recipe comes from his blog and it gets two thumbs up in my book!

Spicy Orange Shrimp:

• 24 pieces (26-30 Per Pound) Deveined Shrimp
• 2 cloves (to 4 Cloves) Garlic
• ¾ cups Orange Juice
• ½ teaspoons Ground Cayenne Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 3 Tablespoons Salted Butter, Divided

Thaw and peel the shrimp. Thaw them by running them under cold water for a few minutes. Dry the peeled shrimp by draining them on a paper towel or two.

Thinly slice your garlic cloves. Add the garlic to ¾ cup of orange juice. (I used the minced garlic from the jar for this part, but I'm sure freshly sliced garlic is a better choice!) Use a nice high quality orange juice. Measure out and add all of the spices to the orange juice as well.

In a large skillet over high heat melt 2 tablespoons butter. Once butter has melted add your shrimp. Cook them for about 30-60 seconds and begin flipping them over starting with the ones you placed in the pan first so they don’t get overdone. Cook for another 30-60 seconds. Remove the cooked shrimp from the pan, leaving the heat on high.

Once the butter and drippings begin to smoke ever so slightly add the spicy orange garlic mixture to the pan and give it a good stir. Add the last tablespoon of butter to the sauce and after a few minutes of cooking and occasional stirring your sauce should be slightly thicker.

Return the shrimp to the pan and give them a nice toss to coat them in the sauce.

Roasted Vegetables:
This is a really quick side dish to fix when you've got some vegetables that need to be used up quick. The night I made these veggies, I used mushrooms, red onions, red peppers and broccoli. Drizzle the veggies lightly with olive oil and season with a dry herb seasoning.

The finished product - I served the shrimp and veggies over some whole wheat pasta - Enjoy!

Bagel Dip

This is one of the easiest appetizer's out there and it's a pretty big crowd-pleaser too! It's simple - one block of cream cheese and one 5 oz jar of Old English chedder cheese. Throw them in a bowl, stick the bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften, then mix together with a mixer until you get a smooth texture. Cut up some bagels - I went with plain, but I bet onion, whole wheat or everything bagels would be great too - and there you go, that's it! Take this to your next gals get together or a tail gate party and be prepared to give out the recipe (if you even want to call it a "recipe"). Enjoy...I bet this would go great with some of those fresh bakery soft pretzels...Mmmm!

Turkey Meatloaf

1/2 small onion, chopped
small amount of minced garlic
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb lean ground turkey
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup ketchup + 2 tbsp ketchup
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 egg
salt and pepper, to taste

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute onions and garlic in the olive oil on low heat.

*In a medium bowl, mix together ground turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, 1/4 cup ketchup, salt & pepper and sauteed onions & garlic. Once everything is mixed together, form meatloaf and place on a foil lined baking sheet.

*In a small bowl, mix the remaining 2 tbsp of ketchup with 2 tsp worcestershire sauce and brush this mixture on top of the meatloaf for a tangy glaze.

*Bake uncovered for about 35 minutes. Slice, serve and enjoy - I served this with some roasted potatoes and peppers. Of course, it would go great with mashed potatoes and a seasonal vegetable too!

This was my first time making a turkey meatloaf and both JJ and I really liked this recipe. Using the ground turkey is a great option when trying to cut back on red meat and because the turkey is so lean, there was absolutely no grease like there is when I've made a meatloaf with a ground beef/ground pork mix. I would recommend checking on the loaf as it nears the end of the cooking time to make sure it's not getting too dry. Let me know if you try this recipe and if you & your dinner guests enjoy it. I think it will be replacing the beef/pork meatloaf we usually make in our house!

PS - the above picture doesn't do this meatloaf justice. I tried several times to get a "good" picture of this dinner and I've decided that there is just something about meatloaf that doesn't offer the most appealing photos. But I assure you, it tasted very good!

Cincinnati Style Chili

1 1/2 lb of lean ground beef

1 (29oz can) tomato sauce

1 (14 1/2oz can) diced tomatoes (whatever size you like) - I used petite diced

small onion, chopped

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 Tbsp.. chili powder

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

1 toe of garlic

3 bay leaves

Brown meat - cook onions with meat - drain grease. Place meat and onions in large pan or crock pot. Add rest of ingredients. Cook slowly 4-5 hours covered. Remove bay leaves and garlic before serving. Serve on a bed of spaghetti and top with grated cheddar cheese. I also like to put onions on top. We also like it as a coney sauce for grilled hot dogs or you can just eat it in a bowl with crackers.

This recipe comes from a new "friend" of mine and it's fantastic. I used the word "friend" in quotes because I've never actually met this friend in person but we've been chatting it up on facebook for about a month! Readers of the blog may remember my awesome new beach bag I got this year and the maker of that bag, 2 Moore Stitches, is the holder of this recipe! She tells me that she thinks the chili is actually better the next day. She also posted that she often makes a double batch of chili and freezes the leftovers.

JJ is a big fan a Skyline Chili and used to eat it almost every night of the week when we first met. As of late, he doesn't eat it as often and when he does he usually subs out the chili for their rice and bean mixture as his topper for the noodles smothered in cheese. However, he's always up for me trying new recipes, so he was totally on board when I suggested having this for dinner one night. It probably came as a big surprised because I've just recently started to even like Skyline.

He took me to Skyline on one of our first dates and I couldn't even finish one chili cheese coney, that's how much I didn't enjoy the taste of Skyline. But about a year ago, I decided to give Cincinnati style chili another try and found that it wasn't so bad after all. With this chili recipe, I tried to crumble the meat up as small as I cook as I was browning it to get a very thin texture similar to the original Skyline chili. The only small change I made from the recipe above was using 1 tsp of minced garlic from the jar, other than that, I followed the directions above and it turned out great. I had a nice sized portion for my dinner and JJ ate 2 plates full, so clearly it was a hit at our house. So thanks 2 Moore Stitches for your Cincinnati Style Chili recipe, I think it will definitely become a staple in my recipe book for many years to come!

Balsamic glazed salmon

2 salmon fillets
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1tbsp honey
1tbsp white wine
1tsp Dijon mustard
salt & pepper
dried parsley

Make 2 aluminum foil "boats" and place salmon fillets in center. Mix ingredients and poor over fish. Marinade salmon for about 30 minutes.

Grill salmon (in foil "boats") for about 10 minutes on medium heat. After 10 minutes, transfer fish directly in grill for 5-10 more minutes to finish cooking. (I recommend getting some non stick grill spray to use so the fillets don't stick to the grill - Weber makes a good spray option). Fish should easily flake with a fork when done.

Serve with rice & veggies or over a Caesar salad!

Lasagna

Here's the ingredient list if you're interested in adding this meal to your grocery shopping list.

1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 onion - chopped
minced garlic (I use a small amount of minced garlic from the jar)
parsley (I use a couple of shakes of dried parsley)
oregano (I use a couple of shakes of dried oregano)
salt and pepper (to taste)

1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)
1 can tomato paste (12 oz)
1 can crushed tomatoes (15 oz)

*Brown ground beef with spices and add chopped onions. Add the 3 cans of tomato products to the pan and simmer all together for about 1 hour.

1 carton cottage cheese
1 beaten egg
salt and pepper
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

*While that is cooking, mix together cottage cheese, egg, parmesan cheese and salt & pepper together and set aside. 9 cooked lasagna noodles
16 oz of mozzarella cheese (I use 2 8 oz bags)
* Cook lasagna noodles according to directions on box.

Then build your layers in 9 x 13 baking dish - start with 3 noodles, meat mix, cottage cheese mix, then mozzarella cheese. Repeat those steps and you'll end up with 3 layers ending with the mozzarella on top. Bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes.If you asked me my favorite meal, lasagna ranks pretty high up on the list. This recipe has become a favorite in our house and it's often made when we celebrate special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays. This recipe comes from JJ's Mom. One thing I like about this recipe is that it calls for cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese, which is cool with me because I'm not a fan of ricotta. I usually serve this with garlic bread and salad and it makes for a great family dinner!

Roasted Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash - peeled and cubed

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon garlic & herb seasoning

3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

* In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix to coat the squash, marinate if time allows

* Place squash on a nonstick baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with foil, throw away marinade

* Bake until the squash is tender and brown about 20-25 minutes - make sure to flip the squash at the half way point.

The finished product...

We really enjoyed this summer side dish with our dinner the other night. JJ got a huge bag of fresh vegetables from his Dad's garden over the weekend and I wasn't really sure how to tackle the ol' butternut squash. I know we never had it growing up in my house and I'm not sure if I've ever eaten it out at a restaurant, but I was up for the challenge of figuring out a way to prepare this "new" vegetable. I fired up google and came up with this recipe from the food network. I did alter it slightly on the suggested seasoning and I also cut about 10 minutes off their suggested cooking time. (Click here for the original recipe.) JJ must have been impressed with my cooking abilities on this one because he told me like 15 times how this was "the best squash he's ever had and he wasn't even sure it was going to make it out of the bag" - which made laugh. Truth be told, if I would have been given a butternut squash a few years ago I probably wouldn't have even thought about cooking it, but my taste buds have changed and I'm enjoying being more adventurous in my cooking. So if you're in the mood for a really tasty summer side dish, give this one a try - I think you'll like it. Enjoy!

Shrimp Scampi with Penne Pasta

(white wine, not shown)

My version of a recipe from Tyler Florence from the foodnetwork.com website. It calls for linguini, but I only had a box of penne on hand and it worked just fine.

• 1 pound linguini pasta
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 2 teaspoons on garlic, minced
• Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley leaves

Cook pasta according to directions on box. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Saute the shallots, garlic, and red pepper flakes until the shallots are translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper; add them to the pan and cook until they have turned pink, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan; set aside and keep warm. Add wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons oil. When the butter has melted, return the shrimp to the pan along with the parsley and cooked pasta. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to pan, stir well and season with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately and enjoy this yummy seafood and pasta dish.

Lemon Herb Pork Chops w/ Veggies & Rice

This was a delicious twist on grilled pork chops. I usually use BBQ sauce on the chops, which is good, but this lemon herb marinated was a great way to get in some citrus flavors, which is perfect for summertime.

Grilled Lemon Herb Pork Chops:
Juice of 1 lemon
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper
couple dashes of a mixed herb seasoning of your choice
4 pork chops
*In a large zip lock baggie, mix together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add pork chops and marinate for at least 2 hours (save some of the marinade for basting). Grill marinated chops on medium to high heat, they will take about 5-7 minutes per side. Baste the pork chops frequently with the lemon herb marinade.
Veggies and Rice:
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
small bunch of asparagus
mushrooms
olive oil
2 cups of whole grain rice
*Chop up all the vegetables and toss with olive oil. I used a grill basket and cooked the veggies right on the grill at the same time the pork chops were cooking. Cook the rice according the package instructions. Most directions call for rice to be cooked in water, but I always use chicken broth to cook my rice - I think it gives the rice more flavor. Once the rice is done, add in the grilled veggies.
The finished product - Mmm, enjoy this fabulous summer grilling dish!

Grilled Chicken & Veggie Kabobs

This is one of my favorite meals to make during the summer months. It's super easy and fairly healthy in my opinion. A few weeks ago I bought some metal kabob skewers which are great - I'm used to using the cheap wood skewers, which usually work out fine but the last few times I've used them, they have broken off or the pointy ends start to split as I load up the chicken and veggies onto the skewer. So my advice if you are going to try this recipes is to buy some metal skewers - I got mine at Homegoods for like $5 or something like that!

Ingredients & Directions:
3-4 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces (2-3 inches)
1-2 green peppers, cut into pieces
half of a red onion, cut into pieces
1 package of mushrooms
half a bottle of italian dressing (I use Wishbone Robusto Italian)

Throw everything in a zip lock baggie and marinate for a few hours. (Some recipes call for just marinating the chicken, but I've found that the veggies are delicious when they are marinated in the dressing too.) Load up the ingredients on the skewers, alternating between veggies and chicken. Grill on medium-high heat for about 12-15 minutes per skewer, rotating the skewers to make sure the chicken cooks on all sides. Cooking time will depend on your grill - just watch them close so the chicken pieces don't dry out too much.

Our grill has one of those side burners, so to go with the kabobs I chopped up red potatoes, mixed in some olive oil and seasonings (black pepper, chef Tony's, and some dried parsley) and cooked them along with the kabobs.

Enjoy this delicious summer dinner. It's a great recipe to have on had for a cookout with friends or family. What are some of your favorite grilling recipes?

Summer Pasta Salad

I decided to fix up a batch of pasta salad to have in the fridge for the weekend and it must have been good b/c we crushed it in less than 3 days!

The cast of characters:
•1 green pepper-chopped
•1 red pepper-chopped
•1/2 red onion-diced
•1 pkg mushrooms, quartered
•1 pkg pepperoni minis
•1/2 bottle Wishbone Italian dressing
•Several generous shakes of Mcormicks Salad Supreme seasonings
•1 box of cooked Tri-color Pasta





Mix all ingredents together and chill for a few hours before serving. Enjoy!


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Recipe: Turkey & Mushroom Stroganoff

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground turkey and onion in olive oil over medium-high heat. Drain off fat. Add seasonings, soup and milk. Cook over medium heat about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add sour cream and heat through. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

******

A couple of weeks ago, I invited the parental units (aka - my parents) down the the 'Nati for dinner and I pulled a fast one on my Dad - I got him to eat ground turkey! Now I come from a meat and potatoes kind of family, and my Dad's favorite food is pizza. So, knowing that, you can imagine the surprise in my Dad's eyes when I told him I made the stroganoff with ground turkey, instead of the traditional ground beef. Despite his hesitation, I think he liked it. However, I did notice that sometimes he was pushing the turkey off to the side of the plate, eating only the noodles & mushrooms. (Though he claimed it was because I loaded the plate too full with the toppings - but I'm not convinced on that!)

Either way, I thought this was a great recipe to add to the mix and wanted to share it with you. It tasted great with the ground turkey, and I know it would be just a good with ground beef - if that is your families preference!

Tasty Kitchen's Mushroom Soup

When I found this recipe, I knew that I'd soon be rushing out to the store to pick up the ingredients. Anyone who knows me really well knows my love for mushrooms runs deep, I mean deep - like if I weren't already married, I might marry mushrooms (well, not really, but you get what I'm saying!) After a quick trip to the store, I turned on some music (Iron & Wine's latest CD for those who are interested) and spent the afternoon whipping up this delicious soup.

Here's my take on The Mushroom Soup - definitely check out the link for the ingredient list & detailed cooking directions. I really enjoyed this dish and cooked it just like the recipe recommends. However I will make a few changes for the next time I make this soup - I'll note my changes/additions under each photo of the cooking process...

Finley chopped carrots, celery and slice mushrooms (I ended up doubling the amount of mushrooms shown in this photo.)

White wine, chicken broth, tomato juice, heavy whipping cream, shredded parmesan cheese

Saute carrots & celery together (next time I'll throw in some garlic). Then add mushrooms and cook for several minutes - this is when it starts to smelling delicious...

Add white wine and cook mixture together for a few more minutes. (I used Pinot Grigo because that's what I like to drink, but the recipe calls for Chablis White Wine). (At this point, I added a spoon full of tomato paste to thicken things up.)

Mix in tomato juice, cooking for a bit, then add in the heavy cream. (Next time, I'll use much less cream here - it calls for a pint, which I thought was way too much.) Add in the parmesan cheese after the liquids have cooked together (this is another thing I'll change for next time - I think you can reduce the cheese by half and still add great flavor.)

Ta-Dahhh...the finished product! I toasted up a loaf of french bread for dunking and it was delicious. If you are a mushroom lover, then this soup is right up your alley.