The Food Groove’s General Kitchen Rules… Post One

Tee-Hee… I just found this post on another blog of mine, from about a year and a half ago.  It all still holds true today.  I was looking for a Turkey Meatball recipe that I haven’t made in way too long…  I still have to find it, but I do know where my paper copy [...]

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Sigh…

I’ve been noticing how a lot of my cooking has mushrooms in it.  Although I very much enjoy them, I am feeling the need to expand on some of my ’staple meals’, as it were.  Tonight, we had a salad and bagels.  The salad was yummy, but nothing spectacular… typical midweek salad fare.  I think [...]

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Cream of Mushroom Soup…

• Approx. 24-oz. Mushrooms – for this version, I used 12-oz. of Buttons, 6-oz. of Portabellas and 6-oz. of Shiitakes. Using a combination of varieties gives the soup a fuller, heartier flavor. Creminis work well in here too.
• Garlic, minced (5-6 cloves)
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 3 tbsp Butter
• 1 Small Onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp Flour
• 2 cups Vegetable Stock
• 2 cups Milk – I will do 1-1/2 cups Milk with 1/2 cup Half & Half
• Dried Thyme
• Basil, fresh preferred – I season the soup with some fresh basil, and I also set some leaves aside for a garnish
• Salt

1. Separate mushrooms caps and stems. Slice the caps and chop the stems.
2. Heat oil and 1/2 of butter in a soup pot. Add onion, mushroom stems and mushrooms. Fry on high heat for 1-2 minutes, continuously stirring. Cover pot and simmer over low heat for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove approx. 1/4 of the mushroom mixture and set aside.
3. With the majority of the mushroom mixture, stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly add vegetable stock and milk. Add seasonings. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
4. Pour soup into blender and process. Pour soup back into pot and add reserved mushrooms. Heat soup through, sprinkle with chopped basil and serve.

I love this soup! It’s rich, hearty, earthy and just pretty darn yummy! It goes very nicely with some fresh-baked crusty bread. And I do like using different varieties & combinations of mushrooms each time I make it… I don’t know if it freezes well, because it’s usually gone in a few days.

*Adapted from Soup, edited by Debra Mayhew. There’s a lot of good soup recipes in this book!

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Spinach Mushroom Enchiladas with Salsa…

Really, the salsa made this meal just spectacular! And the leftovers for lunch the next day were just as yummy. Here’s the recipe post for the Yellow Tomato Salsa. Red onions are definitely my favorite, and the home-grown tomatoes had that lovely garden fresh flavor to them. The ingredients all melding together very well.

For the Spinach Mushroom Enchiladas I did the following:

• Saute garlic and sliced mushrooms in olive oil. Drain one package of frozen chopped spinach and add to the pan. Stir to mix well. Add approximately 1/2 -package of cream cheese. Stir thoroughly. Season with cumin and stir. Let cool slightly.
• Spoon mixture into center of tortillas, sprinkle with shredded cheese, and fold up as desired. Place enchiladas/buritos into baking pan and give them all another sprinkling of shredded cheese. Place in 350 degree oven until cheese is melted.
• Serve with salsa.

It’s a fairly simple recipe that can be adapted and experimented with as the mood fits. I’ve added chicken or beans to it at times to get some protein in there. And for us, there are always leftovers. I like the way the cream cheese melts with the filling mixture to hold everything together. Of course, I like adding cream cheese to scrambled eggs sometimes too, so maybe I have some sort of cream cheese bias…

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe…

One big can of Pumpkin Filling
2 packages of Cream Cheese
1+ tsp of Vanilla
2 cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
Pumpkin Pie Spice, to taste
2 Eggs
2 ready-made Pie Crusts

Basically, I do believe he blended it all together with a hand mixer, and then filled 2 ready-made pie crusts. Cooked in the oven at 350 [...]

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D.’s Pumpkin Cheesecake…

D. made some Pumpkin Cheesecakes this weekend, and oh my, did they come out good! I’ll have to get the recipe from him tonight… It’s pumpkin-y, not too sweet, creamy, yummy…

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Yellow Tomato Salsa…

• Yellow Cherry Tomatoes – fresh from the balcony garden
• Red Onions
• Green Onions
• Green Chillies
• Chopped Cilantro
• Drizzle of Olive Oil

Now mind you, I haven’t fully tasted this yet… it’s getting it’s proper meld time right now. But, it looks and smells pretty darn good. In my opinion, most anything that comes from a home-grown garden is going to be delicious. I’m planning on using this as a side with some enchiladas in a day or two. Should be very tasty indeed…

UPDATE: WOW!! Did this ever come out deliciously tasty! We had it with the enchiladas, and it was so much better than I would have imagined. I am finding that onions add a lot of flavor to dishes where I wouldn’t have thought that initially… Pics and more details coming soon…

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Last Pickings…

I do believe that this may be the last pickings of my balcony gardening season. Basil and tomatoes. I did get enough basil for one more batch of pesto, although it looks a bit squished down here. And I’m going to make a yellow tomato salsa for some enchiladas that I have planned later in the week.

There was really not much cooking going on this past week… my head cold was lingering, and my energy levels after work wre close to zilch. I did make a basic pasta with mushrooms and garlic one night, because we were wanting something warm.

However, I do have a menu list planned out for next week, and we just came back from the grocery store. D. has been in the kitchen making pumpkin cheesecakes, which he just pulled out of the oven. They smelled quite good earlier… however now, the smell of freshly-picked basil is permeating the air at the moment. So it’s a bit hard to get a good whiff of the pumpkiny goodness. He also made a sweet sort of dip, using a jalapeño relish and roasted red peppers. That tasted very good, even before proper melding time. Desserts and dip, check!

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Balcony Bounty…

aka: My tomatoes have finally turned red! There’s still some more greenish ones out there, but I was pleased to get a bowlful of tomatoes when we got back home. Especially considering that they weren’t getting any water, but at this stage of the game I knew they could handle it. The basil was a bit wilty, but I think they’re doing better now. I have to go give them another drink this evening.

Hopefully, I’ll get to make that last batch of pesto this week, but my head is quite stuffy and I’m not feeling the greatest. D. stopped at the grocery store after work for some stocking up after being away for a week (thank You!). He’ll be making egg and cheese wraps for dinner this evening. Something warm, light and yummy. Aside from that, I have no idea what else we’ll be eating this week, but we’ll take it as it comes. We can be pretty good at that too…

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Back Home…

We’ve arrived back home safely this evening. After a 12-1/2 hour car ride. It is very good to be back home… Puggles the dog and Pumpkin the cat are getting used to us being back home. Pugs is a bit grudge-holding, it seems… but she should be over it by tomorrow. [...]

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