52:16

Newfoundland is

soup weather!

Light and Creamy Mushroom Soup, to be more specific.

In Newfoundland there are so many months of the year that are grey and wet and just designed for warm soup served with big slices of fresh bread. It is one of the things that makes the dull fall and winter so much more pleasant.

My friend, Laura, introduced me to this recipe earlier this year, and I have made it almost every weekend since, because I love it so much.

It's from the cookbook I'm always raving about on this blog, Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming. They actually have a new cookbook out called Quinoa Revolution that I can't wait to check out.

I adapt this recipe very slightly by crumbling bacon and sprinkling mozzarella cheese on the soup when it is finished, which probably nullifies the word "Light" from the title.

Here is the original recipe:

Light and Creamy Mushroom Soup
from Quinoa 365: The Amazing Superfood

1/2 cup of quinoa
2 Tbsp of butter
1 cup diced onion
8 cups chopped white button mushrooms
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp minced fresh (or roasted) garlic
1 cup half and half cream (10-12%) (more for garnish)
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of ground black pepper
3 Tbsp half and half cream (10-12%)
3 Tbsp finely chopped chives (optional)

Place the quinoa in a large, dry saucepan over medium heat. Toast the quinoa until fragrant, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Place the quinoa in a bowl and set aside.

Melt the butter in the same large saucepan and saute the onion and mushrooms until the onion is opaque and tender, about 7 to 8 minutes. 

Remove 1 1/2 cups of the mixture and set aside. 

Add the toasted quinoa, stock and garlic to the saucepan and bring to a boil. 

Cover, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the quinoa is tender, about 18 minutes. 

Puree the cooked mixture with a hand blender, or cool slightly and puree in 2 batches in a blender or food processor. 

Return soup to the saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Add the reserved mushroom mixture and the 1 cup of cream. Reheat gently, being sure not to boil the soup. 

Garnish each serving with a drizzle of cream and some chives (if using).

I am a terrible, terrible cook, but this comes out great every time I make it.

Enjoy!


See the original Project 52 at Styleberryblog here. 

Newfoundland is...

52:1: Mostly Grey and Wet

52:2: Childhood Dreams Coming True

52:3: An Opportunity for Growth

52:4: Shifting Priorities

52:5: Blue Bays

52:6: Early Fog-filled Mornings

52:7: Sunsets

52:8: Pajama Parties

52:9: Far Away From Grandparents

52:10: An Opportunity to Save

52:11: Staying Creative

52:12: Succumbing to Autumn

52:13: Friendly Neighbors
52:14: Bedtime Rituals
52:15: Lots of Paperwork

Pancakes and Muffins and Trying to Like Beets

On Friday, I wrote about cleaning my pantry out. I challenged myself to use up these six items that had been overstayed their welcome on my shelves.

Quick Oats 

Pureed Pumpkin
New England Clam Chowder Chunky Soup
Canned Beets 

Pureed Sweet Potatoes
Apricot Pie Filling 

I used up almost everything on that list, today. Here is how I did it.

I used half of the oats and some raspberries on their way to mush to make dark chocolate raspberry muffins using a recipe by Aimee at Simple Bites. 

Source: simplebites.net via Jayme on Pinterest

Mine do not look as beautiful as hers do.

I think I might have undercooked them, but they were still pretty tasty.

I decided to try out another pin on my Fooooooood board to get rid of the Pureed Pumpkin. My pin is for Pumpkin Muffins from Sweet Verbana. She actually pinned this from Big Red Kitchen. Pinning is such a great way to find awesome new blogs to follow.

Source: sweet-verbena.blogspot.com via Jayme on Pinterest

I

I love this recipe because you only need to keep TWO ingredients in your pantry and then you're ready to whip up a batch of muffins on the fly to bring over to a neighbor.

These are moist and taste great with cream cheese.

Don't you love these flower cupcake liners?

When I finished these guys, I had took a break from the kitchen and ate my Chunky Clam Chowder for lunch. I hate how salty canned soup is. I'm not sure why this was even in my closet.

Next up: Pancakes to freeze for weekday breakfasts using beets and sweet potatoes!

I used 1/4 cup of the beets in the can to make Jessica Seinfeld's Pink Pancakes from her Deceptively Delicious cookbook. You puree the beets, along with ricotta cheese, water, cinnamon, grated apple and mix it with store bought pancake mix. Her book says that these pancakes are a full protein meal.

We like the way these taste when they are fresh from the griddle, but we are grossed out by their "beetyness" when you reheat them. Fortunately, we don't have to eat them, just pawn them off on our daughter. This is my baby girl's favorite breakfast. She loves crumbling them into pieces and then carefully picking up the pieces and bringing them to her mouth. So these are for her to chow down on next week.

These are baby sized- about the size of your palm. They come out kind of chunky.
Not sure why.

See how pink the insides are! This is one situation where pink on the inside is good!

I was left with half a can of beets when this was finished, so I experimented with a beet chips recipe that has been sitting on my Fooooooood pinterest board for awhile now.

Source: simplywholekitchen.com via Jayme on Pinterest

I have always hated beets, but I know they are nutritious. I keep hoping if I keep cooking with them I will someday like them. I thought "chip form" would induce me to eating them without wrinkling up my nose.

I tossed the beet slices in olive oil, salt and pepper, put it on a baking sheet, and cooked it for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

The result: Meh.

Maybe if I was eating them with the goat cheese dip the author recommended I make with it, I could choke them down.

They taste much better than the way I ate them growing up, which was doused in vinegar, but they are still too "beety" (I'm sure there is a better way of describing that unique taste).

If I want to keep eating them, I'll just have to keep sneaking beets into pancakes, I guess.

Back to pancakes. I decided to use my canned sweet potato in the place of pumpkin in the Pumpkin Pancake recipe from the cookbook Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood.

This recipe uses quinoa flour instead of regular flour, but is otherwise a pretty straightforward pancake recipe. I highly recommend this cookbook. It has the best mushroom soup recipe in it, and a fantastic chocolate cake. But I digress.

Here are the results of my sweet potato experiment:

This worked out alright. To be honest I'm more pleased with this photograph than I am with the pancakes. I love when I get the depth of field figured out! 

Anyways, I think the pumpkin addition makes a tastier pancake than the sweet potato, but these are great on their own and will be even better once syrup, pecans or whipped cream is added to them.

I had half a cup of the sweet potato puree left, so I added it to a recipe I adore from Ocean Spray.

It's basically chicken breasts roasted on a bed of sweet potato slices and covered with cranberry sauce. You should check it out if you want a taste of Thanksgiving without all the work. I put the sweet potato puree on the bottom of the pan along with some sliced up sweet potatoes.

Doesn't it look delicious? This will be dinner for tonight and tomorrow.


I still have a can of Apricot Filling left and another cup of quick oats to use up, but I am all tuckered out and have a have a sink of dirt dishes to attend to.

I'm done with cooking until tomorrow!

Has anyone else out there gone on a cooking marathon to get rid of old canned goods? Do you have a great method of freezing pancakes, or muffins, or any other breakfast food for the future? Does your tongue also find beets offensive? Let me know!

Food Waste Friday: The Freezer Redeems Itself

This week I didn't have a freezer melt down. Yaay!

I saved myself from another embarrassing confession by using my freezer. Hopefully we'll do a better job closing the freezer door all the way, and my efforts won't end up photographed for next week's Food Waste Friday post.

This week I froze some brown bananas for my favorite chocolate banana peanut butter smoothies.

I think the baby will enjoy these shakes in the future, too.

I also froze a half gallon of milk before it expired. I read somewhere that this was a good idea, but I'm not sure how to use this milk in the future.

Do I just thaw it out and use it as normal? What would the expiration date be once thawed?

Things take a long time to get shipped to Newfoundland and it is really easy to accidentally buy already expired things.

I JUST BOUGHT THIS!!

I know the expiration dates printed on things are generally overcautious, but I never want to risk anyone getting sick.

Does anyone have any rules of thumb for knowing how long past the stamped expiration date things are still good for?

Thats it for my Food Waste Friday. Check out other confessions at Frugal Girl's site.

Food Waste Friday

I've decided to start holding myself more accountable for the food that goes bad in my fridge, by linking up to The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday.

I've really gotten better about not buying too much food, and using up my leftovers.

One of the best methods I've found is collecting the ends of lettuce and celery, shriveled veggies, bits of oldish chicken, etc., and keeping it in a baggie in the refrigerator. I make chicken stock, or vegetable stock out of it and freeze it for cooking.

Unfortunately, I have about 12 cups of chicken stock stored, and I don't have the space for more.

I usually take old fruit and make fruit leather using this recipe from Simply Recipes.

But I'm doing this ridiculous diet (I'll write about it tomorrow), so I'm not able to chow down on the sugary treat. Plus, I'm going on vacation next week so I'm trying not to cook.

I know, I know. Too many excuses!

Here's my Food Waste:

Some slimy lettuce and spinach, three week old puckering tomatoes, and three week old cooked chicken breast.

There should also be a box of blueberries in this picture. It was buy one get one free. I usually can't resist getting two, even if I doubt I can eat all of it.

Now that I've made my guilty confession, I'd love to tally up the amount of money sending this food to the garbage wastes, but unfortunately I don't have my receipt. With inflated Newfoundland prices, I'm guessing it is at least $13. Imagine how quickly that adds up each week!

Next time I go to the grocery store, I'll keep my receipt so I can give a better picture of the damage. I'll also write about my attempts to rescue dying food.

Hopefully you're better about avoiding food waste than I am. Anyone have a great recipe for using  up slimy greens?