Soup To Soothe The Soul

We are keeping on with things.  It's hard in the morning not having the usual Moose things to do, and I miss him sitting on the couch.  He'd sit next to me, and every so often he'd push his little body up against my leg, and it was dang cute.  

Anyway we still need to eat, and I always like to eat soup to soothe my broken heart.  We had a bunch of mushrooms in the fridge that needed to be used, and we happened to have almost all the ingredients for this soup.  When I want to make a soup, the first place I look is The Soup Bible.  I love this cookbook, 250 pages of awesome soup recipes.  Any soup ingredient you want to use, there is probably a soup for it in this book.  Today I'm sharing a recipe called Mushroom, Celery, and Garlic Soup.

Ingredients:

- 4 1/2 chopped mushrooms

- 4 celery stalks

- 3 garlic cloves

- 3 tablespoons of white merlot (the book calls for dry sherry or white wine)

- 3 cups chicken stock

- 2 table spoons Worcestershire sauce

- 1 teaspoon nutmeg (the book says freshly grated, I wanted a milder flavor)

Directions:

Clean and chop the mushrooms, and celery stalks, and garlic cloves.  Then place them in a large saucepan, with the white merlot, or whatever alcohol you use.  Let cook, covered for 30 - 40 minutes, or until tender, stir occasionally.  Once cooked pour into a food processor with 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock, and blend until smooth.  Pour back into the large saucepan, add the other 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock, worcestershire sauce, and nutmeg.  Bring to a boil, and add salt and fresh ground black pepper to season.  

Serve warm.  It had a tiny bit of a kick to it.  The soup was fresh and earthy tasting.  A great vegetarian option.  

Hope you enjoyed, and happy Nom Nom Monday, chris.  

Doggies & Mushrooms

 These photos are from last weekend.  We took Moose for a walk at one of the local State Parks.  He was extra excited about the car ride, and completely mad for the walk.  He's a wild man!  By the time we got half way through, he was running between shady spots.  At one point he just plopped himself down.  Silly dog.  

I should take actually outfit photos of this get-up.  Ha!  Did I just say get-up?  Anyway, I love the top.  It used to be my mom's when she was in her 20's.  It has cute delicate sleeves, with the sweetest little flower cutouts with embroidery all over it.  So feminine, and genuinely from the late 70's.  I don't wear it that much, because I don't like washing it.  It's mostly white, and I'm clumsy.  I try to take good care of it, because i'd  like to keep it forever.  :)  

I love mushrooms!  I love to eat them, photograph them, and I REALLY want to try growing them!  I'd love to try some of those ultra cool heirloom varieties, like oyster mushrooms, or shiitake.  I'd start out with one of those handy mushroom grow kits (click on the links).  Until I try my hand at that, I'll be satisfied with photographing them.  The bottom two photos are the same pair of mushrooms, and I found them in our front yard.  They were right next to our car parked on the street. I had to lay in the middle of the road to take them, but I didn't care.  I think I might have gotten poison ivy/sumac when I photographed the one in the state park.  Or Moose got it on me when he rubs is paws on my legs.  

I never had any poison ivy reactions until the last couple years.  I'm totally disappointed in that changing about me as I get older.  Poison ivy reactions are absolutely no fun.  Besides the horrible iciness, they leave terrible ugly rashes for days or weeks on end.  The grossest part ... the rashes leak.  Ick!  Now that I've grossed you all out, I'm going to go get dinner ready.  Happy DIYing, chris.