Sub-title: For the love of mushroom soup = )For a number of years now I've been consciously striving to grow and make from scratch as much of our food as possible. I'm always looking for ways to get closer to the food's natural state...to move further and further away from processing.
Just in the past 6 months or so I've been able to add three items that have helped this process tremendously: a Nutrimill grain mill, the Bosch Universal Plus mixer, and the Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook (published by LaLeche League).
I'd been grinding my own whole wheat flour previously using the VitaMix. It did ok but never could grind it fine enough and it was very time consuming as I could only grind 2 cups of wheat berries at a time.
The Nutrimill allows me to grind 9 cups of wheat berries at a time and the texture of the finished product is PERFECT. It also grinds rice, corn and beans but I haven't experimented much with those yet.
The Bosch mixer is often sold as a pair with the Nutrimill because they go so well together. I have not had a single batch of dough be anything other than perfect every single time I've used the Bosch. That's saying something for me, someone who has a long history of inconsistent results in the kitchen! hahaha
My bestest girlfriend, Amy, introduced me to the WFWF cookbook, which is EXACTLY the kind of cookbook that I've been looking for since choosing homemaking as my career!
Natural foods in their natural state, in a balanced amount...desserts and treats that are tasty AND healthy. So far, we've liked every recipe I've made!
Which brings me to mushroom soup. I LOVE mushroom soup. I've consumed thousands of cans of the stuff. Campbell's has made an effort by going to low fat, low-sodium and Healthy Request varieties but I still REALLY wanted a more-natural, less-processed, and most importantly, homemade, choice.
And now I have it! And what's even better, Petey likes it too! I put a fair amount of curry powder in it which is quite delicious...pairs so nicely with the fresh mushrooms.
Oh yeah...I just remembered that I have actually added four items to my home-cooking repertoire...well, if I can count a group of things as one item = ) Cast iron pans and cookware! Food just tastes better when prepared in cast iron...it adds a wonderful flavor that you don't get in regular pans.
So...I've been sick for almost a month now. I'm on the mend but still dealing with a cough and sore throat which makes soup taste really good. I've made 3 batches of mushroom soup since I've been sick...I was shocked at how yummy it turned out!
And SOOOOOOOOO pleased that I had to grab my camera and take a picture to share my happiness with you all = )
For the recipe...it's just a basic white sauce that you add mushrooms to. I saute the mushrooms in a bit of olive oil and garlic in the cast iron skillet and then add LOTS of curry powder to the soup after combining the cooked mushrooms and the white sauce. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy!
