Marvelously Comforting and Creamy Mushroom Soup

This is a great soup for the winter and it has been extra wintery this week with the ice storm and then the snow this week. Both husband and child approved. I don't think it is filling enough to count as an entire meal on it's own but pairs well with a fresh bred or grainy toast. Makes a little more than 2 servings.

What You Need:

• a pack of cremini mushrooms, sliced or chopped
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 bay leafs
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 a sweet onion, minced or chopped all small like
• 1 vegetable bullion cube with no monosodium glutamate, check the ingredients :) 
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 2 cups of soy milk
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 tsp salt, pepper to taste
• optional: 1 tbsp of cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp of water

What To Do:

1. Add olive oil, mushrooms and onion to a regular sized pot on medium heat. Fry while stirring until the mushrooms look cooked and the onion translucent, taking care not to burn the onion.
2. Add bay leaf and thyme. Add bullion cube, and squish it up with the back of the spoon to help it dissolve when the water is added. Add the flour and stir the whole thing well. 
3. Add soy milk and water, bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. If the soup thickens to your liking, you are done. If not, mix the cornstarch with the water then add to the soup while stirring to thicken it up. Enjoy your awesome soup :)

Cremini Mushroom Caps Stuffed with Garlic Cilantro Pesto.

This recipe packs a flavor punch. It's pretty easy to put together and since my son loves mushrooms he actually eats this too.

What you need:
2/3 cup hulled sunflower seeds
3 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup cilantro leaves washed, stems removed
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
1 tomato, roughly chopped
1 large container of Cremini mushrooms

What to do:
1. Turn on oven to 450 degrees. Place the sunflower seed in a food processor and run until the seeds become a powdery meal.
2. Add garlic cloves and run food processor until the garlic is combined and the mix looks like a more course meal.
3. Turn off machine, add cilantro, lemon juice, soy sauce and tomato. Process until the ingredients are well mixed.
4. Wash mushrooms and remove the stems. Fill each mushroom with the pesto and place in an oven safe baking dish. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes watching closely for the last 5 minutes. I sample one of the larger mushrooms to make sure that the pesto is fully cooked (my son gets upset if the garlic is too spicy).
5. That's it. Enjoy. If there is left over pesto, you can use it in wraps or sandwiches.

Vegan Mushroom 'Chick'n' Stroganoff

The picture does not do it justice, this turned out to be a really good. My husband was definitely a fan. I wanted to make something similar to a beef stroganoff we used to make with mushroom soup. Mushroom soup is not vegan so I substituted this with a mushroom "cream" sauce. I decided to cut up meatless chicken strips instead of using fake beef because I don't like fake beef but you could substitute it in if you prefer. Meatless chicken breast would be better but it was sold out. I get the President's Choice brand from the frozen meat section because it is priced much better than other brands and it tastes good.

Ingredients

• 10 "chicken strips" baked according to the package
• 1/2 large yellow onion or 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 3 T oil
• 4 T flour
• 1/2 vegetable stock cube
• 1 cup almond milk (plain)
• 3-4 servings of pasta, a long flat noodle is best
• 1 package of mushrooms, roughly chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 fresh sage leaves (or ground sage to taste)
• squirt of lemon
• sprinkle of dried dill

Directions

1. Bake the "chicken" according to package directions.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of starchy pasta water
3. Add oil and flour to a small sauce pan, heat on medium and stir. Add 1/2 stock cube and combine. Slowly add the soy milk a little at a time. Stir well each time to avoid lumps. Continue to stir until thick then remove from heat.
4. Add 3 T oil to a walk and heat on medium-high heat. Add onion and saute until limp. Add garlic, stir until browned. Add mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Once the mushrooms have reduced in size, add cream sauce, sage, salt, pepper, a squirt of lemon juice and the pasta water. Remove from heat.
5. Chop up "chicken". Mix pasta and chicken into the sauce and serve. A sprinkle of dill over the dish serves as both a garnish and adds a nice flavour. Enjoy!

Asian Inspired Warm Black Bean Noodle Salad

This is what a had for lunch today! It was a nice, light and healthy salad. I cheated a bit by using bottled black bean sauce. If you are a purist you could probably substitute in any type of sauce.

Ingredients

• large hand full of thin Asian noodles (the kind that cook in 3 minutes)
• black bean sauce
• Flax oil (for omega 3's)
• sesame seeds
• Lettuce
• red pepper
• green onion
• peanuts (a kick of protein)
• salt n' pepper

Directions

1. Cook up the pasta and drain. Mix in a bit of black been sauce (not too much as the noodles are thin and easily flavoured), flax oil and some sesame seeds. Leave aside to cool a bit.
2. Line your bowl with lettuce leaves. Chop up the red pepper and green onion. 
3. Place your noodles in your lettuce bowl and top with the red peppers, green onions, peanuts, a few more sesame seeds and salt n' pepper. Enjoy!