Mushroom Asparagus Soup with Chicken Sausage

This soup came out of what I had in the fridge.  It came out so delicious!  You don't have to use the sausage if you don't want to (I love roasted garlic chicken sausage and this came out better than I could have imagined), you can add chicken, tofu, go for it!  It simmers for 30 minutes and I add the sausage and shitake mushrooms,and cream at the end. What made this soup over the top was that I toasted thin slices of a thin Berkshire multi grain baguette in the oven.  While bread was still very warm, rub a garlic clove cut in half, on the bread.

Ingredients

1 bunch of  chopped asparagus, ends torn off and discarded
8 oz. of baby bella mushrooms
8 oz of shitake mushrooms
8 oz of fresh cauliflower
1 cup of chopped onion
1 package of chicken and roasted garlic sausage
4 cups of organic veggie broth
1 can of chicken broth
1/2 cup of light cream
1T of oregano
2 teaspoons of tumeric
2 teaspoons of corriander
1 teaspoon of dry mustard
1 teaspoon of cumin
fresh chopped parsley for garnish


Directions
Spray the soup pot with some Pam, turn the heat to medium high.  Add bella mushrooms, onions, cumin stir for 2 minutes.  Add the asparagus and stir for a minute while adding the rest of the seasonings.  Add the cauliflower,  the veggie and chicken broths.  Bring the soup to a boil, and turn it down to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, cut the sausage into bite size pieces and brown with the shitake mushrooms.  When the soup is done, blend it with an immersion blender, or in a blender, blend batches of the soup and return to the pot.  Add the light cream, sausage and shitake mushrooms.  Serve with sour cream, or greek yogurt if desired and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.  Serve with crusty bread.

Thai Salmon Salad

I found this on allrecipes.com I added some ingredients to make it taste like my favorite Thai Restaurant. This serves six. I use a head of iceberg and divide it in wedges and pour the salad on top. My husband likes to make lettuce wraps out of this. Thai peppers are hot, if you are used to medium salsa.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons fish sauce 4 tablespoons lime juice 2 teaspoons brown sugar 4 Thai chiles, chopped 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillet 1 cup of cucumber, seeded and sliced Directions

1 teaspoon olive oil 1 onion, thinly sliced 1 large tomato, sliced into wedges 1 cup chopped fresh basil 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 head iceberg lettuce divided into wedges.

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.	Prepare the dressing by combining the fish sauce, lime juice, brown sugar and chopped chiles in a small bowl; set aside.
3.	Place the salmon filet on a baking tray, and rub olive oil over. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until easily flaked. Let cool for at least 15 minutes.
4.	Place salmon filet into a big bowl; use fork to break salmon meat into big chunks. Add onion, tomato cilantro, and basil; pour dressing over, and toss lightly until well mixed.
5.	Place mixture on lettuce leaves, and serve immediately.

Massaman Black Bean Curry

I was inspired by my favorite Thai Restaurant. They make delicious massaman curry.

A flavorful way to enjoy vegetables.

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked black beans

1 sweet potato, cut into bite size pieces

1 small onion, cut into wedges

1 tomato, cut into wedges

3 T of hot red curry paste

1 hot chili pepper, chopped

2 T brown sugar

2 T of fish sauce, divided

1 T of tamarind paste

1 can of coconut milk

1T coconut oil.

2T of finely chopped peanuts

1T cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1T of canola oil

chopped peanuts for garnish

chopped cilantro for garnish

Directions

Steam the sweet potato until fork tender, about 7 minutes. Heat canola oil in a medium sauce pan. Add the onion wedges, cumin and gently stir to brown, 3 minutes. Add 1T of fish sauce and 1 T of water, cover and turn off the heat. Let pan stay on the burner with the heat off. This will simmer the onion. Have everything prepared and ready to add to the pan.

Add coconut oil to large sauce pan let heat up. Add the chopped peppers and stir. Add the curry paste, 2T of finely chopped peanuts, tamarind paste, brown sugar, the other 1 T of fish sauce to the pan over medium high heat for 2 min. Stir to combine flavors. If the mixture seems like it's burning, lower the heat. Add the coconut milk gradually and stir to combine for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, onion, sweet potato, and black beans, stirring each time you add one of the ingredients. The mixture should be bubbling. You then lower the heat to simmer the mixture for 3-5 minutes. top with remaining chopped peanuts and chopped cilantro.

Sever with Brown Jasmine Rice.

Perfect Black Beans

That's right, these beans came out perfect. The essential tool for these perfect beans is a crock pot. It is a two day process for plump, and juicy beans.

1 lb. package of Goya dried black beans

8 cups of water

Directions

Open package and place the beans in a colander. Rinse with water. Pick through the beans to remove foreign materials if any. Place the beans in a large bowl and add 8 cups of water. Allow the beans to soak for 8 hours. Then, drain the beans and rinse with water. Add the beans to the crock pot and cover with water. Cook the beans on low for 10 hours. After the beans are cooked, you then add desired seasoning. Save the bean juice for refried beans.

You have perfect plump beans to add to soup, cooked rice, salads.

To make refried beans you put olive oil in a pan, add beans and some of the bean juice and mash the beans while you cook them.

Baklava Fish

I have tried this with salmon and Swai. Both are delicious.

Ingredients

¼ cup melted butter

3 tablespoons whole grain mustard or 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard (or your favorite)

1 ½ tablespoons honey

¼ cup walnuts

¼ cup flax meal

4 teaspoons fresh parsley chopped

4 (4 ounce) salmon fillets

Fresh ground pepper

Kosher salt

1 lemon or lime quartered

Directions

Preaheat oven to 400. Line shallow roasting pan with non-stick aluminum foil, or spray with non-stick pan spray

In a small bowl, blend butter, mustard, and honey, set aside. In another bowl, mix together bread crumbs, nuts, and parsley.

Place salmon fillets on prepared pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and brush with honey mustard mixture; sprinkle tops with crumb/nut mixture; if any remains, press into sides of salmon

Bake salmon 12-15 minutes in preheated oven or until it flakes easily with a fork, serve lime or lemon wedge

Mom's Sardines

You know sardines are good for you don't you? Well, they are! Mom made this every time we had people over. You serve it with crackers, or baquette bread.

Ingredients1 Can of Sardines in Water (Bumble Bee, or some name brand. It's safer to use fish in a can from a name brand)
1 lemon cut into halves
1 handful of parsley leaves chopped
1 small onion chopped
Salt
Pepper
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

Chop up the onion finely, place in a strainer, rinse with cold water. Place in a bowl. Sprinkle the onion with salt and pepper (use your judgment, start with 1/2 teaspoon each). open the sardines and strain the water from them. Place sardines on top of onions. Add Parsley. String the EVOO over the ingredients. Squeeze 1/2 of the lemon over and combine all the ingredients. Break up the the sardines while combining. I usually add the entire lemon. Taste it first. Add more if you like. Adjust the salt and pepper too if you like.
Enjoy on crackers, or toasted bread.

Ellie Krieger's Succotash with Grilled Scallops

I made this with scallops. I am so excited to make this with grilled portabella mushrooms instead of scallops.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 ears corn, or 2 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen lima beans, thawed
• 1 medium zucchini (about 1/2 pound) quartered lengthwise and sliced
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 1/4 pounds large sea scallops (about 16)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions

Parsley Drizzle, recipe follows

If using ears of corn, cut the kernels off and set aside. Discard the cobs.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the corn, lima beans,zucchini, and tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 7 minutes.

Spray a large nonstick skillet or grill pan with cooking spray, and preheat it over medium-high heat.

In the meantime, prepare the scallops. Pat them dry and season them with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Add the scallops and cook until the inside is opaque, 5 to 6 minutes, turning once.

Stir the vinegar and basil into the succotash, season with additional salt and pepper, to taste, and serve topped with grilled scallops. Garnish with Parsley Drizzle.

Parsley Drizzle:

• 1 cup lightly packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons water, as needed to slacken

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree.

Yield: 1/2 cup