Sausage Artichoke Soup! Tasty Tuesday

With cloudy skies and cool temperatures, for today’s Tasty Tuesday, I thought this is a perfect day for soup! So, today, I am featuring a soup from the past that is perfect comfort food for a cold day! It is an easy to prepare soup that uses sausage, artichokes, mushrooms and chard! Ready to head into the kitchen?

Ingredients:
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1# hot Italian pork sausage, bulk
1 49 oz. can of chicken broth
2 cups of water
2 packages of frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1 bunch of Swiss chard
3/4# crimini mushrooms, washed and sliced
Asiago cheese, grated

Let’s begin by adding the olive oil to your soup pot, and turn up the heat to medium high. When hot, add in the pork sausage.

Crumbled sausage is browning

As the sausage cooks, use a spoon to crumble it to small pieces. While this is browning, let’s get our chard ready. Wash the chard and then remove the center portion of the stem as shown in the photo below.

Removing the center of the chard

Next, cut up the chard into good size pieces. Set aside when done.

By the time this is done, your sausage should be nicely browned. Drain off half the fat from the pot.

Browned sausage

Next, add in your broth to the soup pot, along with the water, artichokes and mushrooms and bring this to a boil.

Bring to a boil

Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium low and then add your chard.

Add the chard and stir

Cover and cook for about 5 more minutes so that the chard gets cooked. Then dish it up into soup bowls and top it with a bit of Asiago cheese.

Soup’s on!

Doesn’t that look yummy? :)

Well, thank you for joining me in the kitchen today! I hope that you have one heck of an amazing Tuesday! Be well! ^..^

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Wonton Soup – Tasty Tuesday!

There is nothing like a really tasty wonton soup! It is a soup that I have enjoyed since I was very, very young. For today, I am sharing with you an old family recipe. The broth is tasty, and so are the wontons!

Preview

Ready to head into the kitchen?

Wonton Ingredients
1 package of wonton wrappers
1/2# of lean ground pork
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 green onions, chopped fine
1 TBS oyster flavored sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 TBS ginger, chopped fine
1/4 tsp black pepper

Wonton ingredients

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, except for the wrappers.

Ready to combine

Using your hands mix this together until well blended.

Filling is ready

Put about 1/4 cup of water in a bowl. Lay out a wonton wrapper, and using a regular spoon, add some mixture to the middle.

A spoonful of filling placed on the wrapper

Moisten two sides with water and folds over and seal.

Fold and seal

Next moisten the two corners and pinch together.

Pinch the corners

As you make these, place them on a sheet of parchment paper.

Wontons ready to cook

Cover with a damp paper towel to keep the dough from drying out.

Now let’s get to the broth!

Broth Ingredients
48 oz. of low sodium chicken broth
1 TBS sesame oil
3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
5 slices of peeled fresh ginger
1/4# fresh shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed, sliced
2 baby bok choy, washed well
3 green onions, sliced

Broth Ingredients

I like to get the ingredients together that go into the pot together. So, I have a bowl with the garlic and ginger.

Garlic and ginger

The mushrooms go in with the broth, so I have a bowl of just mushrooms, that I have sliced.

Shiitakes sliced and ready

And the bok choy and green onions will be added together, so I have a bowl ready of these two ingredients.

Bok choy and green onions will go into the soup together

Now let’s get to cooking! Heat the sesame oil in your soup pot. When hot add the garlic and ginger and cook until the fragrance hits your nose. Then add your broth and the mushrooms.

Broth and mushrooms added

Bring this to a boil then reduce the heat and cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the bok choy and green onions. Cook for two minutes so that the bok choy wilts but still remains that vibrant green. Then add your wontons, dropping them gently into the soup.

Green onions, bok choy and wontons added

Cook for another two minutes. This is sufficient time for the pork filling to cook.

Turn the heat off and the soup is ready to serve!

Soups on!

When I make this recipe I use pork, but you can substitute the pork with shrimp, or do a combination of pork and shrimp. It using shrimp, chop it up well. The other thing you can do is fry up these wontons in peanut oil as an appetizer and forget the soup! Whatever you do, you will really enjoy the wontons for this soup!

Thanks for dropping by for Tasty Tuesday! Have a great day! Be well! ^..^

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Spaghetti con Funghi – Tasty Tuesday

Hello, and welcome to Tasty Tuesday, coming to you from Life in the Foothills! The dish I am featuring today takes about one half hour to prepare! I like easy! I call this dish “Spaghetti con Funghi!” How about a preview of the finished dish, then let’s head into the kitchen, shall we?

Preview – Spaghetti con Funghi

The ingredients:
1/2# of fresh shiitake mushroom
1/2# of fresh crimini mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic
4 TBS extra virgin olive oil
3 TBS butter, divided
3/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper, divided into 1/2 and 1/4 tsps
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup of low sodium chicken broth
3/4# uncooked spaghetti
2/3 cup finely shredded parmesan, + extra to top the dish with
2 TBS fresh parsley, or 2 tsp dried parsley flakes (it’s a three to one ratio when using fresh as opposed to dry)

Ingredients

Not a huge list of ingredients and they come together very nicely. Ready to start cooking? First, wash the mushrooms and dry them with a paper towel making sure to remove all of the growing medium that tends to stick. For the shiitake mushrooms, trim off the entire stem. For the crimini, just shave off the bottom portion of the mushroom. Then, slice the mushrooms, and set aside.

Have fun guy while you slice!

Aren’t they lovely?

Next, remove the skins from the garlic, trim the bottom, and then mince. Set aside. Then, let’s get the water heating for the spaghetti. While this is heating up, place 2 TBS of the olive oil and 2 TBS butter in a skillet. When the butter has melted and combined with the olive oil, add in your mushrooms, the 1/2 tsp of fresh pepper, and the salt. The mushrooms will soak in the liquid, but don’t worry, because as they cook these fluids, plus the lovely tasting juice from the mushroom will leach out. We want these to get nicely browned. To achieve this you want to let them cook in the pan and only stir a bit here and there. Here are the mushrooms starting to cook and then the mushrooms that have browned.

Cooking up the shrooms!

Get them nice and brown

As the mushrooms cook, your water for the spaghetti should start boiling. Break the spaghetti in half. Now, there is a trick I learned years ago to making the perfect pasta. With the water boiling, add the pasta and stir the water for 3 minutes. When the timer goes off, remove the pasta pot from the heat, cover and let this sit undisturbed for 10 minutes.

Now, back to the mushrooms. When they have browned add the garlic and stir until the aroma from the garlic taps your nose. Then add chicken broth and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.

Broth has been added

With the cooked pasta done, and this will be just a short bit before the mushroom sauce is done, drain the pasta. Then add the cheese, remaining pepper, butter and olive oil. Stir to get a good coating over the pasta.

Cooked spaghetti with cheese and pepper added

By now the juices in the mushroom pan should be reduced. Turn off the heat and add this to your pasta.

Add the mushrooms and sauce to the pasta

Now add the parsley to the pot and then stir it up really good so that the mushrooms are evenly mixed into the pasta! Serve this up and top with a bit of shredded cheese! Enjoy the flavors!

Serve with a bit of grated cheese to top it off!

As a side note: You can change up this recipe by using portobello, or porcini mushrooms. If you want to add some herbs, feel free to add in basil, or chives, tarragon or thyme. Add the herbs when you add the cheese to the pasta.

I hope that you enjoyed today’s Tasty Tuesday! Please let me know if you try this recipe! I would love for you to share your comments! Have a wonderful Tuesday and be well! Thanks for dropping by and joining me in the kitchen!

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Introducing Tasty Tuesday!

What is tasty Tuesday? Well…I came to the decision, after realizing that I have been posting recipes sporadically, and cooking is one of my passions, that I would devote every Tuesday this year to posting recipes…As I write this, my belly is full, the smell of mushrooms and garlic permeates my home! Dinner was fantastic tonight! And, yes, that is a tease for a post tomorrow! Recipes on Tasty Tuesday is my own personal challenge which I will share with you….

If you want to check out recipes that I have posted so far, click on that button on the right that says “Category” and then scroll down and click on “The Recipe Box.” Feel free to check it out! There are some good ones, and quite a few are featured first on Google search! :)

I do love reading food blogs too, and highly recommend that you stop by and check out Conor’s One Man’s Meat. Conor’s posts are full of humor, great kitchen tips, and some of the best recipes! I have tried a number of them and he has not steered me wrong with any of them! Thank you Conor!

I also recommend Lesley’s blog Lola Rugula for fresh, tasty and easy to prepare recipes! I have gotten some great information from Lesley’s site, and the dog loves the PB biscuits!

And from down under, my friend Gaz does some amazing breakfasts and dinners! He is reviewing places to eat in Canberra, Australia, and should you decide to visit, check some of these places out before you go! His website is: Yummy Lummy!

So, stay tuned for the beginning of Tasty Tuesday! Tomorrow, the recipe features mushrooms and garlic! It is easy to cook and full of amazing flavors!

Be well! ^..^

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Mushroom Gills

By now you might know that I love lines and patterns. The other day, again walking through the backyard, with camera in hand and fitted with my extension tube, I took some close ups of all the amazing mushrooms that littered the yard. I was focused on the gills of the mushrooms. The colors and lines are amazing! Today I share these with you!

Is this the skirt of a ballerina or is it just upside down?

Upside down

Rather than being upside down, this one is all curled up!

Curled up

Check out the varying lengths on the gills on this mushroom!

Varying lengths

I do love lines! Check the lines out on this mushroom!

Lovely lines

I certainly am a fan! So is this one!

A fan

The gently upward lifted cap on this mushroom exposes its underside!

Exposed!

Looking at all these mushrooms is uplifting!

Uplifted

One final shot, and this one I found jammed in between two logs…

Jammed in

I hope that you enjoyed this adventure into mushroom gills! Have a spectacular Saturday and remember, be well! ^..^

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Good Camouflage!

The other day when I was wandering around the backyard looking at the little world out back, I came upon another area where mushrooms were sprouting. The only reason I noticed these is because the soil was being pushed up, and resembled a gopher trail. Looking closer I discovered the mushrooms! Great camouflage if you ask me!

Check it out.

They are hard to see

Did you see them? There are three.

They really do blend right in, so I felt very lucky to capture these hidden beauties!

Blends right in

Here is the mushroom revealed!

The mushroom revealed

Here are a pair from the side. There is a lot of dirt on top, and if I had not walked around the pushed up soil, I might have missed these!

Pushing up

When they do pop the surface, they are hidden amongst the leaf litter and soil debris, as you can see by this next photo.

Hidden by debris

One last shot for you…Here are the gills in a close up.

The gills

While I tried to identify this mushroom I could not find the name. Do you know what this mushroom is? I would love to hear from you!

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a splendid Saturday! Be well! ^..^

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The Tiny World Out Back

I have a natural curiosity that always leads me to looking in places that most would not take the time to look at. It is surprising what one can find when you look closely at the miniature world that is right outside the back door! So, with that in mind, I took a stroll out back to look at the tiny world that exists on the two acres we live on!

Here is what I spied:

Sprouting through wood

No longer in the dark

Up from the bark

Renewal

Little umbrellas

Neat little mushrooms, aren’t they?

Have a terrific Tuesday! Thanks for coming along on my stroll, and be well! ^..^

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