Dinner Tonight: Soup and Salad

Today has not gone at all as I had planned. Don’t you just hate those days? First, technology was problematic. My friend emailed that her little one was sick but I didn’t get the email. So late this afternoon when I sent her an email saying I guess life got hectic I found out that I had not gotten her earlier email. We are going to try to get together next week for healthy cooking instead.

Next I decided that I wanted to make raw falafel with zucchini instead of beans for dinner tonight. They look great, they smell great and ... they were still raw inside one hour before dinner. Well normally this wouldn’t be a big deal but the cupboards are bare, relatively speaking. Thankfully Dan Jr. called his father and wanted to stop at Costco this evening so Dan Sr. is picking provisions on his way home. He is such a good hubby.

What do I do in times like this? Easy, I make a quick soup and salad dinner. Thankfully those cannellini beans are waiting in the refrigerator to top a quick taco salad (no chips, unless Dan whines for some that is). To go with the salad I decided to make a mushroom and rice soup. Dried mushrooms to the rescue again. Here is what I did:

Cream of Mushroom and Rice Soup
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup dried mushrooms
6 cups water
½ cup oatmeal, turned into flour
½ cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
Dry mustard, to taste (I probably added ¼ teaspoon)
Paprika, to taste (I probably added ¼ teaspoon)
Thyme, to taste (I probably added 1 teaspoon)
No salt seasoning (I used about 1 teaspoon)
Salt or liquid aminos, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
½ pound fresh maitake mushrooms, torn into bite size pieces (any fresh mushroom would work)
1 cup of cooked brown rice
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Directions:

Combine the dried mushrooms and water and microwave until hot (about 3 minutes). Allow the mushrooms to steep for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile puree the oats into flour and add the walnuts and process quickly.

Strain the mushroom broth through a cheesecloth into the blender. Process the mixture until it is smooth. Pour the soup base into a pot and simmer until it is thick. Add the seasonings to your taste. The maitake mushrooms get added for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

To serve place a little brown rice in the bottom of the bowl, top with soup then finish with fresh minced parsley (if desired).

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 234.89
Calories From Fat (37%) - 87.59

Total Fat - 10.46g
Saturated Fat - 1.07g
Cholesterol-  0mg
Sodium - 14.85mg
Potassium - 421.89mg
Total Carbohydrates - 32.16g
Fiber  5.77g
Sugar - 1.86g
Protein - 6.65g

Comments:

As my husband said, this is a “very mushroomy soup”. If you are a fan of shrooms you will like this. With the cold rain we started getting this evening this was nice to have. This soup would also be good with a few diced or sun-dried tomatoes. It would also be good with caramelized garlic or a little Worcestershire sauce.

To go with this soup we had very simple salad made with baby spinach, cannellini beans, cucumber, grape tomatoes and salsa. Just a simple salad to provide raw veggies and a little protein from the beans. This is another one of my easy meals that I rely on often during the week for lunch. Heather I were chatting today and she told that she would like to know what my simple meals (the ones I don’t post) because they may give her ideas to bounce off of. I will be posting those easy meals for a while to share what I do when I need something fast and I haven’t planned. I think you will be surprised how often that actually happens at our house. ;-)

Unrelated note:

This has been one of those days where nothing actually went as planned. Many years ago that would have thrown off my entire day. But now I just go with the flow and regroup. It is amazing how much more mellow I have become in my “old age”. I have been thinking a lot about age lately. Not a pleasant subject for me. I am not handling aging all that well. Hopefully I can make peace with 50 before it actually arrives. I still have a little over 2 years so if I start now I may be ready. Sigh ……

On that dark note I am going to sign off. I hope you all had a more scheduled and peaceful day than I did. Talk to you tomorrow.