Cream of Mushroom Soup is my husband’s comfort food. He suffers from migraines and for some reason this is what he typically wants to eat while enduring a migraine. When he and I first met he had about 20 cans of soup in his pantry. Now I make his Cream of Mushroom Soup from scratch. As you will see from this easy recipe, it really only takes about 15 minutes to make, and so worth it!

This recipes serves 4.

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp Butter
12 oz. Mushrooms
4 Tbsp Sweet Onion or Shallot, chopped
1/4 cup Flour
2 cups Chicken Broth (or veggie broth)
1/2 cup Cream
1 1/2 cups Milk
Salt and Pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp of Sherry
Parsley, chopped, for garnish

METHOD
Clean the mushrooms with a mushroom brush or damp paper towel.
Slice the mushrooms.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add the mushrooms and onion.
Saute until the mushrooms are soft and the onions are translucent.
Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and onions.
Stir so that the flour is not lumpy while slowly adding the chicken broth.
Add the cream and milk.
Bring to a simmer.
Add salt and pepper, to taste.
Add Sherry and stir.
Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with chopped parsley.
Enjoy!

You can adjust this recipe in the following ways:

• Don’t want to use butter – substitute olive oil
• No cream – use milk, or buttermilk
• Don’t want to use dairy – use rice milk
• No onion or shallots – Substitute some leeks or a little celery (diced super fine)
• No flour – use 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• No Sherry – use Marsala Wine (or leave it out completely)
• I used Crimini mushrooms, but any type of mushroom works beautifully

Now that I live in the South I have to make sure that my biscuits measure up! There will be no slacking in the biscuit department when you bring these to the table.  Light, fluffy and delicious, these are the best biscuits I’ve ever tasted!

This recipe serves 4 (or less, depending on how much you like biscuits!)

INGREDIENTS
2 cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt
4 Tbsp cold Butter
1 cup buttermilk, chilled

METHOD
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and butter.
Be sure that you’re butter is cold, and working quickly with your hands, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture gets crumbly.
Add the chilled buttermilk and stir JUST UNTIL the dough comes together.
The dough will be wet.
Flour a work surface and turn the dough out.
Fold the dough gently about 5 times.
Press dough evenly, making it about 1-inch thick.
Cut biscuits with whatever shape cutter you want to use.
I typically use a 2-inch cutter, but sometimes I like to make extra large biscuits and other times I want mini biscuits.
Continue the process until all the dough has been used.
Place biscuits on baking sheet a few inches apart.
Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until biscuits are lightly golden.
Best eaten right away topped with butter & jam.
Enjoy!

You can use whatever type of oil you’d like, vegetable oil, olive oil, canola oil? It’s up to you. I sometimes like to add half sesame oil to give the rice a rich sesame flavor. For this recipe I used olive oil.

If you look closely at the picture you may see something yellow that isn’t corn, it’s squash. I had a half of an uncooked squash so I cut that up and put it in with the other vegetables. I don’t really follow recipes, usually I just make things up as I go along, testing, tasting and perfecting! What really makes this rice so tasty is the little bit of cinnamon. Just put enough in so that you can taste something, but you can’t quite tell that it’s cinnamon. It elevates the flavor. I hope you give it a try!

Enjoy!

When corn is in season there’s really nothing better… unless you put Parmesan cheese and cumin on it!

I love scallops. They’re so rich and delicious, plus they cook in just minutes! I served them atop a creamy Avocado Cilantro Sauce. The sauce had just the right amount of heat from the jalapenos. You can tame it down if you want to, but I like it spicy! We also had a bowl of Organic White Tortilla Chips for dipping into the sauce… couldn’t let any go to waste.

This was our dinner, along with a small side salad and some Parmesan Cumin Corn-On-The-Cob. It was so yummy!!

INGREDIENTS
1 Avocado
2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
1 Small bunch of Cilantro, large stems removed
8 to 10 Pickled Jalapeno Rings
Juice of 1 Lime
Pinch of Salt
a sprinkle of Granulated Garlic
1 lb. Scallops (about 10 large)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter

METHOD
Place avocado, yogurt, cilantro, jalapeno, lime, salt and granulated garlic into the blender.
Pulse until smooth.
Pat scallops dry, removing all excess liquid.
Place olive oil and butter in a large saute pan over medium heat.
When pan is hot, carefully place the scallops in.
Saute them for about 2 minutes, and then turn them over for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Place sauce on plate and top with the desired number of scallops.
Enjoy!

I really enjoy making (and eating) a great sandwich. Here you can see that I have all the ingredients set out to make 2 sandwiches. The sandwich tops are in the toaster oven ready to be toasted up at the last moment. The chicken breast was leftover from a Rotisserie chicken that I had bought the day before to make quick chicken enchiladas. The bacon was leftover from breakfast the day before… ’cause I actually knew I was going to make these sandwiches. Yep, I’m a planner!!

I was raised back East with Hellman’s mayonnaise. When I moved to Los Angeles it was called “Best” mayonnaise. I’m still a mayo lover, but now I’m really happy with the flavor of Kraft Mayo made with olive oil. Seriously, it’s a great alternative.  

Once my ingredients were prepped, I toasted the sourdough bread and in just a few minutes the sandwiches were prepared and lunch was served!

Lunch outside on the patio!

When I was planning to make the coffee bread I figured I’d better go buy some fresh yeast. I had some that had been in the fridge for a bit and I had remembered the last time I used it the results weren’t great. So, I bought some super yeast… and boy was it ever!!

Braided Swedish Coffee Bread ready for the oven!

I let the dough rise the first time in the bowl, and then the second time was after I had already braided it. It rose beautifully each time. However, when I put it in the oven and it had begun cooking, it also continued to rise and grow in the oven! I ended up with a gigantic Swedish coffee bread. We couldn’t stop laughing it was so huge!!

It turned out wonderful. I love it toasted with a little bit of butter and a cup of tea or coffee. It does freeze really well, so half of it is in the freezer waiting for that lazy Sunday morning when I bring it out and warm it up.

Makes 1 large loaf – serves lots of people