Back yard bounty & cream of mushroom soup

Heather — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 23:11:17 +0000

Today I got my fresh air quota and a serving or two of fruits by just stepping out my door. I walked slowly around my yard and picked raspberries and high bush cranberries (only good mixed with other berries as they are very tart & maybe a bit citric in flavor). Instead of picking them to later turn into some yummy jam, jelly or wine, I just popped them in my mouth. I savored the red little gems as they burst open in my mouth. There was something deeply satisfying in partaking of the last of the season’s bounty. The last few goodies, that would likely have been swooped up by the few remaining birds or dropped to the ground. I also came across some shaggy mane mushrooms in my yard (note: many varieties of wild mushrooms are poisonous – like will cause death – so be sure you know what you are doing before picking and especially eating!). I gathered a few handfuls along with the dregs of spinach in my garden and made a wonderful mushroom and spinach soup. Here is the recipe and it works perfectly well with store bought mushrooms, any variety. Cream of Mushroom & Spinach Soup 1/4 cup chopped onion 2 tablespoons butter 3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) chicken broth 1 cup half-and-half cream 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 2 cups fresh spinach In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Add mushrooms and saute until tender. Combine flour and broth until smooth; stir into the mushroom mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat. Stir in the cream, salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring often. Stir in spinach, cook until just wilted.

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Gigantic garden finds.. discovered bread wonders

Heather — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 17:18:39 +0000

This is the first year I experimented with a veggie garden. I’ve been an avid (well avid for about 6 weeks a year) flower gardener and amateur landscaper for 14 years. I grew up in Idaho where my Mom always had a large garden (and frankly I never appreciated because it involved what seemed like many hours of rock gathering, weed pulling & picking slugs off tomato plants – still eww!). Finally fed up with the produce we get in Alaska (where cucumbers are really just for color and half way decent tasting tomatoes cost more per pound that New York strip), I decided to give a little garden a shot. So one day mid April (with 6 feet of snow still in my yard), I went to the hardware store to get some pre-made gardens. I ended up having to wait until Memorial Day to put them in seems how it snowed about 12 inches May 19th! I talked (or maybe bribed through use of power tools) my 11 year son into helping me put the beds together, threw some dirt & fertilizer in and went to the greenhouse. When I got back, my son said, “Mom, I think you are going to need a LOT bigger garden.” Ya well, needless to say, things were a bit squished. So you can somewhat understand how as I was digging around in the garden today, I was completely surprised to find a gigantic zucchini squash hiding out under the overgrown and crowded foliage. Alaska is famous for gargantuan vegies (think 138 pound cabbages) http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/giant-cabbage-sets-world-record-alaska-state-fair. But my ambitions for my zucchini was not to take to the fair, but to eat! So I called my Mom, “what to do with this huge zucchini”. She said really there is only one good use for large zucchini (which suffers greatly compared to it’s smaller counter part – hint – pick zucchini small!) -make a bread of some kind. I got a great recipe from my mother in law for Pumpkin Zucchini Bread – it was excellent and the kids loved it! Give it a try if you too have an overabundance of pumpkin or zucchini or you just want to try something new and yummy. Pumpkin Zucchini Bread Ingredients: 3 eggs, lightly beaten, 2 c sugar, 1 can pumpkin, 1 c melted butter, 1 TB vanilla, 3 c flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. each of baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves, 1 c shredded zucchini and 1 c chopped walnuts (optional). Combine eggs & sugar. Add pumpkin, butter and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Stir in zucchini and walnuts. Pour into two greased & floured 9x5x3″ loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 45-50 min.

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Heather Eldred » Living Alaskan

Back yard bounty & cream of mushroom soup

Gigantic garden finds.. discovered bread wonders