Skillet portobello mushroom fajitas

Large portobello mushroom caps are cooked with sweet onions and bell peppers in a one-skillet dinner to make these delicious vegetarian fajitas. Served in warmed tortillas with your favorite toppings, they make an easy weeknight dinner for the whole family.

Tofu & mushroom miso ramen bowls

This ramen is full of delicious flavors of miso, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, sesame, and more! Give your ramen noodles a makeover with the flavorful recipe for tofu and mushroom miso ramen bowls.

Chicken chop suey

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 The weather is starting to warm up around here and for me that means that I start to want lighter dinners. As I mentioned in my last post, it's a difficult time of year for cooking -- no fresh local vegetables available yet and most of our preserved goods from last year's harvest are gone. We did start some seeds this past weekend as well as potted a few new herbs. 

We don't have room for a large garden, but we are doing radishes, lettuces, green beans, tomatoes, and a bunch of herbs in containers. I can't wait for the radishes to come up. We found heirloom French breakfast radishes and I'm hoping they are cute and tasty! They should be ready to harvest in just over 20 days.

But, back to this meal. I've made this dish inspired by a similar recipe at Brooklyn Farm Girl a couple of times now and we really like it. This time I used a green pepper, but last time I used some baby bok choy in its place - both were good. 

You can use both or pack as many veggies into this stir-fry as you want. Chinese cabbage, bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts would all be good in this, too. Stir-fry is one of my favorite warm-weather weeknight meals. They are a cinch to put together and they are so versatile. Plus I love making take-out foods at home. This dish will serve four people.

Hungarian mushroom soup

I always get excited when soup season arrives. To me, soup is such a comforting dish to have on a cool day. Plus, there are so many different possibilities when it comes to soup. I think it's impossible to ever run out of ideas and recipes! 

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This Hungarian mushroom soup is inspired by this recipe at All Recipes, the container of Hungarian paprika I had in my pantry, and my huge tarragon plant. I've made roasted cream of mushroom soup before, but I wanted to incorporate the spicier paprika into a soup along with some fresh tarragon. 

This soup is really delicious. It's also very rich from the milk and sour cream. I think it's best served as a cup of soup with a larger meal or as a lunch with some bread and a salad. I could have eaten the whole pot though. 

This recipe will make four servings and is a lovely way to warm up after being outside on a crisp autumn day!

Warm mushroom, chestnut, and bacon salad

Bacon, mushrooms, and chestnuts go together so well. This salad recipe came from Ripe by Nigel Slater (one of my new cookbooks). 

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This cookbook is really lovely and is full of beautiful photographs and delicious looking recipes featuring fruit. I guess I never really consider things like chestnuts to be fruit, but they are, and there's a whole chestnut section in the book.  

I bought up a bunch of chestnuts while they were available, so I was immediately drawn to this section of the book. The recipe recommends frisee or baby spinach as the greens, but I had radicchio in the fridge and thought it would also be good in this salad and provide another color. 

The warm mixture on top of the greens provides a nice contrast. I also added some red wine vinegar because I thought it was needed to cut through the fat and boost the dressing flavor.

My husband and I ate this as a light dinner with some bread and cheese. I think that if we weren't already having some cheese in our meal, some crumbled gorgonzola or goat cheese would have made an excellent addition to this salad.  

Below is my slightly modified version of this recipe for two. Serve this as a side dish or as a light lunch or dinner with soup and/or bread.

Pasta with leeks and oyster mushrooms

Pasta is one of my go-to favorites for a quick weeknight meal. I started making this dish, or a version of it, a few years back and somehow it never made it to my blog until now. 

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While my husband and I were eating it this time around, I was reminded of a time when we spent the weekend away in a cabin in a pretty secluded area (but it had a nice little kitchen). I made this pasta for our dinner one night. It was a wonderful weekend where we just hiked, read, played cards, and ate. I like dishes like these that are simple to make and still very satisfying.

Sometimes I change up the mushroom type, so feel feel free to try different ones. Oysters are quickly becoming one of my favorite mushrooms though. 

 

This pasta dish isn't full of a heavy sauce and it really makes the mushrooms and leeks the star of the dish. I also like to incorporate some chives and garlic (because almost everything is better with garlic). This dish will serve about four people. Serve with a green salad and some crusty bread if you like.  

Hot and sour chicken, cabbage, and rice soup

We finally got our first real snow of the season here in western NY. It's crazy that it's a couple of weeks into January and we hadn't really had any measurable snow here yet. 

 

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It's very unusual and just didn't feel like winter. Now that we have a nice white covering, I'm officially into comfort food mode. For me, that includes a lot of soup. This soup was inspired by a recipe I read recently on The Kitchn. 

 

I read it and couldn't believe the amount of jalapeno, fresh ginger and garlic that were in this soup. I knew that my husband, who is a big fan of spice and heat, would be able to handle it like nothing....but I wasn't so sure about me with the heat. I did cut back a little...

I loved it (sure, it made me cough a little when all those pungent ingredients hit the heat!). When I ate it, the ginger hit me in the back of the throat and it did clear up my nose a little bit, but it was a good heat. It was warming and spicy and delicious - perfect for a winter evening. 

 

I would highly recommend it if you or a loved one has a cold or is stuffed up. If you are not a big fan of heat, you may want to cut down on the jalapeno or ginger. This is a very versatile recipe. Y

 

ou could cut out the chicken and add more mushrooms and other veggies for a vegetarian version. You could substitute rice noodles or soba noodles for the rice. Whatever you like. It's great to make if you have some leftover chicken. Plus, I am always looking for new ways to incorporate cabbage into our diet. This recipe will make about six servings. 

Shiitake hazelnut pate

 
My husband and I sampled this pate at the farmers' market last weekend from a farmer who was selling shiitake mushrooms. The pate was really good and his shiitake mushrooms were beautiful. I was really excited to find mushrooms that were grown locally. So, of course, we brought home a bag of mushrooms and the farmer was nice enough to give us a recipe card so we could try it at home. This pate is very flavorful with just a few ingredients. We ate it with some flatbread crackers and celery. I slightly adapted the recipe that was given to us and used the one below.

Shiitake hazelnut pate
about 1 cup of shiitake mushroom caps, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
leaves from 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 ounces Neufchatel cheese (or cream cheese)
1/4 cup hazelnuts, lightly toasted
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
about 1 teaspoon dry vermouth

Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Saute until softened, about five minutes. Add the hazelnuts to a food processor and pulse a few times. Add salt, pepper, and thyme to the mushroom and garlic mixture and stir. Add the mushrooms to the food processor along with the remaining ingredients. Process until smooth and taste for salt and pepper (adjust as needed). Refrigerate for about 30 minutes and then serve as a dip/spread with your favorite crackers, bread, and/or vegetables.

Tom Kha Gai (Thai chicken coconut soup)

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I love this soup... Slightly spicy, slightly sweet, all around tasty - what Thai food is all about. While this recipe probably isn't truly authentic Thai - it's a decent version with ingredients you can find at many larger grocery stores. Items like lemongrass, fish sauce, and Thai chiles have become much more accessible over the last few years. 

You may have had this soup as a started at a Thai restaurant as it tends to be pretty popular. The broth takes some time to get really flavorful, but otherwise the soup is pretty simple to make.

This recipe serves two as a main dish or four as a starter.

Tom Kha Gai
4 cups low sodium chicken stock
1 can (14 oz) unsweetened light coconut milk
2 stalks lemongrass (sliced into about 1 inch pieces)
1-2 Thai chiles (or other small red chiles)
about 6 slices of ginger root (about 1/4 inch thick)
about 1 tablespoon cane sugar
juice of 1 lime
1-1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 chicken breast thinly sliced
about 2 cups sliced shitake mushrooms
3 scallions, thinly sliced (whites and greens, but keep separated)
about 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
thin rice noodles (optional)

In a large soup pot, add the chicken stock, coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger root, chiles, cane sugar, and fish sauce. If you want a mild soup, use only one chile. For a hotter soup, use one-two chiles and pierce the skin. Cook over medium heat until the broth comes to a boil. Then, reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour. 

Remove all the lemongrass stalk, ginger root, and the chiles from the broth and discard. Add the chicken, mushrooms, and whites of the scallions. Bring to a low boil and cook until the chicken is cooked through. 

Add noodles, if using (they will cook in only a couple of minutes) and the lime juice. When the noodles are soft, serve immediately. Top with the scallion greens and cilantro. You can also top with thinly sliced chiles (if you want a spicier soup), extra fish sauce, and/or fresh basil leaves.