Rhea's Orzo Mushroom Soup

Spring is finally here! The temperatures are climbing so that means I'll have to ease off making soup soon. But before then there are two recipes I really want to try. They are both from Rhea.

To be honest, I'd never heard of orzo before but I found it quite easily at the superstore. It looks like rice, tastes like rice but is a form of pasta. I was really impressed when I read the nutritional information;  loads of B-complex vitamins, fibre, iron and protein. Sounds good to me!

Here's the recipe. I halved the amounts.


Rhea's Orzo Mushroom Soup

INGREDIENTS:
1  lbs. fresh button mushrooms
3 tbsp. all purpose flour
3 garlic cloves, minced
5 cups water
3 tbsp. vegetable stock powder
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
cup orzo pasta, uncooked
1 cup non-fat sour cream

DIRECTIONS:
Heat lightly greased large Dutch oven until hot, then sauté mushrooms, flour, and garlic for 5 minutes.
Add water, bouillon powder, green onion, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Add orzo. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream. Makes 9 cups (2.25 L)



I added half a cup of sour cream to the soup. It tasted good but I think you can get away with adding less.

 The final product:

I loved it! It was so filling. One bowl was enough for me to feel full. I wish I'd discovered this soup in the winter! Thanks Rhea!

Coconut Fish Curry

I can't believe I'd never thought of making fish curry before! It was so easy to make and tasted delicious! I didn't use any tomatoes. Recipe here

Chick Pea Curry

I have become so interested in beans lately. I know how nutritious they are and they are also very versatile. The only thing I don't like is the bloating. That's why I decided to try chick peas because I heard they are the least gas-producing beans.

I went to an Indian store with my sisters and the chick peas were on sale so I took that as a sign that I had to get some!

I soaked  a cup and a half of the beans overnight. They soaked up so much water! They looked kind of cute.

So, I made chick pea curry. The recipe is here
I didn't exactly follow the recipe too closely. I added some coconut milk and instead of mushrooms  I added  yellow bell pepper. I didn't use any tomatoes either.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

I've decided to rectify some of my childhood cooking gaffes. When I was around 14, I decided to make ginger biscuits, as we called them, for my sisters and friends who lived in my neighbourhood. There were a lot of us hungry kids there so I decided to double the recipe. Silly me, I thought I had to double the amount of ginger used. How those cookies spread! They were as big as saucers. I was so embarrassed:(

I got my recipe from here

Before they went into the oven:

After baking:

I loved them and my friends did too. Yum!

Turkey and Black Bean Chilli

 I am going to be incredibly busy this week so I decided to make a batch of chilli to freeze. Turkey is supposed to be healthier than most other meats. Also, I love black beans! I had never had them before I underwent the Daniel Fast. I didn't think any bean could surpass kidney beans. I was so wrong!

Recipe here

I added sliced mushrooms and a cup of frozen vegetable mix instead of the zucchini. I didn't have any tomato paste so I didn't use any. Also, I added hot sauce instead of jalapenos. It tasted awesome! I froze individual servings in ziplock bags.

Baked Lemon Garlic Basa

Yum!

Coconut Banana Bread

The first and only time I made banana bread was a disaster. It turned out to be a huge doughy mess, yuck! I had 4 bananas getting to be too soft so I decided to try again.

Coconut Banana Bread

1/3 cup olive oil
4 bananas, mashed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1tsp baking soda
1tsp grated lemon zest
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F
Mix olive oil into mashed bananas
Mix in sugar and egg
Add the vanilla, coconut and lemon zest. Mix
Sprinkle salt and baking soda on top of the mixture
Add the flour. Mix well then put in a greased 4x8 inch loaf pan
Bake for roughly one hour

Success!!!! It was very moist and I liked the combination of coconut and banana!