Cream of Mushroom Soup

Marshall Field’s  Marilyn’s Cream of Mushroom Soup

Eleonore gifted me with a cookbook from The Women’s Guild of Kankakee, where I found a mushroom soup recipe credited to Marshall Field's, once an upscale department store in downtown Chicago. This adaptation has more mushrooms and less fat than the original, and still has great flavor. It is essential anytime your dad visits. Quick and easy!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
¼ c. finely diced onion
2 c. (or more!) fresh mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 cans (13 ¾ oz. ea) chicken broth (I like Swanson's low-sodium.)
3 tablespoons butter
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup whole milk
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Garnish Ideas (optional)

Croutons
Chopped watercress or parsley or other greens
Shaved  parmesan


Heat 2 tablespoons oil/butter in large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat. Sauté onions and mushroom about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken broth, cover, and simmer 10 minutes.

In skillet (preferably non-stick) melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, whisking constantly. (Roux will thicken and darken to the color of caramel and give off a nutty aroma.)

Blend into the roux about 1 cup hot mushroom mixture. Whisk until thickened. Whisk in a second cup of hot mushroom mixture until smooth, then pour roux mixture immediately into the soup. Stir until smoothly blended.

Add milk and pepper. Heat until steamy. Serve with garnish.
Serves 6 (small starter servings)

Tuna Buna Casserole

or is it tunabuna? tuna boona? tune-a-boona?

This is very similar to my mom's - at least how I remember it. And I think the 'buna' thing began with her. Oh - and it's not really a casserole, but it is one-pot cooking and easy.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon cooking oil (vegetable, canola, olive)
1 large celery stalk, sliced 1/4 inch
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove crushed garlic
2 cans of tuna (I prefer solid white albacore), drained
splash of cooking sherry or dry white wine

1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (wt. 10-3/4 oz.)
2/3 cup (or more) nonfat milk - see instructions below for more information
1/2 cup or more frozen peas

cheese - see notes below for more information
salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne (optional)

In deep skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Saute celery and onion until onion is translucent. Add garlic and tuna to the pan and stir for 1 minute. (Optional: de-glaze pan with splash of cooking sherry/wine.)

Add can of mushroom soup to the pan. Fill the empty can about 2/3 full with the nonfat milk; stir to blend in bits of soup remaining in the can. Add to the skillet. Gently stir the vegetable, tuna, soup, and milk mixture until sauce is smooth; add peas and stir.

When mixture is hot and steamy, but not bubbly, reduce heat to low and add cheese, salt, pepper and cayenne. Once cheese has melted, stir to blend. If sauce is too thick, add a little more milk.

Serve over rice, noodles, or pasta.

Notes about the cheese

This is your chance to use up some cheese remnants - parmesan, swiss, cheddar, pepper-jack - in any form - grated, sliced or shredded. Use the equivalent of 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cheese, loosely packed.

Tips

The ingredients are very flexible. Increase or decrease quantities at will. Try adding other vegetables such as fresh mushrooms or - well, actually, there's not much else I would add except for mushrooms.

Orange Chocolate-Chip Muffins

from a visit to the Napa Valley

A favorite at anytime and best when just out of the oven.

Dry Ingredients

2 cups white flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Glaze Ingredients

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar

Topping

Baker's sugar crystals or
Cocoa sugar
or both

Wet Ingredients

1/2 cup vanilla or orange-flavored low-fat yogurt
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon dried orange zest
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 cup canned mandarin oranges, well-drained

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners. If you are not using a non-stick pan, then sparingly grease top surface of muffin pan to prevent muffin tops from sticking.

Mix together the glaze ingredients and heat in microwave for 30 seconds; stir to dissolve sugar; set aside.

Mix together the dry ingredients and set aside. Mix together the first 5 wet ingredients (all but the mandarin oranges). Combine the wet and dry ingredients, folding gently until just combined (should look rough, some dry spots, not smooth). Add the mandarin oranges to the mix and fold gently.

Spoon the batter into muffin tins lined with paper cups. Generously brush glaze on muffin tops. Sprinkle with baker's sugar crystals and/or cocoa sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until tops are golden.

Variation
Lemon-Blueberry: Substitute lemon yogurt, dried lemon zest, lemon extract, and blueberries  (for mandarin oranges). Do not use chocolate chips. For glaze, use lemonade instead of orange juice, and top with vanilla sugar.

Tips
Separately, mix wet and dry ingredients the night before, but do not combine; cover wet ingredients and store in the refrigerator. In the morning, complete recipe for hot morning muffins.

For health-kick, substitute 1 cup whole wheat flour + 1 cup white flour; and sub in plain yogurt with 1 teaspoon of vanilla added. These muffins will be a bit grainier, less sweet, and the flavor of the chocolate and orange dominate.