French Onion and Mushroom Soup

A new twist on on French Onion Soup! My husband bought a 50 pound bag of onions from the farm stand down the road. Needless to say, we are eating a lot of onions.  This is a fabulous way to use them. And if you don't have mushrooms on hand, make it without.

French Onion Soup with Mushrooms

2 very large onions  (about 1.5 pounds)
sea salt
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1/4 C butter
6 cups stock (beef is traditional, but chicken or vegetable work as well)
1/4 C red wine
french bread
Swiss cheese

Cut the onions in half and slice thinly. Sprinkle the onions with sea salt, and saute the onions and mushrooms in butter in a stock pot over medium-low heat until the onions are very soft, 20-30 minutes. Add the red wine and stock. Simmer for 10 - 20 minutes. Toast slices of bread. Broil sliced Swiss cheese onto the toast.  Put the cheese toast in the bottom of the bowl and ladle the soup over the bread. Or float the toast on top of the soup.

Tortellini Soup

Here's how to make a delicious tortellini soup.

1 onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, cut into chunks
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound roma tomatoes, cut into chunks (or home canned)
1 Tbs. olive oil
6 cups stock (home made vegetable stock, if you have it)
1 package fresh tortellini
6 ounces baby spinach (you can also use chard or beet leaves)
3 Tbs fresh basil, chopped

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot.  Add the onions and garlic, and saute for a few minutes until they start to soften. (Okay, I just saute them while I am cutting up the mushrooms.) Add the mushrooms, and saute for a few minutes until they start to cook. (Or for however long it takes to chop the tomatoes.) Add the tomatoes, and stir until they start to soften.  Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the tortellini. Let the stock come to a boil again, then simmer for 7 minutes.  Add the spinach and basil, and cook a few minutes longer until the spinach wilts.

Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese to serve, if you want.

This is a vegetarian version of a recipe that my daughter learned at cooking camp many years ago.

Zucchini Walnut Muffins

Yeah, I know.  This is the third zucchini muffin recipe I've posted.  But they are sooooo good, and they use up summer squash from the garden. Yea!

Zucchini Walnut Muffins

1.5 Cups unbleached flour (substitute as much whole wheat as you like)
1/3 C brown sugar
1/3 C white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1.5 C grated zucchini (or summer squash of your choice)
2 eggs
1/3 C oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 C chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375. Coat a 12-Cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

Mix the flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl, and add the zucchini, oil and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Fold in the walnuts.

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups. (If you would like, you can sprinkle the tops with a little cinnamon sugar at this point.) Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tops are golden and the tester comes out clean.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Yes, I know.  I already posted a recipe for chocolate zucchini cake.  But we've got squash everywhere, and my son really, really likes these.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup sunflower oil
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups grated zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour (I use 1 cup whole wheat and 2 cups unbleached)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Coat 2 12-cup muffin pans with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, and oil.  Add cocoa powder, vanilla, and zucchini.  Stir well.

Add the dry ingredients, and stir until just blended.  Stir in the chocolate chips. Divide the batter into the muffin cups.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

You are supposed to let the muffins cool before you eat them.  Yeah, right.

Blueberry Pound Cake

Life on the farm is really busy. Even during what seems like a lull between planting and harvesting, there is always something that needs attention.  Last week, it was blueberries. Folks were coming over for dinner and I needed a dessert that I could put in the oven and ignore for an hour while I irrigated the greenhouses.

Blueberry Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups blueberries

Heat the oven to 325.

Generously butter a 10 cup bundt or tube pan, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar. Tilt the pan, tap, and shake until the sugar is evenly distributed. (Sounds like a dance, doesn't it?)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Mix in vanilla.

Toss the blueberries with 1/4 cup of flour and set aside.

Mix together the remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the egg mixture, beating at low speed on the mixer.

Fold the blueberries into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake until tester comes out clean, 70-80 minutes.  Let cool for 10 minutes (but do not invert to cool as you might normally do for some cakes. I learned the hard way.  Blueberries affect the structural stability, and mine fell. That's why I added the glaze - to hide the evidence.)

When the cake is cool, mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and a pinch of salt with 2 Tbs lemon juice.  Stir until smooth. This should be pourable. Add more lemon juice if  it is too thick.

I decorated mine with calendula petals and borage flowers to make it pretty.