Tag Archives: cream of mushroom soup

A Little Sunday Cooking

Posted on December 22, 2014 by mohawkvalleygirl

I decided to do a cooking post today. As regular readers know, this is far from a cooking blog, but sometimes I like to share my culinary adventures. For one reason, the joys of chopping and stirring are not to be denied. And for me the joy of anything is increased by writing about it.

I had some stew beef in the refrigerator I had meant to put in the crock pot. I decided to do something different and cook it in the oven, so I preheated that to 350 degrees, which I think is the most common cooking temperature. I peeled and crushed several cloves of garlic, setting the timer for 15 minutes (so it could “breathe” and reach its full health benefits).

While the garlic breathed I chopped an onion. I’m not sure of the cooking term for what I did (I did mention this is not a real cooking blog). It was more than sliced, less than diced. The pieces ended up looking like parentheses (how appropriate for me). I’m sure you know what I mean.

My next ingredient was a can of cream of mushroom soup. Real chefs (and authors of real cooking blogs) are shaking their heads in disapproval. Oh well, that little frisson of virtue you feel is my Christmas present to you. It was store brand, if that makes it any better or worse.

I added a little sweet-hot mustard. Full disclosure: it was one of those itty-bitty jars you get with a gift set and I wanted to use it up. Condiments last a long time, don’t they? There wasn’t a whole lot of that, but I put in a good splashing of Worcestershire sauce and a teeny titch of Tabasco (note to self: buy more Tabasco). I sprinkled a little cumin over that, largely because I accidentally bought an extra jar of it.

Whenever I use cream of mushroom soup I like to add a can of mushrooms, which I luckily had. That is something I try to always keep on hand but because I use a lot of it often run out. As I added the stew beef the timer for the garlic went off. I stirred everything in thoroughly and put it in the oven.

It is there now. When I stirred it earlier it smelled delicious. I suppose I ought to wait till we actually eat it to hit Publish, in case it sucks, but I think we can trust that everything will turn out fine. For one reason, I want to hit Publish and go back to enjoying my Sunday. Happy four days before Christmas, everybody!

Where’s the Beef Broth?

Posted on December 16, 2013 by mohawkvalleygirl

How about a cooking post for Wrist to Forehead Sunday (you may notice, I do not make this a question, because I intend to write it regardless). I think it will make a good post, because I invented another new recipe.

I had some leftover beef I thought would be good in a soup. I remembered buying beef broth, and I always have diced tomatoes on hand. This would work.

I started out by chopping an onion and putting it on to cook in olive oil. I put a lid on the pot, so the steam would keep it from burning to the bottom. I crushed up some garlic and set the timer for 15 minutes (so the garlic could breathe, or whatever it does). After 15 minutes, I put the garlic in with the onion and let them cook together for a while.

The onions got soft fairly quickly. A few even turned brown. I like carmelized onions, so I let them cook till I got hungry enough that I wanted to get on with it.

That was when I could find neither the diced tomatoes nor the beef broth in my pantry. Oh yes, I remembered, I had heated up the beef broth one day when I was feeling sick to my stomach. Soothing and nutritious. I did have some cream of mushroom soup, always a good ingredient (gourmet purists are gasping in horror, but they have obviously come to the wrong blog and must respond as they see fit).

I found some diced tomatoes, but by then the idea of cream of mushroom soup was appealing to me. I put it in the pot, with a can of milk, and stirred well. I added some spices (cumin, parsley flakes, and McCormick Savory All-Purpose, if you wanted to know).

I threw in some frozen green beans and cut up the leftover beef. When it was all heated through we ate. Steven had his with Spano’s Hard Crust Italian Bread, which is made right here in the Mohawk Valley, in Utica, NY. Yum! (I used some of it for an egg sammich yesterday.)

We enjoyed dinner. Steven pointed out that we have a beef roast in the freezer. He suggested cooking it one day soon, so we can use the leftovers to make this recipe again. If I remember it. Oh wait, I can just look here. Silly me.

Mohawk Valley Girl

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A Little Sunday Cooking

Where’s the Beef Broth?

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