Friday Food Fun - Week 7 - Soups

1. Do you only like soup well enough to eat it occasionally during the really cold winter, or do you love it so much you eat it a lot during the hot summer as well? I prefer soup during the winter, but sometimes if it's not too hot I will eat a bowl of soup other times as well.
2. Do you make your own soups or do you usually eat from a can? I usually eat from a can, although there are several soups that I make from scratch also.
3. What are your favorite soups, stews, chowders, broths, or bouillabaisses?
I love Japanese seafood soup, oyster stew, clam chowder, salmon stew, French onion soup, loaded baked potato soup, vegetable beef with barley soup, beef stew, potato soup, chicken vegetable soup, cabbage soup, butternut squash soup, italian wedding soup, tomato soup, and several other canned varieties that I don't remember the name of.
4. Do you prefer heartier stock or simple recipes? Mostly heartier stock.
5. Do you prefer broth or cream-based recipes? cream based
6. Do you prefer milk/cream based or tomato-sauce based recipes? milk/cream based
7. If you have a good soup recipe, please post it.
    I just recently started making this personal version of French onion with a twist.
    1 can beef broth, and based on what I have on hand, diced onion, diced celery, roast beef, and mushrooms. Microwave until hot.

Yum!

Friday Food Fun - Week 6 - Appetizers

Spinach-stuffed Mushrooms

½ pound small button mushrooms
kosher salt
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped fine
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ pound fresh spinach leaves
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 tablespoon parmesan, fresh grated
3 wedges Laughing Cow Swiss cheese
**Could use 1½ ounces of cream cheese

Preheat broiler. Remove stems from mushrooms and scoop out gills, if preferred. Sprinkle mushroom caps generously with kosher salt and set aside. Heat oil in pan and add garlic. Once garlic is aromatic, add spinach and salt to taste and sauté until wilted. Remove spinach from heat. Chop spinach mixture with Laughing cow or cream cheese and distribute between mushroom caps. Sprinkle with a bit of both cheeses and place under the broiler until the cheese starts to brown and bubble.

Tastes: Friday Food Fun - Week 3 - Salads

I love a good salad. At home, we use a salad mix (preferably with radishes, carrots, snow peas and a mix of lettuces). We add celery, hard-boiled egg, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, black olives and/or green olives, and pickles. I use a Balsamic Vinegarette. This makes a very good salad. Sometimes, we'll add a little ham, turkey and swiss cheese to make it a chef salad. But, my ideal salad is a little different. First of all, I don't use a lettuce base. I put mushrooms, uncooked green peas, soybeans, chickpeas, fresh crumbled bacon, pepperonis, fresh Parmesan cheese, diced tomatoes, sunflower seeds, black olives, green olives, pickles and ranch dressing. Yum!

Tastes: Friday Food Fun - Week 2 - Pizza Toppings

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1. What are your favorite pizza toppings?

     Mushrooms, Black Olives, Green Olives, Garlic, Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, Pepperoni

     Ham, Shrimp, Chicken, Bacon, Different cheeses, Artichoke Hearts

2. Do you prefer thin crust or thick crust? Thin crust

3. Do you prefer Deluxe pizza or a pizza with just 1 - 3 ingredients (which ones)? Deluxe

4. Do you eat any unusual toppings on your pizzas? Artichoke hearts, shrimp

5. Do you prefer tomato sauce or another sauce (which kind)? alfredo

6. What is your favorite dessert pizza? I love the pineapple dessert pizza at Pizza Inn but I've also had a fruit pizza that had a sugar cookie crust, cream cheese sauce and slices of fruit on it, and it was also very good.

7. Do you prefer pizza from a restaurant, from the freezer or deli section, or homemade? Restaurant - Pizza Inn or Applebee's (VeggiePatch Pizza)

8. Describe the perfect pizza for you. My perfect pizza would have a thin crust, alfredo sauce, mushrooms, black olives, green olives, garlic, ground beef, Italian sausage, shrimp, and several kinds of cheese. After it was cooked it would be sprinkled with diced tomatoes and freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.