Cream of mushroom soup

I think I am ready for winter.
I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear over the sound of all the gasping.
Ok so maybe I'm crazy, (ok I am crazy) but I want winter to be here, this year is all about changes for me and I want to enjoy the winter, I want to be inside cooking and studying and not go on any trips or excursions for a few months, and to be honest I think Alaska is agreeing with me.

It's been getting colder and crisper, as I write this it's 10:00 am, and I'm sitting at the kitchen table with my university sweatshirt on, my fuzzy pants and fuzzy socks, (it is actually cold in here) and though I'm not gonna do anything crazy like turn on the heater, I am going to make soup, much like the soup I made a few days ago, which was cream of mushroom.

Cream of mushroom soup. 

2 cups chicken stock
4 cups milk
9-10 mushrooms
4-5 potatoes
1/2 an onion
1 clove garlic, minced
salt
pepper
celery seed
ground mustard 
all to taste.

The ingredients.

Start off by pouring your chicken stock into a pan and adding the onions and garlic, nothing needs to be chopped super well because it's a cream soup and it's going to be pureed.

 
Let it simmer for about  5 minutes, then add the milk, potatoes and mushrooms

.

Let that get to a boil and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes, you want the potatoes to be nice and soft. (Note, I leave the skin on my potatoes.)
Add a little of your spices. 

Once that's ready, get out your food processor or blender, whichever, and start blending the soup. ( like to let it cool for a few minutes first.) 

Then strain it through one of these babies.

I also rinse out my soup pot before putting the soup back in it.
Once you've strained all the soup, take the extra "dregs" that are left in the strainer and puree them again, (you may need to add a little liquid) after its pureed, re incorporate it in the soup, it gives it more bulk and flavor, and it looks pretty.
Taste it and adjust the spices.
Re heat it for a few minutes and serve. 

This will fill: 5-6  bellies.

I hope you enjoy the soup, it's perfect for a gloomy day, and perfect for winter.

Homemade mascarpone

I read a blog post on homemade mascarpone last week.

I don't think I'll ever be the same.
The best part about this recipe is that the ingrdients are things most people have, and if they don't, they are really cheap.

I sort of followed to recipe from Not Without Salt (sort of) but my amounts are different.


  Homemade Mascarpone


1 cup whipping cream (I used regular, not heavy, and mine was ultra pasteurized.)
2  tablespoons lemon juice

Fill a skillet about half way with water,

Pour your cream into a heat proof container and put it in the water, to make a double boiler, I used my big Pyrex measuring cup. 

 Heat the water and let it boil with the glass container in it for about 20 minutes or until the cream reaches 140-190 degrees Fahrenheit.

When it reaches temperature, add the lemon juice and cook for 10 -15 more minutes, 

stirring occasionally.
This is where I began to think I messed up, the cream didn't curdle at all, I had read it wasn't supposed to curdle much, but I expected some reaction. I thought I hadn't heated my cream enough, it was only at 140 or so. 

Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.

This is how thick mine was after about 20 minutes of cooling, I kept thinking "This is never going to thicken!!!!"

After it cooled I stuck it in the fridge to stay overnight and hoped it would thicken, I was sure I had ruined it.

But hurray! in the morning it was pretty thick. (I forgot to photo the pouring it into cheesecloth part. )
I hung it over a bowl in the fridge for another 5-6 hours.

And when I poured it into my jar it was beautiful!

Cheesecloth marks are so pretty.


When I make this again, I'll probably make a larger batch, but for this first one I made only a cup.

Also I found that this tasted wonderful on these lavender cookies.

More on that later.



-Carley.

Fresh.

I love the word fresh, it conjures up so much imagery, the smell of spring, petrichor, fresh  lemons, the buds on an apple tree or berry bush, or just something new and different.


I have had a blog before, I have had a few, but in all of them I've set goal upon goal until I couldn't meet any of them and ultimately failed.
I've tried taking a photo every day, something creative everyday, etc, etc....

So this is fresh, it's new and it's starting over, I'm obsessed with cooking right now, but maybe one day I'll post blog after blog about my knitting obsession, I want to have fun, and I intend to.

Want to know more about me?
Ask.

Shout out my friend Cedars, this is my favorite picture. :)