FitnessFor.Us

I bought this big package of mushrooms, Baby Bellas, at Costco and forgot to use them. Fortunately — this time — I remembered I had them before they went bad, and, since was a cold day here in San Antonio, I decided to make mushroom soup.

I didn’t want cream of mushroom, though. I wanted something less heavy, but with lots of flavor.

As it turned out, I ended up making the World’s Best Mushroom Soup.

The best thing about this soup, I think, is the subtle smoky corny bacon flavor provided by the roux, so don’t skip the bacon grease or corn flour. If you don’t save bacon grease, fry some bacon up and use that grease, then crumble the bacon over the top of the soup when serving. Or just eat it. Bacon is good.

INGREDIENTS

• 24oz Baby Bella mushrooms, stems removed, sliced thick or chopped roughly
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 32oz chicken broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 3 Tbsp bacon grease
• 3 Tbsp corn flour (masa)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Peel and nuke the sweet potato for about 3 minutes or so. It doesn’t need to cook through. In fact, you could probably skip this step, but you may want to add a little more time to the simmer to ensure the sweet potato is cooked. Set aside to cool.
2. Heat up a stovetop crock — I use a Lodge cast iron one — on a medium-high burner, and begin to saute the mushrooms in some of the chicken broth. Add the salt almost immediately and stir the mushrooms. This will help bring the liquid out of them. You can add more chicken broth or water, if necessary, just to make sure the pan doesn’t dry out, but the idea is to shrink the mushrooms a bit and reduce the liquid to intensify the flavor of the broth they are creating.
3. Once the mushrooms are pretty much reduced, maybe 10 minutes, add the chicken broth, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper to the pot. Stir.
4. Cut the sweet potato into 1/2- to 3/4-inch chunks and add it to the soup.
5. Bring the soup to a boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for an hour.
6. While the soup is simmering, add the bacon grease to a small pot, on medium heat. When the grease is liquid, add the corn flour. Stir constantly, until thick, creating a roux. Don’t burn the roux! If it burns, toss it out and start again. This is not a traditional flour and butter roux, so you don’t need to brown it too much, but you should be able to smell a popcorn-y bacon aroma. This should take 5 to 10 minutes. Set the roux, still in the pot, aside.
7. After the soup has been simmering for an hour, covered, add the roux a  bit at a time, stirring to incorporate each bit before adding more. This will thicken the soup while adding more flavor.
8. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.
9. Serve immediately.

Makes 2 large or 4 medium servings.

NUTRITION PER LARGE SERVING

• Calories: 338
• Fat: 21 g
• Protein: 7 g
• Carbs: 31 g (including Fiber: 4.5 g)

This is one tasty soup for a cold day. You may want to serve it with some crusty bread. I don’t, but you may. If you do serve crusty bread, at least slather it with butter to try to balance out the fat-carb ratio.

I suppose you could use a regular potato instead of a sweet potato, but I like the flavor of the sweet potato.

Enjoy!

I made a killer chili yesterday. Maybe it’s not the “world’s best”, as the title proclaims, but I think I am allowed to hyperbolize from time to time. Even if it’s not the world’s best, it’s pretty damn good.

I am not a chili connoisseur, but I make it from time to time. Usually I go for a green chile-based concoction — that’s my New Mexico roots coming through. But this was a cold day in Texas, and I thought a nice red chili was in order.

The flavors were so good, and it was so simple to make, I thought I’d pass along the recipe, as best I remember it. I didn’t measure anything, but this should be pretty close. Use your judgment when you try to replicate (as will I).

I like beans in my chili, so there are beans in this one. Also, you may notice there are no tomatoes. No reason for that, except that I didn’t feel like putting any in. That may be part of what makes it so good. I dunno.

I wish I’d snapped some photos, but maybe next go ’round I will and then I’ll add ’em.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs lean pork (I use 98% lean Kirkland Sirloin Tip Roast from Costco)
• 1 medium-sized yellow or white onion, chopped
• 1 quart + one cup chicken stock (I use Costco’s Kirkland brand organic)
• 1 large can plain pinto beans (I use Bush’s Best 27-oz can)
• 2 Tbsp hot red chile flakes, ground into powder (I use stuff I buy at an Albuquerque farmers market)
• 2 Tbsp hot green chile flakes, ground into powder (I use stuff I buy at an Albuquerque farmers market)
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup masa (corn flour – I use Maseca brand)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Put a large pot on medium-high burner to preheat. I use a Lodge cast iron dutch oven.
2. Cut pork into one-inch cubes.
3. Salt the pork cubes liberally.
4. Put the olive oil into the pot and then add half the pork.
5. Let the pork sit there for a few minutes, maybe 5 or so, until it gets decently browned on the bottom, then stir it up. Let it brown again for a few minutes.
6. Add the rest of the pork plus the onion to the pot and stir everything.
7. Stir every minute until the pork is about cooked through — this shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes — then add the red and green chile. Stir to coat all pork pieces.
8. Add the quart of chicken stock. Stir.
9. Add garlic powder and onion powder. Stir.
10. Add Pinto beans, including liquid.
11. When the mixture starts to boil, reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for a couple hours.
12. Mix the masa with the 1 cup of chicken stock to the pot. This will thicken the chili. Stir and continue cooking for a half hour.
13. Plate and serve.

Makes 6 large servings.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

• Calories: 373
• Fat: 5 g
• Protein: 43 g
• Carbs: 39 g (including Fiber: 9 g)

If you make this, let me know what you think of it.