Snap Thursday: Mushrooms

Inspiration comes from everywhere. I saw a black and white photo of mushrooms by a professional photographer a while back and I thought, aha! I want to try that too. His was of sliced mushrooms but I thought I'd try the whole ones. I think this is one of those few vegetables that looks awesome in B&W.

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Ma-Po Tofu with a twist and becoming a vegetarian

I am becoming a vegetarian. Ovo-lacto vegetarian because I'm still including eggs and dairy product in my diet. On the weekends when we go out to eat, I sometimes morphed into a pescetarian because I often order fish.

It all started about 2 years ago. After reading several articles by Michael Pollan on the NY Times's website (here and here). We really liked his philosophy "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

So we started adding more vegetables into our diet and it worked really well. Then we thought that maybe we should try to become vegetarian.

I lasted 2 days.

I was miserable. I didn't enjoy what I eat and I missed meat. But I think switching overnight was a big mistake. It was just too much. And especially since I didn't really know how and what to cook that doesn't include any form of meat.

Homemade Pizza with Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, Tomatoes, and Kale

I love pizza. Hubby does too - he said I make the best pizza in the world. I know he's exaggerating (maybe not in the world but in town) - but is sure nice to hear :).

We have pizza pretty often, not so much in the summer but in the winter every other week we have pizza.

But this past weekend I was craving pizza and goat cheese, which is odd because I do not like goat cheese (and no I'm not pregnant or anything like that). This is just a craving. Plain hunger craving when I went grocery shopping.

So I made my usual pizza dough and topped it with sauteed mushroom, goat cheese, grape tomatoes, and kale.

It is so good.

My go-to pizza dough is from Williams Sonoma. I've tried other recipes but I keep coming back to that one. It is easy and really good. Even if I mess it up sometimes, it still turned out great. Like this time, somehow I couldn't roll it out to be as thin as usual.

Portabella Mushroom Fajitas

I love trying new recipes. At least once a week I try something new. So for a recipe to come into a rotation, it has to be really good. This Portabella Mushroom Fajitas is one of them.

Ever since I saw it on Katie's Good Life Eats back in January, I've made it 6 times (counting this one).

If you haven't been to Katie's website, you should go check it out. She has awesome recipes and mouthwatering photos of them. Not only that, she also has cool tips, like her Eat Well, Spend Less series that are really informative.

And no, I'm not just saying all this because Katie has given me permission to share the fajita recipe with you (thanks Katie!) Or that she's an awesome and gracious person.

Back to the fajitas, it is so good, healthy, and super easy to make. I'd say that's a win!

FFWD: Paris Mushroom Soup

I heart mushrooms. That's right. As cheesy as that sounds, I really do love mushrooms. Love it so much that I have cremini almost every week. Basically I try to incorporate it into anything I make. This week, for example, I made Chicken for Les Parreseux again (for the 3rd time). I roasted some mushrooms (coated with thyme, salt & pepper, and olive oil) to go along with the yummy chicken.

When I make some sort of stew (boeuf bourgignon, tangine, coq au vin) I always added a bunch of mushroom to the pot. Hm.. come to think of it, I have not made Coq Au Vin for a while.

Sorry, I digress. That's what happens when I'm hungry :). 

Let's talk about this dish, shall we?

It's so easy to make. Sautee onions and garlic, add mushrooms, broth (I used vegetable broth), and white wine. Simmer until tender, then puree.

I don't know about you guys, but I did not think pureed mushroom looks appetizing at all! The color is a bit depressing. And even after adding that big chunk of parsley for the photo, I still don't think it looks good.

But boy, this dish is tasty! Especially if you love mushroom as much as I do. And even if you don't, you should try it anyway. Why not? It's good for you. And at the very least, it will warm you up when it's freezing outside.