Easy Asparagus Soup

My best soups get made when I clean out my refrigerator.  And this was no exception.  I had too much asparagus, (I blame Costco!) some slightly wilty mushrooms that were on their last legs, and not a whole lot else.  That's fine, not much else needed.  Beware the blending process...always a hazard.

Easy Asparagus Soup

1 onion, chopped
2-3 T of your favorite cooking oil
1 Cup (heaping!) chopped mushrooms

1 liter of stock or broth

3 cups chopped asparagus, woody ends removed

Several cranks of good fresh ground pepper
Salt or a squeeze of lemon juice to taste

Chop onion and cook in oil in your favorite soup pot for a few minutes while you chop the mushrooms.  Toss those in and let them cook for a few minutes while you prep the asparagus.  Keep a few of the prettiest tops if you want for a garnish.

Pour in stock and bring to a simmer.  Blanch the tops if you'd like for a minute or two, then scoop them out and set aside.  Add the rest of the asparagus and pepper, and cover.  Simmer until the asparagus is tender, 15-20 minutes.

With extreme caution!!!!! Blend small batches of the soup until smooth.  Taking the center hole cover off your blender lid and covering it with a towel helps.  Or use an immersion blender.  Or let it cool some first... but never underestimate the crazy disaster that blending hot liquids can become...

Right before serving, add a pinch of salt and/or a tiny bit of lemon juice.

***My kids do like soup, but they would look at this and declare "YUCK!" without hesitation.  So I called it "Invisible Soup" and had them cover their eyes while I fed them a taste.  They loved it. I wouldn't let them see it until they declared me master chef of the universe. :o)  Enjoy!***

...but I don't Knead That! Fennel and Pork Stuffed Mushrooms

Stupid title? Not if you start humming, "I'll do anything for love..." first. Humans need things to be healthy happy humans. We need a place to live, and yummy food, and awesome friends... we need stuff for fun like puns and homophones, but we don't knead bread. :o)

Ok, so the first inspiration for this meal came from someone else's blog, who I would love to give credit to ---but when I went looking for a link to pizza-stuffed mushrooms I could NOT find it anywhere, so then I wondered if I dreamed it... and I'm still not sure but since I couldn't find it I decided to come up with my own. Many low-carb cooks have made pizza on mushrooms so its not entirely new.

The second inspiration for this meal came from a pre-paleo favorite cookbook called "What You Knead" by Mary Ann Esposito that was given to me by my fabulous mother in law ages ago. One of my favorite recipes from that book was "Fennel and Pork Calzones." Mmmmmm mmmmmm! Now that I'm convinced that wheat is BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD I don't really need this book anymore, and I'm probably a stage 4 hoarder when it comes to books, and it was a gift.... so I can't throw it out, and if you eat wheat you're probably not even reading this blog.... but if you do, and you'd like to borrow it just ask. Or, trade me for a book on "how not to write run-on sentences."

Fennel and Pork stuffed Mushrooms

12 cupcake sized mushrooms. (if you want to make use of your muffin tins, but any size will work.)

1 pound ground pork

1 onion, diced

2 large cloves garlic, diced (or smushed thru a garlic press. am I the only one who uses those?)

2 stalks celery, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 red, green, or yellow pepper (capsicum) diced (I didn't have one, but better with.)

1 Tablespoon fennel seeds (whole)

1 small can tomato paste, or 2 foil packs

S&P to taste

Pre-heat oven to 400F/200C

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic. Pour off extra fat if needed, or add a tablespoon of fat if the meat was very lean. Add the veggies and fennel seeds and cook until the veggies are to your liking.

Remove from heat and stir in the tomato paste.

Prep your mushrooms. Brush off any dirt and remove the stems and gills. Toss with olive oil and prep your pan. If they are the right size, you can stick them in an oiled muffin tin... If they are larger just place them in an oiled 9x13 inch pan, or whatever size you need. Stuff the mushrooms with the pork mixture. I ended up with about 10 that were cupcake sized, but I had luckily found perfect deep mushrooms. The large flat ones they call "field mushrooms" would work, or even "button" mushrooms... if you have leftover meat just put around the mushrooms you fill in the pan. Yes, you can use any pizza filling/sauce mix you like....Yes, if you eat cheese you can top them with cheese... (but at the end of the cooking time so it doesn't brown too much...)

Pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes....