Biscuits and Mushroom Gravy

The baby decided to go back to sleep this morning at 7 am-ish, so I decided to get creative with our breakfast.  Biscuits sounded good, then my husband requested gravy to go with them.  So our breakfast this lovely Halloween morning was fried eggs with biscuits and gravy (and yes on our real plates, the biscuits were covered with gravy!).

The biscuits were just a basic recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook.  I just replaced the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour and the milk with soy milk.  They tasted ok, a little dry.  Since they aren't anything to shout about, I'll skip that recipe.  And yes, I used a heart shape cookie cutter.  An odd choice for Halloween morning, no.

The mushroom gravy was an adaptation from this fantastic mushroom soup recipe.  I highly recommend trying this recipe, it is SOOOOOOOOOOO good.  I was never big on mushroom soup before going dairy, used it in some recipes but that is about it.  This homemade one is so good I can eat the whole pot of soup by myself!!

Mushroom Gravy
1 cup plain coconut milk
3 Tbs dairy free margarine
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
3 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp black pepper

Heat the milk in microwave while you saute the onions and mushrooms in margarine in a sauce pot until onions get translucent.  Whisk in flour, salt, onion powder and pepper.  Cook over medium heat until bubbly, stirring constantly.  Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly to make a thick creamy gravy.

Enjoy!

Sneaky Mommy

I love being able to sneak veggies that my daughter would not normally eat into her food.  This morning, said daughter woke with a cold.  I am hopeful it isn't the flu, she only seems to have the sniffles.  Regardless, I knew meals PACKED with healthy fruit and veggies were the best thing I could do for her today.

This morning, instead of just a fruit smoothie, I whipped up a green smoothie.  Good tasting fruit with some healthy greens in it.  It consisted of mango, raspberries, kale and zucchini (with some coconut milk as my liquid).  Pretty tasty.

But that isn't what I am featuring in this post, my spur of the moment veggie - noodle soup that I made for my daughters lunch.  Not only did she proclaim it was tasty, but she did indeed eat the whole thing!  The inspiration came from my new blender.  I had a pretty poor blender that died on me last week, and purchased a new one that I am extremely happy with.  I purchased this Oster blender.  It can blend anything compared to my old one, haha.

Quick Veggie-Noodle Soup

3 cups stock (I did use chicken, but I think vegetable would be great too)
5 baby carrots or one regular carrot roughly chopped (I only had baby)
1 large kale leaf
1/4 of small onion, roughly chopped
1/2 a small zucchini
1 oz rice noodles
And a good blender!

In a pot, bring stock and veggies to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Remove soup from oven and pour into blender jar (I'd only do this if you have a glass one, if its plastic let the soup cool).  Puree the soup until its all liquid again.  Put soup back into pot and bring to a boil again.  Once soup is boiling, add the noodles and cook until they are done to your preferences.  Enjoy.

Soup is On

Its that time of the year, fall has hit and I'm craving soups.  Well, to be honest I'm not that into soup, but I love making it.  I would love to think of myself as a foodie, but really I'm just really into cooking.  Luckily, I have a husband that enjoys good food (I put the word good in there because he will NOT eat my failures, lol).

Back to soup, as the weather is turning colder, I get the urge to fill the house with the good smell of soup and fresh bread.  This will be my first soup season that everything will be dairy free and I am excited to find some new recipes (and changing old ones).

So my question to my readers (all one of you, thanks to my dear husband!) is what are some great dairy free soups to try this fall/winter?  I'd love some suggestions.