Mushroom yaki soba noodle soup

Hello everybody! Fresh Pioneer here, and I've got a super quick and easy dish for those Spring nights where it's not quite warm, not quite cold. 

 First, here's my middle (can you have a middle child with six kids??) eating ice cream and swinging at the same time. Made me laugh! (And this is my friend Barbara's house. Just to the left is my childhood home, and I spent MANY hours at Barbara and Larry's house... eating ice cream! We just love these sweet folks. She also has taught us dozens of old hymns from her childhood in Alabama and we sing to shut ins and nursing home residents every Tuesday. Anyway, now you have all the background on that swing.)

 Same kid has fallen in love with weed whacking. I'm not so in love with what happens to his clothes.

 We have an older teen friend who makes the most AMAZING armor from spray painted foam. They take it to comicons around and sell/ show it off. My second youngest got inspired. Cheerios man with a wooden sword!

 SO, to the recipe at hand. Everything goes in the pot at once. Soba noodles with mushroom flavoring (found at the grocery store in the health food section near the carrot juice and baby spinach, etc) a pound of mushrooms (we used crimini because I really like the flavor), two stalks of celery chopped, a few handfuls of baby carrots (can you tell I'm just throwing things in from my fridge??), and some chicken breasts if you have them. I usually make this without, but I had some cicken left over from the night before so, into the pot it went!

 Boil for ten-15 minutes. Mushrooms cook pretty quickly so just cook the noodles to the consistency you like. Salt to taste. I added a little garlic and some pepper. :)

 Someone needed their favorite Christmas plant in the photo.

And one last photo: my editor. His name is Manotas (big hands) and he sits on my desk (or my papers, or my computer) and watches me while I work. He's very picky about plot holes.

 Have a wonderful weekend an be sure to stop by my facebook page at Mary Jane Hathaway, or my blog at The Things That Last. I'll be releasing the cover of my new historical very soon and I'm SO excited to get back to that series! I love new projects!

Chicken and Mushrooms in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven and Blogger Hates Me

Hello, everybody!! I have a tasty dinner to share, but first I have to say that Blogger has decided to hate me. So, I hope this has pics when you see it. Well, actually, I hope you get to see it. (Why? Why? WHY??? But we'll never know why Blogger does the things she does.)

Anyway, onward!!

 My cast iron Dutch oven, inspired by Missy and Julie talking about cast iron! Isn't she pretty???

 One raw chicken. Not so pretty. Seared in a hot skillet with salt and olive oil, until browned. Butter stuffed under the skin, near the breasts.

 Four pounds of crimini mushrooms. I'm not a shroom fan at all. But these have a nice flavor. Not as earthy.

 Garlic. 'Nuff said.

Washed, unchopped mushrooms piled on the raw chicken.  Add in one whole head of garlic, peeled. (Yeah, baby, I'm crazy like that.) I'm forcing the lid on.

 One hour (or more, check it to be sure) in an oven at 350F, covered.

 Sliced, roasted garlic chicken with whole crimini mushrooms, and a side salad of baby spinach, dried cranberries, feta cheese and toasted walnuts.

But hubby needs some gravy. So... whisking a little flour into the drippings from the chicken. Mushroom gravy. It looks gross. Tastes amazing.

 Oh, I found this at a junk shop. Hmmmm. Looks promising! My daughters love leather purses from old storage items so I thought, even if I can't mend the strap, it might be a cute box.

 OOOOOO!!! Now, who do we have here?

 This is where his little tape would go. He's a mini movie maker. And pushing a button, everything is still moving and whirring along.

Edna demands to inspect the newcomer. He introduces himself and seems like he wins her over in about 2.5 seconds. His name is Leviathan. Sort of odd. Wasn't that the whale that swallowed Jonah? But he's mighty in charm. Definitely an extrovert.

 OK, I hope everyone has survived the Thanksgiving week and I'll see you all here next time.... if Blogger decides she loves me at the last minute. Apparently, Google Chrome is the only man she'll talk to these days.

Pizza without the crust

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and we're having pizza today.

 

 
Ok, I lie. Doesn't that look A-MA-ZING???? Oh my gosh, I need some RIGHT NOW

*deep breath*

Since we can't eat like that without giving ourselves a heart attack, let's see what's in the cupboard. I mean fridge...





I know some of you hate mushrooms, but I swear you should try these. I sauteed them with lime, garlic, thyme and oregeno. It smelled like pizza!

Mmmmm.... Steaming. My kids wanted to eat them all straight but that would be no fun. Plus, it would take a lot of mushrooms to make everyone happy, and that would get spendy.

Edna was chatting with the vintage pie plate. They had quite a discussion over post wartime rationing. They both LOVED 'The New Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'.

We all agreed we're forever in love with Dawsey. Wounded hero, protector, deep thinker, single dad to the orphan girl and a lover of books. *sigh*

(APPARENTLY, Kenneth Branagh is directing the movie version. Hm. I'm scared of movies of my favorite books. That hardly ever works out. )

Anyway, back to our little project.

Mix
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 pepper
1 cup NO FAT milk
1 cup shredded LOW FAT mozzarella cheese
And 3 eggs whites and one egg yolk.

(Yes, I know they come with one yolk and one white per shell. But in the interest of lowering the fat, take the other two and... feed them to the cat, I suppose.)

 

(Yes, Missy, it's basically a fancy omelette!! ) Into the oven at 350F for 20 minutes.

 I sprinkled more mozzarella on the top and gave it another ten after it started puffing up. It could have been more like pizza with some tomatoes, I suppose.

YUM. Let it sit for about ten minutes so it won't fall apart when you cut a piece. Unless you're eating it straight from the pie pan. Which is an option, believe me.

This was my hubby's plate. (He didn't eat it sideways. Wazzup with the pics??)

He just didn't think it was right not to have some toasted bread with it. I should be glad he didn't wrap it in a tortilla. Which makes me think of tacos, which makes me think of taco pizza. I still want pizza. But I'll settle for knowing this won't clog my arteries quite so much with my super low fat cheese and no fat milk. It's not raw food, but it's getting closer to healthy.

 

 Yay, us! So,  stay healthy and eat right because next time we're going to have something sweet and lovely. Party food alert! MMMMM!