Low Carb Cream of Mushroom Soup

Am I crazy for thinking my kids will want to try this velvety cream of mushroom soup? Maybe, but I’m gonna try. Homemade cream of mushroom tastes so different than the canned stuff, plus my version is low carb which means no added flour or cornstartch.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pound of white mushrooms

1 shallot-chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 tablespoons of grated ginger

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 cup of broth- I used beef broth- but use what you have or prefer

1/2 cup of heavy cream

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot, add shallots and sauté on medium heat for 2 minutes. Allow onions to get soft but not burn. Stir in garlic, and ginger.

2. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Stir and continue to cook until juices evaporate

3. Add broth and reduce heat

4. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes

5. In batches, blend the soup until smooth using your blender or immersion blender

6. Transfer pureed mushrooms to pot and add heavy cream

7. Simmer for another 3 minutes on low heat.

8. Season with salt and pepper and herbs like thyme, or parsley.

Chicken Cacciatore Easy weekday meal

Need a weekday meal the whole family will eat and enjoy? Try my super easy and flavorful Chicken Cacciatore. I use my instant Pot for a lot of meals including this one.

Once my chicken was done cooking in my instant pot, I transferred to my Le Creuset Cast iron round French oven because it’s a lot easier to serve.

Ingredients

• 5 Chicken breast- one for each member of the family- Or Chicken thighs

• 1 cup Crushed canned tomatoes

• 1 cup canned Tomato sauce

• 1 teaspoon Garlic power

• 1 teaspoon Onion powder

• 1/2 Bell Pepper

• 2 cut scallions or 1 shallot quartered

• 5-6 Mushrooms large cut in half you will add this near the end of the cooking process

• Olives (optional)

• salt pepper

  Directions

  1. Turn instant pot on slow cook setting

  2. Season chicken with salt/pepper, onion power and garlic powder add to instant pot

  3. Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce in the pot with the chicken, bell peppers, and scallions

  4. Cook for 2 hours on low slow cook setting

  5. 30 minutes before its ready I added the mushrooms and olives

Beer and Barbecue Tablescape

Father’s Day is a great time to pull out your picnic basket and set an inviting table for Dad.  It’s easy, it's inviting and most of all Dad will love the special attention, leaving him bright memories in his heart.

I knew our menu was going to involve grilled steak and chicken, with that I decided to go with a “Beer and Barbecue” theme.  

The black and white tablecloth was the right backdrop for the table, pairing nicely with the black and the white polkadot salad plates.  I added two white table runners to make it look like designated place settings.  The table needed a pop of colour, so the red roses worked nicely.  

My own Father and my husband are huge soccer fans, so the Croatian soccer jersey causally draped over the chair was the right amount of detail without going over board on the checkers.  And finally trophies for a playful touch.