This Time of Year Is Perfect...

...for soups and baking!

While neither J or I are a fan at all of cold weather and winter, we do like fall (when we have one). Look, I'm a baseball fan. You know why? Well, part of it is because my Grandma W was a huge baseball fan, took Papa W to many games, making him a fan, and Papa & Mama W took us to several games as kids and, while I know I was not always interested (once asking during warm ups at Three Rivers Stadium if it was "over yet"), somewhere along the line I latched onto it as "my" sport. Papa W have spent several years as somewhat season ticket holders at PNC Park, our 10-game package only most recently becoming an "official" season ticket package, official card and all.

The other part of it is, that aside from the early and later season games, which can be on the shaky side of Pittsburgh weather, baseball is a season of warmth, fireworks, and cold beers that taste oh, so good, at 12:30pm on a day when you would usually be at work. Football season, however, screams to us "OMG IT'S COLD AND YOU DO NOT WANT TO SIT OUT HERE!" So J & I typically opt for Steeler games at home (thank you, digital converter box which allows us to get wayyy more channels without cable--particularly football games we can see clearly), with home-cooked treats throughout the day.

J likes to make wings, we like to bake, and we love soup. And we started a trend of "Soup Sundays", where we try to make a different soup recipe each week. Don't get me wrong, we have a couple standbys, but we really are trying to be better about trying different recipes from cookbooks and magazines.

A couple weeks ago, we opted for a mushroom soup and homemade herb biscuits. The soup recipe comes from Timeless Treasures, the cookbook I bought on our anniversary trip at Bedford Springs Resort. (I don't see it available on the website, but I'm sure if you call the hotel direct, and ask for the gift shop, they can ship you a copy.) The recipe was provided by Lester Wallack, an employee at the Bedford Springs Resort.  I found it to be a very easy and delicious recipe.

12oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 c chopped onions
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1c milk
1-2 tsp dill
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp tamale
1 tsp salt
2c water
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4c parsley
1/2c sour cream

*So I will give you the actual instructions then tell you what I did*

Saute onions in 2 tbsp butter. Add mushrooms, 1 tsp dill, 1/2c water, tamale* & paprika. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Melt remaining butter in large saucepan. Whisk in flour, and cook, whisking a few minutes. Add milk. Cook 10 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently, until thick. Stir in mushroom mixture and remaining water. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes. Just before serving, add salt, lemon juice, sour cream and dill. Serve garnished with parsley.

*I know what tamales are in relation to Mexican food, but have never seen it as an ingredient. I tried to Google what to substitute for tamale in a recipe, and came up with nothing. If anything, I might add a dash of cayenne pepper for a little kick, otherwise, the soup is great as is!
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OK so here's how it went in the Diva's Test Kitchen...

I did substitute Fage 0% Greek yogurt for the sour cream, which is a staple in my house. Also, it didn't specify mushroom type, so I opted for 8oz sliced white mushrooms, and 4oz mixed mushrooms--portabello, oyster and shitake. This is where the reading the recipe beforehand comes in. And my whole visual thing with eating as well. Like "if it doesn't look good, can't eat it". Not that it's anything major, but I'd (incorrectly) assumed that some of the mushroom mix was pureed. And because some of those shitake and oyster mushrooms can look a little funny, I couldn't possibly leave them just floating around. So I blended much of the mushroom mix, but left some sliced mushrooms whole.

I will say, though, that the mushroom mix sauteed beautifully, making a deep, rich broth. And even though I didn't follow the exact recipe, the soup was absolutely delicious! I have to learn to school myself to read the entire recipe beforehand, try the recipe AS IS first, THEN try it again with my own twists and turns if I am not 100% satisfied. I think next time I will try the original recipe, and use basic sliced white button mushrooms so as not to throw off the mojo.

The biscuit recipe is courtesy of Real Simple magazine. Pretty basic and OMG, so delicious!!!

We cut this recipe in half since it was the two of us, and it still made about a dozen biscuits. I am so happy I still had fresh herbs in the garden, I used fresh basil, rosemary and sage. DELICIOUS!

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/herb-biscuit-recipe-00100000068369/index.html

I enjoyed leftovers for lunch a couple days, and both the soup and biscuits were just as good. And even though I pureed some of the mushroom mix when I wasn't supposed to, I think the amazing flavor of the original recipe really came through. Just wonderful and I am excited to try more from the Bedford Springs cookbook. All of the recipes were provided by resort staff, seem to be very easy, and look absolutely delicious.

As opposed to ordering the cookbook from the resort if you are local to Pittsburgh, I still 100% recommend taking the 2 hour drive to Bedford to walk through the resort, visit the gift shop (buy the cookbook) and have dinner at the Crystal Room. An amazing fixed price dinner, well worth the $42 per person, will leave you full but wanting more! Reservations are highly recommended, and the restaurant is closed on Sundays.

Happy Eating, and Happy Fall!