Interesting meals, Interesting night

Last night I couldn't resist buying some MN lobster mushrooms. Just look at them.

They're bright, richly flavored, and hearty mushrooms. I just had to get some...but I had no clue what I would cook with them.

But I did have 3 turnips I needed to use. So I started making some turnip soup and sauteeing the mushrooms in Earth Balance. Both the mushrooms and the soup were good on their own- But when I combined them, they were great.

Turnip and Lobster Mushroom Soup

1 Tbsp. Earth Balance
3 medium turnips, peeled and sliced thinly
4 cloves of garlic, minced (yeah, this is garlicky)
1 no-salt vegan bouillon cube
4-6 drops liquid smoke
4 cups water
1 tsp. fresh thyme
2 sage leaves, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance
3 lobster mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced

Heat 1 Tbsp. Earth Balance in a soup pot over medium-high heat until melted. Add garlic and turnips and stir to coat them with the Earth Balance. Then add the bouillon, liquid smoke, water, thyme, and sage. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until turnips are very tender and falling apart. Meanwhile, prepare the mushrooms. Heat 2 Tbsp. Earth Balance in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the slices of mushrooms and a sprinkle of salt. Allow the mushrooms to sit and sweat out their liquid before stirring. It may take about 5 minutes. Stir the mushrooms and allow the liquid to evaporate. Then taste the mushrooms to make sure they are tender. Add mushrooms to the soup and then taste. Add salt and pepper until seasoned.

Tonight I was working late because we had our "Surviving the Eat Local America Challenge" class. The class was a lot of fun, but I was so busy talking about local foods that I didn't plan my dinner.

So I relied on some homemade ravioli I had frozen last month and made it interesting by blanching some multicolored greens beans in the pasta water. The sauce was just melted Earth Balance, 1/2 clove of raw grated garlic, and toasted sunflower seeds. YUM! I know sunflower seeds might seem more suited to granola rather than ravioli, but they were super good. The ravioli filling contains sunflower seeds and they really complimented the green beans.



After eating some dinner and watching a little Law and Order, Mike and I noticed a gas smell. It seemed to be coming from our gas meter outside- uh oh!

So we called our gas company and they sent someone right out. Now they'll be sending a crew to dig up our meter and re-weld together some pipes at midnight. At least the leak isn't as bad as she thought it could be. At first she said we might have to take down our fence so they could get a back-hoe into the yard. Yikes!

Now how am I going to stay awake...