Shiitake Mushroom Soup

It was a really nice day today. I woke up without being rushed. I made myself a banana pudding smoothie. I still haven't managed to use up all the instant pudding mix, so I also added a tsp. to the smoothie. It just added to the whole pudding theme. 

For lunch I had a salad with a Veggie Patch chik'n cutlet over butter lettuce, red & green bell pepper, & onion with light ranch dressing. 

I cut the cutlet into strips after heating it in the toaster oven until it was crispy on the outside. It was a nice salad. I originally wanted honey mustard dressing, but went with the ranch. I think both are good for this salad. I also considered a french dressing.

After my salad I was feeling a little sleepy, so I had a cup of lemon ginseng green tea, actually half mangosteen and peach. I had a few shortbread cookies with my tea.

Apparently the salad wasn't sticking with me. I just kept wanting to munch all afternoon. I went outside for a bit and cut my Liriope grass back. I do this because it will usually die off in the winter and start sprouting up again in the spring. It did look bad, but wasn't completely dead. I cut it back anyway.  When I came back inside, I was still feeling the munchies. I wanted something salty. I had some tortilla chips with salsa. These chips were Food Lion brand and they were definitely salty, too salty really. They did cure my salt craving. 

I made a stew/soup for dinner, using a potato, a carrot, half an onion, half a green pepper, some shiitake mushrooms, a tablespoon of soy sauce, water, vegetable sea salt, garlic, and a couple of teaspoons of cornstarch to thicken the broth. 

A brief summary of how it all came together..... I boiled the potato and carrot in the water and sauteed the onion, pepper, & mushrooms, seasoning them with the vegetable sea salt. I added them to the pot of carrots & potatoes. I mixed the cornstarch with the soy sauce and a tbsp of water and added it to the pot along with everything else letting it boil for a few minutes until the broth thickened a little. 

I toasted a piece of bread and broke it over my bowl of soup. I added another ladle or two to the bowl after eating about half. It was yummy. BTW, the mushrooms came from our friend John Herron, who raises gourmet mushrooms. You can find his site here or on Facebook. Thanks John!

After dinner I munched some more, having a handful of raisins and another handful of dry roasted peanuts. Sweet & salty, I can't help it. Have a great night/day!!!