My mom loves soup. No matter the restaurant or the menu, she is always curious to know the soup options and, chances are, she will want to order it — especially for lunch.

I, on the other hand, am not as big a fan of soup. No matter how cold the day is or how I’m feeling, I am much more tempted by sandwiches and other entrees, and very rarely consider ordering a soup. Especially not a brothy soup — no thanks!

I wish I was more like my mom. In so many more ways than this, but I do find her love of soup endearing and something I wish I shared. In such cold weather, a big bowl of soup might be just the thing to eat — if only I shared her love of soup.

There is, however, one soup that we both love — Mushroom Artichoke Soup. And if you tried it, I bet you would, too.

The recipe comes from a cooking school back in my hometown. My mom got the recipe while attending a class there and she passed it on to my sister and me. Now it’s a staple in all our households. In fact, I’ve made it at least five times just this winter! That’s saying something for someone who doesn’t love soup!

It’s such a simple recipe, using fresh yummy ingredients. You start the soup by sauteeing shallots and diced carrots. I like my carrots to be thicker dice (but not chunks) so they retain shape and texture throughout cooking. Toss in a bunch of mushrooms until tender, then add in flour, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and broth. Simmer until slightly thickened, then add artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and bay leaf. Simmer and add cream just before serving.

There are some variations you can make by using different mushrooms, adding more broth to thin it out (like my mom and sister like to do), or omitting the cream. I like the recipe the way it is below — light, but creamy and full of bright flavors. It’s easy enough for a quick weeknight dinner and makes enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

Mushroom Artichoke Soup
adapted from From the Field Cooking School recipe
serves 4-6

1 lb sliced mushrooms (any kind – I prefer crimini)
1/2 c shallots, thin slice
2 lg carrot, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1-1 1/2 tsp flour
1/4 tsp dried thyme (x2 for fresh)
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
1-14 oz can broth (I prefer veggie)
1-14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained & quartered
1/8 c sun dried tomatoes, drained & chopped
1 small bay leaf
1/2 c cream (or half & half)

In a large pot sautee shallots and carrots in butter until shallots soften. Add mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms are just tender. Stir in flour, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper and red pepper. Add broth & cook until slightly thickened. Add artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and bay leaf.

Simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Stir in cream and let heat through. Serve with crusty bread for mopping up the bowl.

PS – The sweet Heavy Table pint glasses can be ordered via the site.

This summer has been a complete whirlwind. I honestly don’t know where the time has gone. In particular, the last month has gone by really fast. I recall a trip up north to a friend’s cabin recently, but beyond that I am at a loss to account for most of my weekends.

The one thing that I do recall from this summer is an abundance of vegetables. We started the summer off slowly, splitting a CSA share with another couple that resulted in just the right amount of produce to keep me cooking healthy fresh meals at home without being overwhelmed. In fact, there was a couple weeks when I lived off this salad - I can’t get enough of it! Maybe I should whip up another batch today…

Then the garden started producing – we certainly have gotten some nice cucumbers and tomatoes. I missed the first harvest (where the cucumbers were much straighter – next year, we’ll need to use a cage), but was home to catch the second. There are a ton more tomatoes on the vine right now too and we also have a few green peppers, eggplant, watermelon, brussel sprouts and cabbage on the way. All in all – the garden has been a success!

Right now I am up to my ears in veggies, as the couple who we share our CSA with is out of town for two weeks. Pictured is the full share we got last week. I’ve managed to use about half of it and I’m due to pick up another full share on Thursday. Whew!

But having a CSA has been fantastic! I’ve rediscovered how much I love beets! Roasting them and tossing them in a salad with toasted walnuts, cheese (blue, goat or feta…whatever I have on hand) and balsamic vinaigrette is my favorite way to eat them. I adore, let me repeat ADORE, the sungold cherry tomatoes that we’ve received in the last four CSA deliveries. I eat them like candy – so sweet and tasty!

I still struggle with using my chard. In fact, I have a bunch right now that I need to do use up. Perhaps I’ll have to do a repeat of the best omelet of all time! And a surprise to me is how indifferent I am to yellow squash. Since I like zucchini so much I would think that I would also like the yellow variety, but it really doesn’t hold my fancy. I’ll have to research some recipes to see if I can fix that.

Also on the subject of veggies, last weekend I spent time with Tammy Wong of Rainbow Chinese. I tagged along as she toured the farmers market with a few of her Facebook fans and then spent time in the kitchen with her as she created a few recipes from the veggies at the market. Talk about another addiction – the Salt and Peppers recipe is so simple and ridiculously good.

As if that wasn’t enough, I spent the better part of day yesterday pickling and canning – cucumbers (spicy, dill and caraway) and peppers (jalapenos and banana peppers). I’m really not sure why I felt possessed to do this, but it was fun…really! I have a few more jalapenos that are begging for me to try my hand at making jalapeno jelly…but I’ll leave that for another day.

The trip started on the central coast where we stayed in the small town of Manzanita. I loved this little town – great shopping, expansive beach – but the food in the area was a bit lacking. Actually, we struggled to find good food on this leg of the trip at all. It seemed every restaurant we had previously researched and heard great reviews about was closed, so we were left winging it. We drove up to Cannon Beach one evening and ate at the Wayfarer. It had a perfect sunset view but, besides some tasty clam chowder, the food was pretty standard. We also ate at a new Mexican restaurant in Manzanita (not worth even mentioning the name here) and the Manzanita Seafood and Chowder House, which served up a decent order of fish and chips.

The highlight of our coastal eating was actually a breakfast spot in Nehalem called Wanda’s Cafe. We actually ate there twice and I got the same breakfast both times (my usual order of two eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast). I did try a bite of the French toast and the breakfast quesadilla as well, which were very good. The best part of my breakfast was the thick-sliced, pepper-crusted bacon. Crispy goodness!

We also found some good eats at the Tillamook cheese factory. After taking the self-guided tour, which allows you to look down into the huge facility where the cheese is shaped and packaged, we tried a few small samples of cheese (fantastic cheese curds and extra sharp cheddar) and then headed down to get some ice cream.

Overall the ice cream was extremely creamy and very good. We enjoyed our cones, but it definitely seemed that these kids, who were there for a birthday party, were enjoying theirs much more.

On to Portland…

The first place we ate at in Portland was a neighborhood spot called Meat Cheese Bread (1406 SE Stark Street). Locally sourced ingredients are featured in creative salads and sandwiches like the popular BLB (bacon, lettuce and beets) sandwich and the flank steak with pickled red onions and blue cheese. My favorite, however, was the sandwich I ordered – asparagus, hard boiled egg and bacon relish (yes, you heard me right…bacon relish) on a chewy baguette.

Next up in Portland was to hit The Waffle Window in the Hawthorne neighborhood. After walking around the neighborhood’s cute shops, Jeff led us around a corner to the small window opening at the end of a long brick wall where these treats are made. Although there are many sweet and savory waffle variations, we decided on two sweet flavors – one with strawberries and another with blueberries and lime curd. The toppings were fantastic and the waffles were also very good, although more cakey than the typical fluffy breakfast variety.

A strong contender for the best pizza I’ve ever eaten (I struggle giving it this full title given my love for Wig and Pen pizza in Iowa City) can be found at Apizza Scholls. This gem of a pizza place makes their dough fresh daily, then opens up for business at 5:30pm. The masses patiently wait their turn to be seated, as they know what is to come…beautifully chewy, yet crisp-crusted pizza pies.

We ordered two pizzas – one pie with pickled red peppers and sausage and the other pie with half ‘Margo’rita (their version of the margherita with red sauce, two types of mozzarella, pecorino romano, garlic and basil) and half Tartufo bianco (mozzarella, pecorino romano, truffle oil and sea salt). The pickled peppers on the sausage pie and the truffle oil on the bianco were absolutely delicious! This place is a must. And if do want to try it out, be sure to get there early. When the fresh dough runs out, they simply close up shop for the day.

Saturday morning of our trip was perhaps the craziest breakfast morning ever. The day started with Voodoo Doughnuts. Awhile back I had seen an episode of Man v. Food on the Travel Channel where Adam visited this doughnut shop – home to the voodoo doll doughnut and the bacon/maple doughnut. I didn’t get the chance to visit the shop, but Jeff was kind enough to go pick up a box of doughnuts for us to sample while we got ready for the day. He chose the following flavors: Tang, voodoo doll, bacon/maple, and Butterfinger.

The bacon/maple (oh, that crispy bacon and super sweet maple frosting!) and voodoo doll (with raspberry filling) doughnuts were the favorites. As for the Tang and Butterfinger varieties? We could have done without them – the toppings were too powdery. The overall consensus was that for novelty, Voodoo Doughnuts is a must…but a high quality doughnut should not be the expectation.

After our light breakfast, we headed to the Portland Farmers Market. This busy market is chock full of beautiful produce vendors. Ranier and bing cherries were in season – $3.75/pound! The artichokes and berry boxes were my favorite displays. But we were on a hunt for hot food – biscuits and tamales.

Pine State Biscuits has a restaurant in Portland and, recently added a vendor booth to the farmers market. Fluffy buttermilk biscuits with rich toppings make up the menu – I couldn’t resist ordering the Reggie topped with fried chicken, bacon, cheese and gravy. We also got a plain biscuit that we topped with their marionberry jam. Absolutely amazing!

We also ordered tamales at a Mexican stand in the market. Huge tamales stuffed (and I mean stuffed!) with either chicken or vegetarian options like artichokes and cojita cheese. A surprise to me, I preferred the vegetarian tamale – the creamy cheese with the artichokes was a winning combination.

Our last meal in Portland was another extremely decadent breakfast at the Screen Door. Sunday mornings, this neighborhood restaurant opens its doors at 9:00am to a lengthy line of people in need of coffee and some Southern food. By 9:15, all the seats are filled (indoor and out), yet the line continues down the sidewalk. We were lucky to be in the first seating and put in our order right away. An obvious choice for a breakfast appetizer (yes, we ordered an appetizer, much to the confusion of our waiter) was the praline bacon. Three crispy slices of bacon with a crunchy topping of brown sugar and pecans – oh my god! Yes, it was that good.

As for our main course? At first, we thought of going the more subtle route; perhaps just an egg scramble and toast for me and french toast for Kyle. But, when the waiter approached, we changed the plan. Our order? The Fried Chicken and Waffle – a fluffly sweet potato waffle topped with three boneless pieces buttermilk-battered fried chicken. The order was quite large, but a great bargain for $12.95 (we split it and still had a piece of fried chicken left). I don’t know that I would need to order it again (it is a bit of an absurd breakfast entree), but it was certainly a great meal.

And that was how we ate our way through Oregon. Yes, it did make us thirsty (thank goodness for Portland breweries!), but that is for another post.

I simply love our new CSA. The thrill of opening the box and finding out what’s inside is something that I have come to enjoy week to week. Of course, this time of year has brought mainly greens – lettuce, kale, chard, spinach, etc. But we also have had zucchini, sugar snap peas and beautiful bunches of basil (yes, technically “green” but more enjoyable than just greens).

I was pleased this week to find in our share some spring turnips. Small, milky white bulbs that are a little spicy when nibbled on raw and turn deliciously sweet when roasted. Admittedly, I didn’t do anything fancy with these little guys, just quartered them and tossed them into a foil packet alongside my usual new potatoes and yellow onion for the grill, but the result was perfect. We even sauteed their greens, which turned out to be tasty but a bit bitter for my liking. I preferred them once I paired the sweetness of the onion with the bitter greens.

I never tire of a simple lettuce salad with a little lemon or balsamic vinegar and olive oil, but I am running out of ideas for the kale and chard. I still love to find them in my share for the week, but I’m really looking forward to the veggies that we’ll receive in the height of summer.

Okay, so having a CSA isn’t exactly “gearing up for veggies” but there is something I haven’t yet shared. We have a garden, too. At the end of May, we planted a garden with some friends in their yard. This was a first for both couples, so we decided to go in together.

Small plants of tomatoes, squash, cabbage, brussel sprouts, watermelon, peppers, cucumbers went into the ground, testing my patience for when we could reap the benefits. With the traveling I’ve been doing, I haven’t been over to visit it in a bit, but when I did a couple weeks ago, they were growing strong (except for a sad little cucumber plant that didn’t make it).

Needless to say, once our CSA peaks and the garden starts producing, we will be up to our ears in veggies. I can’t wait to pickle, jam, can and cook it all!

As you can imagine, this bunch allowed me to make several meals with the veggies. Some were a hit and others need a little more work. And some veggies never made it into a meal (the snap peas were just crunched as a yummy snack.)

In addition to the couple meals below, we also made pesto to toss in pasta, a broccoli pasta (total flop) and several salads. I had a couple lunches of my increasingly favorite salad – arugula in a lemony vinaigrette. We also had a great salad of lettuce, cannelini beans, red onion, and kalamata olives. This was served for dinner with some stinky cheese and homemade baguette, this was one of the favorite meals of the week.

The best meal of the week, however, was the pork chop. I started with olive oil and chopped garlic in a skillet and sauteed the kale for a few minutes. I removed that from the skillet, then added some cannelini beans. Both the kale and beans were finished with a squirt of lemon juice and served with a grilled, juicy pork chop. The flavor combination was fantastic – salty pork, sweet beans and earthy, rich greens. I will definitely be making that dish again!

As for the sandwich – all I can say is that my eyes were bigger than my stomach. But I had a fresh baguette and I was starving…so please don’t judge me by the size of my sandwich.