Category: Soups/Stews/Chile’s

Cooking, Soups/Stews/Chile's

Creamy Mushroom Soup with Baby Bella’s

by Ruth Grindeland1 Comment on Creamy Mushroom Soup with Baby Bella’s
Creamy Mushroom Soup with Baby Bella’s

Homemade Creamy Mushroom Soup with baby bella’s has a rich flavor and is so easy to make, you will never buy mushroom soup from the can again!

Growing up I only ever had condensed cream of mushroom soup in the can. The most boring soup on earth. By only having that type of mushroom soup, I missed out on just how amazing creamy mushroom soup really is.

Then, one day in my 20’s, I had the real deal, real creamy mushroom soup. It was at a restaurant I use to work at while in college. We had creamy mushroom soup on our fall menu and I could not get enough of it. The flavor was mind-blowing. I had no idea mushrooms could taste like that. It was rich, full of flavor and I would have it every day before my shift. It was that perfect.

Fast forward several years and I still love the heavy cream version of mushroom soup, but my waistline does not. So I have adapted the recipe to have more broth and less cream. Hence creamy instead of cream. However, the cream (and butter) are still there, giving this soup the full flavor without the full fat. I promise, once you have this soup, it’s the only mushroom soup you will ever want again!

What makes this Creamy Mushroom Soup with Baby Bella’s so Special?


There are lots of creamy mushroom soup recipes, so what makes this creamy mushrooms soup with baby bella’s so special? It’s the slow cook of the mushrooms that bring out their rich flavor. You can use any combination of mushrooms for this recipe. For me, I try to stick with what is in season, in the budget, and in stock at the store. Therefore, I went with a combination of buttons and baby bella mushrooms. Feel free to work with whichever combination of mushrooms you prefer. They all taste great!

What are the Different Types of Mushrooms I can use?

There are so many different types of mushrooms that it can be confusing. Because I love all mushrooms I think any kind will work. However, here is a quick list of common mushroom types sold at most grocery stores. Choose any combination of mushrooms you prefer.

  • Button – These are the most common mushrooms you will find at the store. They are also called baby or white mushrooms.
  • Cremini (baby bella) – Are dark brown and firmer than the common white button mushroom.
  • Portobello – The full-grown stage of the button mushroom’s life.
  • Oyster – Are mild and sweet flavored (and look a little funny).
  • Shiitake – Fresh shiitake have a light woodsy flavor and aroma, while their dried counterparts’ flavor is more intense.
  • Chanterelle – Golden-hued, fleshy, and firm, they have an apricot-like scent.
  • Morel- Have a spongy look and woodsy flavor
  • Porcino- Are known for their smooth texture and aromatic, woodsy flavor.


How to Cook Mushrooms for Maximum Flavor

In order to bring out the full flavor of the mushrooms you must saute them. Here are a few tricks to bring out their full flavor.

  1. Stir the mushrooms well to coat them in the remaining olive oil that was used while cooking the onions.
  2. Then add a pinch of salt to the mushrooms. The salt will flavor the mushrooms, but it will also draw out any moisture in them as well.
  3. Distribute the mushrooms evenly across the bottom of the pot.
  4. This is the hardest part, do not touch the mushrooms for 5 minutes. It is in this stage the moisture evaporates and the heat brings out the full flavor of the mushroom. (I call this the darkening of the mushrooms phase.)
  5. Once you have reached the darkening of the mushrooms, then you can add the sherry. The sherry will enhance the flavor and bring a new layer of complexity to the taste.

Garnish Options

This soup is amazing on its own and honestly, I prefer it with no garnish. I actually paired it with my easy yeast bread and it is a perfect dinner. However, not everyone in my family feels the same way. There are so many different options that will work, but here are a few ideas.

  • Mushrooms
  • Green onions
  • Garlic croutons
  • Parsley
  • Chives
  • Thyme
  • Bacon
  • Cream
  • Parmesan cheese

In the Mood for Something Else? Try One of These Recipes Instead

Amazing Colorado Style Green Chile
Delicious Bread Bowl Recipe
New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

Recommended Products


(affiliate links – yep, I get paid if you buy one of these)



Creamy Mushroom Soup with Baby Bella Mushrooms

Creamy Mushroom Soup with Baby Bella’s

Homemade Creamy Mushroom Soup with baby bella's has a rich flavor and is so easy to make, you will never buy mushroom soup from the can again!
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Servings 4

Equipment

  • Stick blender

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 12 oz mushrooms (mix of button and baby bella's)
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 onion
  • 2 tbsp thyme
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/3 cooking sherry or dry white wine
  • 3 cups vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions
 

  • Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven or stockpot
  • Saute the onion for 2 – 3 minutes over medium heat.
  • Add the garlic, thyme, and a pinch of salt. Saute for another minute.
  • Add the mushrooms and let saute undisturbed for 5 minutes.
  • Stir the mushroom and then sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms. Let cook for 3 minutes.
  • Stir and then add the sherry. Cook for an additional 3 – 5 minutes
  • Add the stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat, cover, and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Use the stick blender to blend soup until desired creaminess.
  • Remove from heat and add the cream.
  • Top with preferred garnish.
Keyword Cream of Mushroom Soup, Creamy Mushroom Soup, Mushroom Soup, Mushroom Soup with Baby Bella, Soup, Vegetarian Soup
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Cooking, Soups/Stews/Chile's

Amazing Colorado Style Green Chile (Chili) Recipe – Spicy!

by Ruth GrindelandLeave a Comment on Amazing Colorado Style Green Chile (Chili) Recipe – Spicy!
Amazing Colorado Style Green Chile (Chili) Recipe – Spicy!

Colorado style green chile incorporates tomato’s and slow cooking to give this chile a rich hearty flavor that distinguishes it from other versions of green chile. To me, green chile is an art that should not be rushed. It is best slow cooked all day to allow the flavors to blend, or as my mother would say, marry. But if you don’t have time for a long slow cook, that’s ok, it’s still good even when made quickly.

Colorado style green chile can be made vegan, vegetarian or with meat (pork or chicken). I will show you how to make it vegetarian and write the modifications if you prefer it vegan or with meat (pork or chicken). All variations of Colorado style green chile taste great (or so I am told).

We love this green chile so much every fall we buy the chile’s in bulk, freeze them and use this recipe to make the chile in large batches. We then can the green chile and eat it all year (and give lots of it away). We use this green chile on just about everything — eggs, burrito’s, enchilada’s, nacho’s, burgers and as a stew. My personal favorite way to eat Colorado Style Green Chile as a stew. Because it’s can be very spicy depending on the chile, I load it up with cheese and sour cream to cool it off. I then, shamelessly, eat it with Frito Scoops. It’s not exactly low fat, but it’s soooo worth it!

Buying Chile’s

To start you have to choose your green chile’s. There are lots of options to choose from:

  1. Buying green chile’s road side and having them fire roasted on the spot (Seasonal)
    • This is my preferred method, but not an option for everyone
    • If you choose this method click here for link on how to safely clean the chile’s
  2. Frozen roasted green chile’s
    • This is a great option because it saves you time and energy from cleaning the chile’s
    • You can sometimes find these at specialized grocery stores or you can order green chile’s on line. When ordering on line you might have to purchase in a large quantity which can be expensive.
    • Depending on how much you like green chile this might or might not be the best option.
  3. Buying green chile’s at your grocery store and roasting them yourself (Seasonal)
    • This is the same preparation method you would follow for poblano peppers
    • You must blister the pepper and remove this skin or you won’t get a result
    • Here is a link on how to do this
  4. Buying green chile’s canned (Year around)
    • If you choose this method try to find a fire roasted canned chile.
    • The fire roasting adds a flavor that cannot be beat!
Green Chile’s being roasted.
Photo credit Tony’s Market.
Green chile shopping at Lulu’s road side stand.

Preparing to Make Colorado Style Green Chile

Green chile’s chopped and ready for sauté


Preparing to make the chile is pretty easy. In fact making the chile is very easy. All you need to do is prep a few ingredients, make some roux and give the chile flavors lots of time in large pot, dutch oven or crock-pot to marry.

I cook this either on the stove or in a crock-pot. The stove top is more work, but I enjoy the process of checking the chile, giving it a stir, tasting it and adding more garlic, salt, etc if need. The crock pot is nice because I never have to worry about stirring it.

Crock-pot Method — If you choose to cook it in the crock-pot, sauté your onions until translucent and then add garlic, chile, jalapeno’s, tomato’s and spices until soft. Then move them to a crock-pot. Add the fire roasted tomato’s, broth and roux. Let simmer. Adjust garlic and salt as needed (I like a lot of both) and then add a pinch or two or sugar and your done!

Stove Top Method — Sauté your onions until translucent and then add garlic, chile, jalapeno’s, tomato’s and spices until soft in a large pot or an enameled cast iron dutch oven. Add the fire roasted tomato’s and broth. Bring to boil. While boiling, make the roux in a small sauté pan. Add the roux to the chile and mix well. Reduce the heat to low and stir periodically so it does not burn.

Colorado Style Green Chile Variations

Vegan variation

To make a vegan variation simply switch out the butter in the roux with a vegan butter.

Meat variation

For all you meat lovers out there, simply replace the vegetable broth with chicken or pork broth. Either works fine and it’s ok if the broth is different then the meat you plan to add.

Meat variation with pork

Trim the fat off of the Pork and brown the meat. Save the meat off to the side and begin the sauté process from the juices left over from the pork.

Meat variation with chicken

Use the crock-pot method for this variation. Cook 4 bone in chicken breasts with the green chile in the crock-pot for 5-6 hours. After 5-6 hours, remove the chicken and then shred it. Remove the bones at this time.

Serve Colorado Style Green Chile in a bread bowl using my Easy Bread recipe! When making the bread, cut the dough into four sections and make each section into a ball!


Colorado Style Green Chile

Colorado Style Green Chile Recipe

Colorado style green chile incorporates tomato's and slow cooking to give this chile a rich hearty flavor that distinguishes it from other versions of green chile.
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 mins
Servings 8

Equipment

  • Large pot or crock-pot
  • Stick blender

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Medium white onion, diced
  • 3 – 8 Garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup Green chile diced
  • 1 Jalapeno, diced
  • 3 Roma tomato's, diced
  • 2 – 14.5 oz Canned fire roasted tomato's
  • 2 cups Broth (vegetable, chicken, or pork)
  • 2 tsp Cumin
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Oregano
  • 6 tbsp Butter (or vegan butter)
  • 6 tbsp Flour
  • 1 – 2 pinch Sugar

Garnish Suggestions (Optional)

  • Sliced avocado
  • Grated cheese
  • Sour cream
  • Cilantro
  • Flour tortillas
  • Frito Scoops (best thing ever)

Instructions
 

  • Heat the oil in the bottom of the pot or pan, sauté the onions for 2 – 3 minutes
  • Add the garlic and sauté for another minute
  • Add the chile, jalapeno, tomato, and spices and sauté together until soft
  • Add the broth, fire roasted tomato's, sugar and bring to a boil
  • Melt the butter in a separate pan, once melted add in the flour and whisk in flour until smooth. Allow the roux to bubble and cook for a couple of minutes until a golden or medium brown. Add roux to green chile and incorporate into chile.
  • Reduce heat and allow to simmer on low heat stirring as needed
  • Pulse the stick blender a few time until you reach desired thickness. Be sure not to over blend and to leave lots of chucks . This is best as a thick stew like chile.
Keyword Coloado Green Chili, Coloroado Green Chile, Green Chile, Green Chili, Vegan, vegetarian
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Cooking, Sauces, Soups/Stews/Chile's, Vegan

Authentic New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

by Ruth GrindelandLeave a Comment on Authentic New Mexico Red Chile Sauce
Authentic New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

Recipe for Authentic New Mexico Red Chile Sauce is perfect for huevos rancheros, enchilada’s, burrito’s, eggs and so much more!

I can honestly say, I don’t think there is anything better than New Mexico cuisine. New Mexico is distinctive because of its sauces, red and green chile. In the ’80s, my mother would buy burritos from the grocery store smothered in red, green, or Christmas chile (smothered in 1/2 red and 1/2 green). At the time I did not know these sauces were distinctively New Mexican.

New Mexican food is different in that it has evolved over a few hundred years. It is a fusion of Pueblo Native American’s, with Hispano Spanish and Mexican cuisine (thank you Wikipedia for that ). The distinctive ingredient of New Mexican food is the chile. There is a green chile and a red chile. The red chile is actually the green chile ripened (I just found that out. Mind blown!)

While everyone in my family prefers the green chile, I actually prefer the New Mexico Red Chile sauce. It has a rich flavor from the tomato sauce and a spicy kick! I love red chile sauce so much that I always have a jar of New Mexico Red Chile sauce on hand. Some of my favorite foods to put Red Chile sauce on are eggs, beans, enchilada’s, burritos, nachos, quesadillas even cottage cheese. Hands down New Mexico Red Chile Sauce is THE key ingredient in huevos rancheros, my absolute favorite.

As a general rule of thumb if you think of it as Mexican food, I can make it New Mexican by adding red chile to it!

Buying New Mexico Red Chile’s

For us, buying, cleaning, and preparing the chilies is a fall tradition. They are sold at many roadsides stands across the west (New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, and California). We buy our chile’s by the bushel, watch them being fire-roasted, take them home, clean them (remove the seeds) and pack them in bags of 10 to freeze. Over the course of the year, we open the bags, make large batches of chile and jar them. It might sound like a lot, but once you have had New Mexico Red Chile you will understand that it is worth the work!

Another option is to buy the chilies dried at your grocery store or at Amazon. The dried chilies are very easy to hydrate. I do find that they do not have as much “kick” as the fresh red chile’s do. To overcome that I would use more dried red chile’s that I use fresh.

It is worth noting, I like my New Mexico Red Chile Sauce hot. Probably hotter than most people. You can adjust the spice by reducing (or increasing) the number of red chilies used in the sauce. If your new to this type of sauce, I would start with adding in one chile at a time in the blender. Dab a finger in to taste and repeat until you find the taste and temperature that you prefer.

How to Hydrate the Red Chile’s

  • Preheat the oven to 250 degrees
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
  • Place the chile’s on the baking sheet and place them in the oven for 20 minutes
  • Once the chile’s have cooled, removed the seeds from the pods (I recommend wearing gloves for this step)
  • Fill a large pot with enough cold water to cover the red chiles and bring to a boil.
  •  Once it comes to a simmer, cover and turns off the heat to steam for about 10 minutes.
  • Using tongs, remove the chile’s from the water and set them aside.

Read this Before Working with Chile’s

This recipe is so so easy, you pretty much do a little cooking and then put everything in the blender! However, one important thing to note is that these chilis can be hot and their oil can stay on your hands. Before working with them I always remove my contacts and wear gloves. Once the oil gets on your hands it’s hard to get off, so please always remove your contacts before working with chilies and wear gloves if it all possible.

Making New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

Once you have decided on the chile’s, prepared them (while wearing gloves). It’s time to get making this amazing sauce.

  1. Dice the onions and the garlic.
  2. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to the saucepan to heat the oil (about one minute). Then add the onions and saute for two minutes over medium heat.
  3. While sauteing the onions, add the spices to allow the seasonings to incorporate into the onions.
  4. Add the garlic and saute for one additional minute.
  5. Transfer the saute onions and garlic to a blender.
  6. Add the remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.
  7. The sauce is ready to serve. You can store this sauce for one week in the refrigerator or can enjoy it all winter.


  • Red chile sauce ingredients
  • Sauteing onions, spices and garlic
  • All ingredients blended








Authentic New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

Spicy New Mexico Red Chile Sauce is perfect for eggs, huevos rancheros, enchiladas, burritos, stuffed poblano peppers and so much more! I like it on pretty much everything!
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Course American
Cuisine New Mexican
Servings 32 ounces of sauce

Equipment

  • Blender

Ingredients
  

Instructions
 

RED CHILE METHODS (Choose the appropriate method based on your chile)

    Dry Red Chile Method

    • Preheat the oven to 250 degrees
    • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
    • Place the chile's on the baking sheet and place them in the oven for 20 minutes
    • Once the chilis have cooled, removed the seeds from the pods (I recommend wearing gloves for this step)
    • Fill a a large pot with enough cold water to cover the red chilis and bring to a boil.
    • Once it comes to a simmer, cover and turns off the heat to steam for about 10 minutes.
    • Using tongs, remove the chile's from the water and set them aside.

    Fresh Red Chile Method

    • Wearing gloves, remove the seeds from the pods and set them aside.

    Making the Sauce

    • Dice the onion and saute on medium heat for 2 minutes. While sauteing add the salt, Mexican oregano, and cumin.
    • Dice or slice the garlic and add to the onions, saute for another minute.
    • Once the onions become translucent, add in the garlic and cook for another minute. Then remove from heat.
    • Combine all of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

    Notes

    Caspian in the red chile’s is very hot.  I find that once this is on my hands it takes a day or two to fully remove. As a result, I recommend removing contacts prior to working with red chilis and ALWAYS wear gloves.
    Keyword Authentic Red Chile Sauce, Bread, Enchalada Sauce, Hot Sauce, New Mexico Red Chile, New Mexico Sauces, Vegan Red Chile, Vegan Sauce, Vegitarian Red Chile
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!