Sara Kate - Congrats on the book! I didn't realize it was done and out of the shute.. looks wonderful.

Last weekend, I cooked up a pot of Minnesota Wild Rice Soup to get me through the frigid Nor'Easter we had up in Boston. Brrr! It finally feels like spring today, but I'm thinking about making another batch of this soup! Yum!

1 - 2 onions--chopped
4 c. mushrooms--chopped
4 - 5 celery stalks--chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic--chopped
3 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp spices (basil, oregano, thyme)
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 c. cooked wild rice
1/2 - 1 lb ham
4 c. broth (chicken or veggie)
2 c. milk, cream, or half-and-half

Saute the onions until just beginning to turn translucent. Add the celery and saute until onions and celery are both soft (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and saute until fragrant (about 30 seconds). Add mushrooms and saute everything for about another 5 minutes. Add flour and saute until the flour is cooked and a piece of vegetable doesn't taste of flour (2 - 3 minutes). Add spices, wild rice, and ham, and saute for another few minutes.

Add broth and bay leaf, and bring to a boil. (Note: At this point, you can freeze half or all of the soup if desired.) Reduce to a simmer, add milk, and let the soup simmer for 45 - 60 minutes, until flavors are combined. Adjust seasonings and enjoy!

i bought quinoa on a whim. what to do with it? use it like rice?

Emma C, that soup is ESPECIALLY awesome if you use REAL wild rice - not that black, hard, commercially-paddy-grown stuff you can pave a driveway with.

Hope you're able to get your hands on some; it should be greenish-grey, very long-grained, nice and dirty, and sold with a label from the reservation and/or lake from which it was harvested. It's got a wonderful, nutty fresh flavor, a lovely chewy consistency, it's packed with nutrients and fiber, and cooks in minutes. Support tribal ricing business!

Well I'm moving to NY! I have an internship in Yorktown Heights this summer at IBM, but I will be living in the Fleetwood area of Mt.Vernon. Anyone know of any good restaurants/places to grocery shop in this area?

thinkingwoman, add quinoa to any soup for extra nutrients. There are lots of cold, tabouleh-style salads that use quinoa; can't think of any offhand, but you should be able to google them. You can make a hot cereal/porridge kinda deal. I think I've put quinoa in casserole too??

BX, I was born and raised in the fine state of Minnesota, so I know EXACTLY what you're talking about! :) Because I was craving it so bad and didn't have time to wait for my mom to mail some authentic wild rice, I used a 'wild rice' mix from Whole Foods. Not too bad, but not quite the real thing. I'm actually going home this coming weekend, so be sure I'll score a few pounds from my mom's co-op!

Thinkingwoman's comment about quinoa got me thinking about one of my favorite cookbooks of all time: Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons. In general, it's a great, user-friendly cookbook. So many other vegetarian cookbooks seem to require ingredients I can't just pick up at my local grocery or farmer's market. My favorite recipe from Vegetarian Planet is the Cucumber Beet Gazpacho--it's a delicious way to use up all those CSA beets, and the color of this soup is so gorgeous. Come to think of it, all of the vegetables that I first tried cooking because they came in my CSA box I learned to cook using Vegetarian Planet. (Thinkingwoman: this cookbook has some really great recipes for Quinoa, including Asparagus & Mushroom Stew over Quinoa--yum)

Last night my boyfriend cut some of our hop shoots for me to cook. They are supposed to be a spring delicacy in Belgium. All of the recipes I can find say to treat them like asparagus, but they don’t look anything like asparagus. Does anyone have experience with hop shoots?