HOLY MOLY! You must be wondering where in the heck I have been? No? Maybe? Sorta?

I promise I have not forgotten how to cook.

I just did something pretty awesome.

I got married.

Yes! I am someone’s MRS! He’s not just any someone, he’s freakin’ amazeballs. And we had such a wonderful wedding surrounded by love which was immediately followed by a much-needed honeymoon in Aruba. We took some serious chill time, caught up on our sleep and really embraced the fact that we had the time to just BE together and do absolutely nothing else.

For the last two months, my brain was on overload which ultimately meant I had to upgrade the self-care and hone in on what my body really needed. It totally needed more sleep and more wine, and I was perfectly okay with both. This, of course, meant a few things fell to the back burner. I’m sorry blog! I luh you though boo boo.

This is me keeping myself accountable, I am officially working on my next cookbook. This one is different. It is going to take some serious love and time to make it happen in a grander way. I say grand because there will be over 100 recipes. Yea. That’s one big ass book. But you know me, these recipes have to taste DELISH and be simple enough to actually want to make.

Being in a cooking slump is tough. Sometimes we just get back to the ol’ reliable recipes, the ones that are tried and true and never let us down. For me, soups are my go-to when the weather (A HUGE SHOCK FOR ME after being in 110 degrees F every day) starts to shift and get that slight hint of a winter chill.

I LIVE off of smoothies in the summer and soups in the fall/winter. It’s the best thing…and it LASTS FOREVER.

I like a good soup that holds up on its own without needing much help (you know, flavor wise). This one makes great use of bold and mighty shiitake mushrooms and gives the baby bella mushrooms life. It will feel like this took you hours to make though you will have only taken about 30 minutes out of your day to prep, cook and savor it. Okay, maybe you should take more than a few minutes to actually savor this, but you get the point.

(Keep going to get the recipe….it’s worth it)

Mighty Mushroom Soup {For Cold Weather + Rainy Day Cuddling}

Serves 2 (once or twice…depends on how much soup you want to consume)

Total time: 25-30 minutes-ish

What You Need:

• 1 cup baby bella mushrooms, chopped
• 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 1 onion or shallot, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced (this is important…garlic is essential)
• 1-2 carrots, diced
• 1-2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1-2 sprigs of thyme or rosemary
• 1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 2 cups water or vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa (rinsed and pre-soaked at least 15-30 minutes)
• 2-4 tablespoons of butter or coconut oil
• Salt, pepper to taste
• Optional: a nice squeeze of lemon juice for serving

How You Make It:

1. In a pot (whatever you have works, no need for something fancy), melt butter or coconut oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion, garlic, celery, and carrot and saute until soft. Do not season until everything has softened. This should take about 5 minutes or less.
3. Add sprigs of thyme or rosemary (whole) and mushrooms.
4. Season generously with salt and pepper. Let the mushrooms get coated with the sexy mixture.
5. Once mushrooms have softened, pour in vegetable stock or water and scrape up every last bit of goodness from the bottom of the pan.
6. Pour in uncooked quinoa and raise heat to medium high.
7. Bring that baby to a boil and cover, reduce heat and let it chill for a bit (let’s say 15 minutes, no peeking, k?)
8. Toss in cilantro and parsley, squeeze some lemon and serve it up.
9. Just be sure to taste to adjust seasoning as per your liking, after all it is your soup 😉

PS Don’t forget to take out the sprigs of thyme and rosemary before serving…you don’t want to swallow those.

Peace, love and NO BEEF!

Guramrit