Corn Cheese Chowder

I know it's May, but we're supposed to get rain this weekend, so hopefully soup isn't entirely inappropriate. Because this soup is one of my favorite soups, and is the reason why I always keep at least one can of creamed corn in my cupboards at all times, just in case. This is the soup that I will whip up as a lazy Saturday night dinner, or an I'm-so-hungry-I'm-losing-brainpower lunch after class.

Now, I'm used to making it with American cheese, but American cheese freaks some people out, so feel free to substitute some freshly-grated cheddar.

If you use cornstarch instead of flour, this should be gluten-free.

Orzo & Broccoli Pesto Salad

This is another vegetarian meal from last month, one that is actually surprisingly filling. Although we ate it in April, the pesto/salad would be a nice thing to make when it's unbearably hot out in the summer, if you don't want to have to fiddle with the oven, or spend too much time over the stove. Making any kind of pesto is always messy business, but you can always leave the cleanup for a little later, after you've sat down to enjoy the nice, cool meal you've created.

I served the pesto/salad with freshly-baked Lemon Poppy Seed Bread, using the same recipe as these muffins from February, but in loaf form.

(And yes, I am well aware of the fact that I need new pretty plates.)

Hobbit Food: Mushroom Stroganoff

If you've read Lord of the Rings, you may have picked up on the fact that hobbits absolutely love mushrooms. I suspect they'd choose mushrooms over a chocolate cake any day. If I'm remembering correctly, early on in the first book, Frodo and company are given a basket of mushrooms to carry on their journey like blueberry muffins.

I don't have as much of a vibrant passion for mushrooms as hobbits do. I think, more than anything, I want to like mushrooms more than I actually do. For the sake of the hobbits, you know. I am enough of a mushroom fan, however, to know that mushrooms cooked just right are absolute bliss.

When I came home from class today, I was absolutely starving. I had a late breakfast, which, after sitting through class and running off to some tiny, hidden used bookstore to fetch a book I need for a class tomorrow, meant that I would be having lunch around three o'clock. Which meant, of course, that I was starving. I wasn't sure what I wanted until I remembered that my mom had given me the leftover mushrooms from the Quick Chicken Fricassee. Then I knew. Oh, I tried to play coy by Googling mushroom recipes, but I knew deep down that I already had the perfect recipe saved.

As it turns out, it was more than perfect. It was absolutely heavenly.

Mushroom haters, get thee back! (Or get thee to a nunnery. You choose.)

Chicken Noodle Soup (Usually)

Homemade chicken noodle soup is a beautiful thing, though it took me a long time to realize it. I grew up on the Campbell's stuff, and on the rare occasion my mom would make it from scratch, I thought it was inferior to its canned counterpart. Children are weird, I guess.

Apparently I grew out of it, though, because two weekends ago, when I was sick, I woke up in the almost-early-afternoon with a craving for homemade chicken noodle soup. Perhaps it was a part of my so-called "health kick," but even the tornado-noodled Progresso we have stashed in our cupboard didn't seem good enough for what I wanted. So I did a little searching for the most basic chicken noodle soup recipe possible, and found something perfect to build on.

Just a couple of days ago, I made it again, taking advantage of some of the ingredients we now had on hand. It proved once again to be just about the best thing ever. Even if the only non-frozen meat we had was leftover pork roast.