Meatless Monday with Mixed Mushroom Soup

Hello and welcome (back) to the Miratel blog for another Meatless Monday. We took the Meatless Monday pledge as part of our CSR business initiatives in support of reducing meat consumption one day per week (15%) to live a healthier and more earth-friendly manner. We feature a new recipe each Monday to help achieve this goal.

On the menu tonight is a flavorful, and delicious mixed mushroom soup that comes from Martha Stewart’s Whole Living. If your family loves traditional cream of mushroom soup, give this light tomato based version a try. You’ll be surprised by what a hit it is.

Ingredients

Mixed Mushroom Soup image courtesy of wholeliving.com

• 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 leeks, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced and rinsed
• Coarse salt and ground black pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 pound assorted fresh mushrooms, such as white button, cremini, oyster, and shiitake (stemmed), rinsed and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 cup marsala wine (optional)
• 4 cups vegetable broth

Directions

1. Soak porcini in 1 cup warm water until softened, about 20 minutes. Lift porcini from liquid and coarsely chop; strain liquid through a cheesecloth-lined sieve and reserve.
2. In a large pot, heat oil over medium. Add leeks; season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes or until tender.
3. Add garlic, porcini, and chopped mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 7 minutes or until mushrooms just begin to brown. Add fennel seeds, bay leaves, tomato paste, and tomatoes, and cook for 3 minutes. Add marsala (if using), porcini liquid, and broth. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Discard bay leaves before serving.

Serve with a green salad and some homemade crustini. Yu can make crustini by broiling fresh sliced whole wheat/whole grain/gluten-free bread drizzled with olive oil until browned.

The mixed mushroom soup will make seven cups which roughly translates into four portions, but any soup can be adjusted easily for more meals.

“When it comes to healing foods, mushrooms receive high marks. Oyster and shiitake may lower cholesterol, stimulate the immune system, and prevent cancer, while cremini offer selenium and a host of B vitamins.” Also, each serving contains only 187 calories and has 4 grams of fiber 9 grams of protein and 8 grams of fat, which makes it a very healthy soup.

We encourage you to visit the Meatless Monday website and join us in taking the pledge to reduce meat consumption one day per week. It’s easy with delicious recipes like this one. Spread the word at work to promote the value of CSR business initiatives and make your green call centre, office, factory, shop, restaurant, hotel or salon even greener.

Enjoy!
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.