The World’s Best Mushroom Soup!

Last week I posted about the shiitake mushrooms that we grow at our place. Although they do look mighty pretty, we really grow them to eat. One of our favorite ways to eat any mushrooms is in Broccoli Mushroom soup, or, as I like to call it, “THe World’s Best Mushroom Soup”. You know, honestly, one could really call it the World’s Best Soup and be truthful. My kids even like it. When I was a kid, I didn’t like any sort of soup and certainly not any soup with broccoli and mushrooms.

(dried whole)

(dried chunks)

Anyhow, once we harvest our mushrooms, we dehydrate them. It’s pretty easy…you can dry them in slices or whole in an oven on low heat or with a typical dehydrator. Some folks even dry them on a rack in open air. They smell a bit like “dead” when they are drying but afterwards, they have little odor. Anyhow, once dried, they keep for a long time. We throw ours in a mason jar and just cover it with a lid.

When it’s soup time, you need to rehydrate the mushrooms. Just soak them in water for an hour or so (often times less). Once they are rehydrated, they are just plain old mushrooms to use as you normally would.

So, on to the soup…

The World’s Best Mushroom Soup!

2 Tbsp margerine or butter
3/4 cups onion chopped
1 oz package egg noodles
2 cloves of garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
8 oz sauteed mushrooms
1 1/2 cups chunked cooked chicken
6 chicken boullion cubes, 6 cups water
6 cups milk
1 lb velveeta (cut into 1 inch cubes)

Saute onions and mushroooms in butter. Add water and boullion cubes. Heat to boiling and disolve cubes. Gradualy add noodles and cook for 5 minutes. Add broccoli and cook for 4 minutes. Add milk on low heat. Add cheese and cook until cheese is melted. Add chicken and garlic. Continue stirring until cheese is smooth but do not boil.

This stuff freezes well and may be reheated by adding a little extra milk!

Warren can also be found at My Home Among the Hills writing about the adventures of life in WV.