Vegetarian Mushroom Hot and Sour Soup

'Tis the season for soup!  As the weather gets colder, my desire for soup increases.  Soup is filling, nutritious and delicious.  My husband has always been a fan of hot and sour soup,  but me, not so much.  We had a ton of mushrooms from the farmers market that needed to be cooked, so I thought they would make a good alternative to seaweed that is in most hot and sour soups.  This soup does have a bit of a kick (hints the HOT portion of the soup title), but for not being a huge fan of hot and sour soup, I must say, it was pretty darn good.  Enjoy!

Vegetarian Mushroom Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients

2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
5 green onions, sliced and divided into green and white pieces
2 cups baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 cup shitaki mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp Sriracha
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
6 cups vegetable broth
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup water
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat coconut oil over medium heat.  Add yellow onion and white portion of green onion.  Sauté for 5 minutes, until tender.  Add mushrooms and continue to sauté for 5 minutes, until mushrooms have reduced in size.  Add ginger, garlic and sriracha, sauté for 1 minute, until fragrant.  Add soy sauce and vinegar slowly, then add broth.  Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and water, making a slurry.  Add the slurry to the soup and continue simmering for 10 minutes, until soup begins to thicken.  Remove the soup from the heat and slowly stir in the beaten egg.  The egg will form strings and cook immediately.  Add salt and pepper if needed and top with the green portion of the green onion.

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna!

One of my favorite pasta dishes is, hands down, lasagna.  The thick noodles and all the melted cheese!  Although you can't really have lasagna without cheese, you can make the dish a bit healthier by substituting the pasta noodles for spaghetti squash.  The best part about this recipe is that not only is it delicious, but you eat it right out of the squash!  Makes for a simple clean up!

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

Ingredients

1 large spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise, de-seeded
2 cups pasta sauce (you can make homemade with my recipe here)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, plus a little extra for topping
2 Tbsp Coconut oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400*.  Place cut and de-seeded spaghetti squash, cut side up in large baking dish with a little bit of water in bottom of dish. Coat cut side of squash with 1 tablespoon coconut oil and lightly sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for 45-60 minutes or until inside of squash becomes tender and can easily pull apart into "noodles" with a fork.

While squash is cooking, in a medium size bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella and basil, set aside.  Heat remaining tablespoon of coconut oil in medium pan.  Add mushrooms and cook until mushrooms become tender**.  Add pasta sauce and cook until sauce is heated.

When squash is done cooking and has cooled enough to handle, using a fork, gently score the inside, creating squash "noodles".

To fill the squash, divide the cheese mixture evenly on top of each half of the squash, place directly on top of the "noodles".  Next, divide the pasta sauce amongst each squash half and top with remaining mozzarella cheese.  Broil the squash halves on high until cheese begins to brown (make sure to keep a close eye on the squash during this final stage, as the broil setting cooks very quickly). Place entire half of squash on plate or serve onto plate and enjoy.

**it is also very easy to incorporate ground turkey into this dish by browning it with the mushrooms while the squash cooks.