How I Decided on Mushroom Spinach Soup

Okay, so here is how my mind works (it's circular, so stay with me)...

On my Minestrone post there was a comment asking me to add the Foodista widget to the page. I naturally needed to investigate and did a little browsing through the Foodista Web site. I went to the vegetarian section and found what looks like a truly scrumptious recipe for Mushroom Spinach Soup Served at Multnohmah Falls Lodge (in Portland, Oregon). This brought back memories of one of my library conference trips when Michael went with me. We had a delightful time and took a relaxing tour of Multnohmah Falls. By now I'm having really nice warm fuzzies. I decide to look up Multnohmah Falls Lodge, and there is a photo of the bridge in front of the fall just like one I took when there - that made me smile the rest of the afternoon.

Well, that just puts that Mushroom Soup at the top of my list. I plan to make it this upcoming Sunday. However, I really, really don't want to use heavy cream (2 cups of it!). So, I go on a new search: heavy cream substitutes. Chowhound has a few interesting suggestions. Cooks Illustrated Bulletin Board has some product suggestions too; while there I also discovered Go Dairy Free a site that has lots of dairy substitute recipes and product suggestions.

After browsing through the suggestions, I'm going simple. I'm going to puree medium firm silken tofu. I think this will work fine for the soup recipe. If you look at the Monday, September 7, 2009 "After Dinner Thoughts" post you'll see the tofu ricotta cheese substitute recipe - it worked wonderfully! Since I happen to be a tofu fan, and since Michael, Mom, and Dad will all eat tofu I'm going that route. The will be much better for Weight Watchers points than heavy cream - that's for sure!

Speaking of Weight Watcher points, I have been quite remiss and realize that's why I haven't been losing any weight recently. Thankfully I haven't been gaining any either. It's a good thing I continue to exercise everyday and that I go to a meeting each week. So, I'm getting back on the WW tracking wagon. I'll need to figure out the points for this recipe, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'll use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth and Smart Balance 50/50 spread stick in place of the butter. Other than the tofu, the rest of the ingredients are vegetables, salt, and pepper - very low in points.

Anyway, that's how I came to the decision to make the Mushroom Spinach Soup. And, isn't it terrific that I've decided this a entire week in advance? Amazing! I'll let you know how it all turns out.