button mushroom pasta

went to the corner store yesterday to get something for lunch fully well remembering that i do have, still, some mushrooms in the freezer. but i could not resist these button mushrooms. confession is in order, i noticed they had just arrived and i went for a package way in the back ('cause that's were they put the fresh ones). i always do that, but is it wrong? i don't think so, why would i pay good money for something that is not in their prime. anyways, the mushrooms were so fresh that the stems didn't even need trimming


here is what was needed. i usually go for whole chicken breasts (no marinade, please!!), the meat is better, but i had this "chopped" chicken from earlier in the week. whole wheat pasta, it's not as pretty as the regular but so much better for you. and, what would button mushrooms be without lemon and parsley! got the cream just in case, maybe that was a mistake because now that i had it, i used it







all chopped up and ready to be fried, separately. there is one small yellow onion as well







first the mushrooms, they smelled so good, i could have eaten them straight from the pan







secret ingredient... i do not eat at that place very often but magically i always stock up on this pepper. it somehow tastes better than any black pepper i ever got from a store, wonder why?







simmering away







i admit, huge portion, but i did get tomorrow's lunch and then some out of. on hindsight, would have been a good idea to save some parsley to garnish, the taste was great, but the color had vanished a bit

black currants and nectarines

citamin C is good for you and black currants have plenty of vitamin C. i've used a steam juicer for quite many years now, mom and grandmothers used theirs ways back when. there was a time that i only drank black currant juice (made with hot water) when sick with flu, i guess you could call it finnish cure-all, like chicken soup is for americans.


my juicer is similar to one in the link, the principle on how it works is quite simple: fill the bottom part with water, put fruit in the top basket, bring to boil on the stove top. the resulting steam extracts the juice, which drips into the center pan and then travels down the rubber hose into another kettle from which you can pour it to bottles.


to start juicing you'll need: steam juicer, bottles, sugar and berries (traditionally all currants are good as well as raspberries) and preservative, i used atamon, although if you use plenty od sugar you won't be needing preservative







while the berries were steaming away i washed my clean bottles, just to make sure that no yacky mold had any chances of growing in them







some put sugar in the juicer with berries, i like to put it in the kettle into which the juice drips. i use a fair amount of sugar, which helps to keep the juice good







i use atamon with water in the kettle in which i dip the bottles right before i pour the juice in them







as you can see, i have quite many jars to fill, still...







it looks like the apple trees at the shack won't be bearing too many apples, i counted approx 20 in one big tree! as there won't be apple sauce, i bought some nice nectarines (which probably are the best tasting fruit ever) to make jam out of. i didn't bother peeling them, you can never get too much fiber...







boiling away with jam sugar







nectarine jam, the smoother version has some plums in it, both versions got little vanilla extract in them







this got made today, i so wished it would have rained, the kitchen got way too hot...
oh, you blend the juice with water (hot or cold) as it's very concentrated







i use my juicer when making apple sauce as well. if there will enough apples this year you'll get to see how that works.

ps. if you make juice with bright colored berries, it's advisable to cover carpet, area rugs or floor. trust me on this, you don't want the extra work washing the carpet...