I hope everyone had a fantastic week. Mine was incredibly busy but awesome. I can’t tell you how nice the weather has been — sorry ... I’m not one of those people that likes the heat or humidity, 65 and dry is where it’s at.

What’s cooking … Well, I’m all over making soup. I’m going to be making a cream of mushroom soup. I make this for my office peeps and they love it. First start with a sweet Vidalia onion — best onions around in my book. I like to cut up my onions rather small, heat up your soup pan, add extra virgin olive oil, and sauté the onions until they are nice and soft. I don’t like biting into a crunchy onion.

After your onions are cooked, add sliced mushrooms (white mushrooms and baby bells are my favorite). Here’s my secret — half a stick of butter and a cup of cream sherry. Sauté them down until tender, add a tablespoon of chicken paste, keep cooking, then add two cans of evaporated milk. Put on low heat and add your half and half. Take your hand-held blender and blend. The nice thing about blending the soup is it thickens the soup on its own. I don’t puree it too much because I prefer it a little chunky.

All of my soup recipes are easy and only use the one soup pan. We are all incredibly busy so the things I’m going to share with you busy folks are simple and delicious.

If you don’t have a hand-held blender, please get one — they are amazing. If you like to make lots of sauces or creamed soups, they are a must. I ordered mine from Amazon. I spent a little more on mine because I use it a lot. It’s great for smoothies as well. I think I paid $60 four or five years ago and it’s still going strong.

Here is your grocery list for this soup: two kinds of mushrooms, evaporated milk, chicken paste, butter, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper.

Comfort food coming your way next week. Stay positive, life is good, and always be kind.