Culinary Challenge: Portobello Soup with Brown Rice

Earlier this week, I posted about the new Culinary Challenge feature at my blog, where readers give me challenges to create whatever recipe they desire. This week I am doing Rachel's challenge; I have come up with a soup recipe that's easy to make without an oven, and that contains a large amount of vegetables. I recommend making this soup for a cold day, as it'll warm your insides and it is easy to make (the entire recipe can be done in a single pot). Please rate this recipe or comment at the bottom of the post, and decide whether I succeeded or not!

Servings: 8 bowls of soup
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Active Cook Time: 8 minutes
Inactive Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
-3 tablespoons olive oil
-1 tablespoon butter
-4 tablespoons minced garlic
-1 medium yellow onion
-32 oz chicken stock (use vegetable stock if you wish to have a completely vegetarian soup)
-2 tablespoons fresh diced parsley
-1/4 cup snow peas
-1 red bell pepper
-3 large Portobello mushroom caps
-1/4 cup Pre-sliced carrots
-Green onions (scallions)
-2 tablespoons oregano
-1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
-Pinch of Sea Salt and Freshly Ground pepper
-juice of one half lemon
-1 tablespoon honey
-1 cup brown rice


Steps

1. Preheat a pot to medium heat on the stove top. Prepare your mise en place of vegetables: dice the onions, cut the snow peas in half, dice the bell pepper, and slice the mushroom caps. Mise en place is a French technique that means "everything in place", where you prepare your ingredients before cooking. Doing a mise en place for this recipe makes it easier to maintain a clean kitchen, and allows you to focus on the onions and garlic while they sautee, minimizing the risk of burning.

2. In the pot, add the olive oil and butter. To this, add the onions and garlic. Keep the onions and garlic moving, and sautee until the onions are translucent.

3. To this add the stock, peas, bell pepper, honey, parsley, oregano, seasoning, and Portobello. Slice about 3 tablespoons of the green onions, and add to the soup. Stir, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. While the soup is cooking, cook the rice in either a rice cooker (follow your rice cooker's directions on how to cook), or cook using instant brown rice (follow the directions on the instant rice).
5. After 20 minutes, add the lemon juice and the carrots. Cook for another 10, until all vegetables are tender. At the end of the 10 minutes, add some salt and pepper to taste.

6. Once the soup and rice are ready, spoon some rice into the bottom of a bowl, and then add the soup to the bowl for whatever serving amount you desire. Top the soup with some fresh carrots, sliced green onion, and parsley for garnish.

I hope you enjoy, and please rate/comment on the recipe to decide whether I met the challenge!