Mushroom Yaki Soba Soup

Hello everybody!  I've got a super quick and easy dish for those Spring nights where it's not quite warm, not quite cold. 

 First, here's my middle (can you have a middle child with six kids??) eating ice cream and swinging at the same time. Made me laugh! (And this is my friend Barbara's house. Just to the left is my childhood home, and I spent MANY hours at Barbara and Larry's house... eating ice cream! We just love these sweet folks. She also has taught us dozens of old hymns from her childhood in Alabama and we sing to shut ins and nursing home residents every Tuesday. Anyway, now you have all the background on that swing.)

 Same kid has fallen in love with weed whacking. I'm not so in love with what happens to his clothes.

 We have an older teen friend who makes the most AMAZING armor from spray painted foam. They take it to comicons around and sell/ show it off. My second youngest got inspired. Cheerios man with a wooden sword!

 SO, to the recipe at hand. Everything goes in the pot at once. Soba noodles with mushroom flavoring (found at the grocery store in the health food section near the carrot juice and baby spinach, etc) a pound of mushrooms (we used crimini because I really like the flavor), two stalks of celery chopped, a few handfuls of baby carrots (can you tell I'm just throwing things in from my fridge??), and some chicken breasts if you have them. I usually make this without, but I had some cicken left over from the night before so, into the pot it went!

 Boil for ten-15 minutes. Mushrooms cook pretty quickly so just cook the noodles to the consistency you like. Salt to taste. I added a little garlic and some pepper. :)

 Someone needed their favorite Christmas plant in the photo.

And one last photo: my editor. His name is Manotas (big hands) and he sits on my desk (or my papers, or my computer) and watches me while I work. He's very picky about plot holes.

 Have a wonderful weekend!