Rain, rain, go away! It's a dreary day in Central Minnesota.

After so many months of snow, we had our last snow storm two weeks ago, it is nice to see the countryside turn green. I suppose this rain will help wash the last of the winter grime away. Can't wait for the first flowers to bloom, the tulips haven't even flowered yet due to the late snow.
Another busy week comes to a draw.
The soup business is slowly picking up again, we've had several case orders this week. Thank goodness we don't have to rely on soup sales to pay our bills, we would be out on the street by now. But hey, at least we'd still be eating healthy, Shiitake mushrooms and gourmet soups. ;)

Back to our Shiitake soup kitchen

We are back from our trip to Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D. C., we enjoyed the wonderfully friendly people, beautiful country side and had a good time all the way around.

Got back to Minnesota just in time for, hopefully, the last snow storm of the season.

More to come on our trip and other exiting news next week.

Updated Shiitake soup pages.

Nick has finally put on his writing hat and re-wrote the main content of the four soup pages:
Wild Rice
Oriental/Miso
Vegetable
Onion
Yikes, it took 6 months to come with this but we think it reflects our love for our product.
Please feel free to comment, we are always open to constructive critizism.

We are almost ready to launch our single serve packaging. Send us an email if you are willing to test and comment on any of our soups.

Road Trip!!!!

We are off to West Virginia to visit our long time food distributor, Paul Goldwyn of Hardscrabble. Paul has been instrumental in helping to establish our soup line on the East coast. We look forward to visiting with Paul and his wife Nina.
The second leg of our trip will take us to the beautiful wine country of the Shenandoa Valley where we will be visiting Wolf Gap Vineyard and Winery. 'Wolf Gap Willy', the owner, has been a friend of Dad's since the Air Force days back in the 70's.
Of course we will be doing some Jager Foods soup promotion along the way.
Here's to soup, wine and friends - is there a better combination?

High Cholesterol?

Research has shown that Shiitake mushrooms contain an amino acid called eritadenine, which is noted for lowering cholesterol. Findings indicated that adding shiitake to one’s diet helped lower blood cholesterol levels by almost 50 percent, especially in cases where high-cholesterol foods were eaten simultaneously with the mushroom.

For a quick and healthy meal containing Shiitake mushrooms and other natural and healthful ingredients, try one of our four
Gourmet Dried Soup Mix flavors.

Vegetable, Shiitake & leftover Ham

What to do with all that leftover Ham from your Easter get together?
Here is an idea - how about Shiitake Vegetable Soup and diced ham?

Using Jager Foods Shiitake Vegetable Soup makes it a quick and nutritious meal.
The soup cooks in 20 minutes with a preperation time of how ever long it takes you to cut up your ham. It really doesn't get much easier than that.
To order this delicious dried soup mix, visit our website Jager Foods.

A pictures worth a thousand words?

Good morning. In an attempt to gain some exposure through world wide web for the soup products, we came up with an idea for an on-line commercial that we would put on YouTube. We outlined the whole commercial down to what would be said and how we would take the shots. What we ended up with was an impromptu ad that we shot in less that 60 seconds. Once it was up-loaded we had to laugh at how campy the whole thing was. It was totally unscripted and at the end of the commercial I'm shaking the bag to emphasize what I'm saying but you no longer can even read the product label. (amateurs!) We are open to constructive critism so if you should happen to view this clip please send them back to us. Have a nice day.

Unique Shiitake Ham bake recipe - just in time for Easter

1/4 lb dried Shiitake mushrooms
½ glass of Red wine
1 Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
1/2lb (225gm) Cooked Ham
1/2lb (225gm) Lean Pork
1/4lb (125gm) Bacon
4 Sprigs of Parsley
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp (15ml) Breadcrumbs
Salt and Pepper
½ oz (15gm) Dripping
1 Tbsp (15ml) Oil
1 Tsp (5ml) Wine or Cider Vinegar

Add the ½ glass of red wine to a bowl of warm water and presoak your mushrooms for about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325 F (170c). Peel and chop the garlic and onion. Mince the bacon (derinded), ham, pork and parsley and add these ingredients to a bowl and mix well with the eggs, breadcrumbs and seasoning. Heat the dripping and oil in a casserole pot and, when hot, remove from heat and put in a layer of your mixture (don’t pack it tightly) and then a layer of the sliced mushrooms. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up. Cover and bake for about 2 hours and sprinkle with vinegar just before serving.

Turkey Stuffing

Dried Bread (multi-grain mixed with a soft wheat)
½ lb. Butter
½ Can Chicken Broth
1 Large Onion
Celery
Giblets
Pistachio Nuts
Shiitake Mushrooms
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme
Cut up the bread in cubes and place into a large pot. Our Shitake mushrooms come dehydrated, so it is best to warm up the chicken broth and butter and rehydrate the mushrooms for half an hour. You can also add some Shiitake sauce (found in Chinese food stores or some of the food co-ops) and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cut up the rehydrated mushrooms and add them with the butter/broth concoction to the bread crumbs and mix well.
Chop up the onion and add it to the mixture, then cut up the giblets. I prefer to blend them in the food processor (it should look like blackberry yogurt). Then add that to the mixture.
If you have fresh spices, you should have a good handful of parsley and lots of sage. Add a few pinches of rosemary, and slightly more thyme and blend them together. If you don't have fresh spices, go get them. (Or use a little more of the dried.) You will know if the mixture of fresh spices is right when the wonderful aroma has a distinct hint of the stuffing your grandmother served you as a child.
Mix in the spices and stir well. Finally mix in the celery and pistachio nuts, if there are any left after pealing them. By the way, the pistachio nuts are the secret ingredient. They add a delicate sweetness to the flavor, so hand pick the good nuts and avoid the ones that look bitter.
Stuff the chicken and bake the leftover stuffing in a pan next to the chicken remembering to take it out early. You'll know when it's done.
Remove the stuffing right away when the chicken is done, and mix it with the leftover you just baked and put it back in the oven for another fifteen minutes covered.

New website layout.

Hello faithful customers, friends and family,

we finally found some time away from the 'Soup Kitchen' to update our website.
If you haven't been there in a while, check it out www.jagerfoods.com.

We are now selling Shiitake mushrooms in .4 and .8 oz. packages, perfect sizes for individual or family sized recipes.
Let us know if you have any ideas for the website, we always appreciate your feedback.

Be happy or sad but eat healthy

People feeling sad tend to eat more of less-healthy comfort foods than when they feel happy, finds a new study co-authored by a Cornell food marketing expert. However, when nutritional information is available, those same sad people curb their hedonistic consumption, while happy people don't.

The next time your fighting those winter blues, take a look at

the nutritional labels on our website www.jagerfoods.com.

Our soups not only taste delicious they are also good for you.