Mushroom Soup - Untraditional Valentine's Day Dinner

For the first course I made mushroom soup. This soup is fast, creamy, healthy, and surprisingly filling. Being a mushroom lover I use about 16 ounces when the recipe calls for 8 ounces.In my opinion, the more mushrooms the better. I also use button mushrooms because they are the cheapest but any mushroom that you choose would be wonderful. I adapted this recipe from my favorite soup book, Soup's On,  by substituting skim milk for half-and-half to make this soup a little more figure-friendly.

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Mushroom Soup
Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, sliced
8-16 ounces fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup beef broth
2 cups skim milk
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 bay leaf
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Melt the butter in a heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat. Once melted add the garlic, just long enough to brown it, careful not to burn it. Add the onion and cook until golden brown. Add the mushrooms and cook until golden brown. Stir in the flour, then slowly add the stock, stirring constantly.

Heat the milk in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Add the milk, nutmeg, mushrooms, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste. Let the soup simmer over low heat until the flavors marry, about 10 minutes. Don't let the soup boil! Remove the bay leaf and serve immediately.