Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms

My grandmother recently celebrated her 80th birthday and we threw a huge surprise party for her with tons of friends and of course food. One of the fastest dishes to disappear was my spinach stuffed mushrooms. They are super easy to make and I had a little left over filling which our guests enjoyed spreading on crackers and bagel chips. A fun dish to make, easy dish to make and a very flexible recipe.







You will need: (recipe will feed 10 people as appetizers)



~ White Button Mushrooms (20 of various sizes )

~ 5 garlic cloves, crushed

~2 cups fresh or frozen spinach ( but we all know how I feel about frozen when fresh is available), chopped

~1/2 cup extra virgin Olive Oil

~(opt.) 1 1/2 Parmesan freshly grated fine

~6 slices cooked bacon ( I use a vegan sub.), chopped





Preheat oven to 355d and start to gently rub down the mushrooms with a barley damp paper towel. If you rinse them, the mushrooms will become slimy and start to break down in the oven. Cleaning them whit a paper towel is just as affective but keeps them intact and less slimy. When you have rubbed them all down to clean them, pull out the stems and set aside, you will use these in the filling.

Set the mushrooms aside and get out your food processor. In a large mixing bowl gather the oil, garlic cloves, spinach, bacon and the mushroom stems. Mix and add a little salt and pepper. Place a usable amount in the processor. Not too much for the poor think to bog down but enough to really get it mixed. Process everything until you come out with a paste adding a little more oil if it is too thick. It is so important to taste the filling before you fill the mushrooms. Every one's taste is different so you may want to alter or add a little more of something...

Once you have found your filling's balance, stir in half of the Parmesan and using a little spoon or pastry bag, fill the mushrooms. Leave them a little concave to allow the rest of the parm to be sprinkled on top or if your sprinkling skills are unbeatable round them off and sprinkle away! Bake until the cheese on top is browning or until the mushrooms are browned. Once out of the oven you can even sprinkle with some extra bacon for flavor and show! Serve warm!

Spicy, Asian Inspired Salad

I love the idea of using oils without cooking them, allowing to gain all of the nutrients I can from them. I also love using dark green veggies and brightly colored veggies, which are the ones that give us the most vitamins, minerals and proteins. Another thing I added was the spicy aspect which I love applying to things that are, here in the states, not generally found spicy.

You will need:

Salad~
Spinach, washed and drained
Purple cabbage, washed and sliced
White onion, washed and sliced

Dressing~
Olive Oil
Apple cider Vinegar
Lemon Juice
Basil
Garlic
Black Pepper
Cayenne


Add all the veggies into a bowl and toss to taste with the dressing ingredients. I usually never measure with anything but my taste buds, so it is always hard for me to tell someone how much of what to put in. Especially when it doesn't matter! It should be up to the cook and the eaters as to how much of what they eat. So for the dressing, until you get practiced and just drizzling straight into your bowl and knowing it will be great, use a seperate bowl and taste test and if you want, document it.