There are definitely many right ways to make stuffed mushrooms.  It’s an extremely easy dish to make and to improvise with whatever you have.  With the simple guideline of “top mushrooms with filling,” the possibilities are endless.

This dish makes a great appetizer, side, snack, or even a small meal. We made a similar version of these mushrooms for a dinner party a few weeks ago with the only real difference being the cheese we used.  They’re great for parties whether you are the host or you are bringing them with you.  Make ahead and pop them in to the oven 25 minutes before you’re ready to enjoy.

recipe:

about 2 8oz packages of baby bella mushrooms

2 cups frozen spinach
1 roasted pepper
4 cloves roasted garlic
1+ cups cheese (sharp cheddar, havarti, swiss all work well)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8- 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper powder or cayenne
handful of toasted pine nuts (optional)

1/4 cup bread crumbs toasted with butter

Prepare your roasted pepper and roasted garlic ahead of time.  Preheat oven to 425°. Lightly brush pepper with oil, wrap a head (or half) of garlic drizzled with a little olive oil in tinfoil and place both on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, flip pepper half way through. Allow to cool before handling.

Meanwhile prepare the filling. Thaw spinach and drain excess water- if you are using fresh spinach saute it for a moment to wilt.  Grate the cheese; we used cheddar for this recipe, but last time it was havarti. It’s ok to switch things up. Both were delicious. Toast a handful of pine nuts — dry toast them in a small pan with no oil, shake them around over the heat until they’re nice and toasty.  Dice the roasted pepper and peel the garlic.  Combine all of these ingredients along with spice and salt to taste. Set aside.

Clean mushrooms and pop off stems. Place mushrooms caps cup side up in a glass baking dish. We use a shallow 8 x 12 glass baking dish.  Use whatever you have — a couple of pie dishes or a lasagna dish would work well too. The filling should be enough to top 2 8 oz packs of mushrooms.  The size of the mushrooms and the amount of room on your baking dish may vary the proportions. Disperse filling into the caps.

Finish the stuffed mushrooms off with bread crumbs.  For this recipe we used panko bread crumbs and fried them up with a little butter, probably about a tablespoon or so.  You can add some parmesan to the mix if you want.  If you are interested in making your own bread crumbs from scratch, check here for some inspiration.

Bake at 350° for about 25 minutes.

Try out our recipe or make up your own! If you don’t have all of the ingredients we used consider what else might taste nice here…. artichoke hearts, olives, goat cheese, tomatoes, Parmesan, carrots, edamame, kale, walnuts… no onions… this list could go on for days- you get the point.

Over the past year or so crunchy chickpeas have been flooding the food blog world.  There’s a good reason for it too! They’re inexpensive, simple to make, delicious, and healthy.  You don’t really need a recipe to make them. I first made these crunchy chickpeas several months ago and I’ve been hooked ever since! I’m always on the lookout for tasty snacks especially ones that can be readily available at any given surge of hunger. A grab on the go or snag a few here and there snack. I keep these around the house and at work nearly always.

The crunchy chickpea snack concept is great because you can modify it to fit your taste and you can make as much or as little as you require.  The batch I make is plenty for the week with enough to share — spicy, and salty. The cooking process takes about an hour depending on your oven and the amount you are baking at once.  The entire process is simple and straight forward but it does require you to stand by in order to mix them up throughout baking.  A good timer is helpful.

Ingredients :

3 cups dried chickpeas
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1½ – 2 teaspoons hot chili powder or cayenne

I use dried chickpeas to start but you can use canned as well. When using dry chickpeas pre-soak over night or all day.  I’ll usually just set them out to soak in the morning if I want to bake them in the evening. Once soaked for several hours, drain the chickpeas and put them in a pot with new water to boil.  Simmer until cooked.

Strain the chickpeas and pour them onto a clean towel to completely dry and cool off. I believe this step is extremely important, allowing them to air off and cool off helps eliminate a lot of steam which is moisture.  I have noticed a huge difference when I have not allowed them to cool down — the chickpeas have a harder crunch to them which to me is less pleasant to eat.  By eliminating as much moisture before you bake them I believe you get nicer light and crispy texture.

Preheat oven to about 400°

Once the chickpeas are cooked and cooled, place them into a baking dish. I use a 9 x 13 Pyrex lasagna dish.  I would recommend using something with sides because throughout baking the chickpeas will need to be stirred around.  I’ve used a regular baking sheet before and found it pretty difficult to stir them up adequately (while in a hot oven — wear a mitt!) without knocking them off the sides. I also felt that the chickpeas were quicker to burn on a thinner baking sheet — the glass dish just makes more sense to me especially when you are preparing several cups worth of snacks ;)

Season the chickpea directly in the baking dish. Pour oil, sprinkle spices & kosher salt to taste, stir up to evenly coat the batch. Give it a taste before popping it in the oven.

The baking time may vary slightly but will end up to be just over an hour to an hour and a half. Set the timer for 15 minutes and then stir the chickpeas well, repeat an additional 3 times.  This will take about 45 minutes ;) taste test a few for crispiness and keep a closer watch as they finish baking.  I just keep lessening the interval between mixings until they are done to avoid burning them at the end! You’ll know when they’re done because they will be super crispy and delicious; because there are so many chickpeas baking at once, the textures will vary slightly, some may be a little darker (burnt), others a bit lighter (chewy), and the rest of them will be perfectly crispy.

Make these your new savory snack!

A quick entry with a recipe for fancy butter…

1 stick of salted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon honey
2 cloves of roasted garlic
1/8 heaping teaspoon hot pepper powder

Combine ingredients into a small storage container and enjoy all week while you use it to make all your breads and crackers taste more exciting ;)

A soup made with ingredients on hand; this hearty lentil stew is a warm and filling meal perfect in the cold months of Chicago’s winter. The recipe can easily be modified to fit whatever the ingredients you have and is designed with leftovers in mind.  Made for two tonight with plenty for tomorrow’s lunch.

Recipe :
1 1/2 cup lentils soaked for at least an hour
8 cups vegetable stock
2 large carrots chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
5 cups kale (bite sized pieces)
1 tablespoon chopped jalapeño
1 1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1 teaspoon turmeric

Sort through the lentils making sure that there are no foreign objects  in the mix (stones or anything else you wouldn’t want in your soup), rinse thoroughly. Pre-soak the lentils for about an hour or more, this will allow them to soak up some water and soften up a bit before you add them to the soup.

Prepare your ingredients; chop the carrots, celery, and mince the jalapeños. Remove the stems from the kale and tear the leaves into bite size pieces.

Warm your soup pot over medium heat with a splash of olive oil, add jalapeños and fry for a moment. Toss in black mustard seeds and cook until they begin to pop, add cumin, turmeric, & asafoetida. Once cumin seeds begin to brown, add vegetable broth. Be careful, as the pot is hot; it will steam and hiss as the stock pours in.

Add lentils and bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes. Include carrots and celery and return to a boil. Add kale and simmer until all ingredients are cooked to the desired tenderness. Salt to taste and enjoy.

Of course you’ll need something delicious to dip your homemade crackers into… how about a roasted red pepper & olive spread?

Ingredients used : 2 roasted peppers (1 red & 1 orange), 2-3 cloves roasted garlic, 1 cup chopped olives spliced with capers if desired, and 1 8oz. package of cream cheese.

Preheat oven to 425°

This dip is simple to make and extra delicious.  Begin by roasting the peppers and garlic. Roasting peppers may seem like a lot of work, however that turns out to not be the case at all.  In fact, roasting peppers has become a staple in our weekly meals as of late because it’s so easy.  Once a week we make a roasted pepper sauce to use in various meals — enchiladas, pizza, chiles relleños, and anything else that requires a sauce.  SO, roasting a couple peppers for this dip is even easier when you’re already roasting something anyway.  Whether you plan to make a sauce or not, roasting a couple of peppers & garlic takes very little attention and no skill at all.

Brush or spray peppers with a little bit of olive oil and place on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil. Wrap a head of garlic in foil and drizzle a small amount of olive oil over top.  Place in oven and roast for 20-40 minutes, flip peppers a couple times throughout the time as you keep a loose eye on them; you’ll know when they’re done because they will be slightly blackened, shriveled, and softened. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before handling.

Before you chop up two peppers for this dip, peal off the skin of the peppers and remove the seeds. It’s not terrible if you leave the skin on, but once removed the diced pepper bits will be nice and soft which is perfect for the texture of a spread.

Dice about a cup of olives and include some capers if desired. The olives we had came with capers and pimentos so it was easy to incorporate them. Just green olives will be delicious but adding some capers to the mix makes it even better.

Combine all ingredients to make the spread complete.  I like to start with the cream cheese first and add the roasted garlic before the other ingredients so it’s mixed in evenly throughout. You can chop the garlic up if you’d like but it’s often soft enough to break up while mixing. Next add the olives, capers, and peppers and mix to finish the process.

Enjoy with crackers, pita, bread, or chips!

I love crackers but have not made them myself until recently. I noticed that we haven’t purchased many, if any, crackers in the past year and when I came across JoyTheBaker’s post called Sea Salt and Poppy Seed Crackers, I knew what I had to do. So, I made crackers and they were delicious. In fact they were so nice that I have made four batches in the past 2 weeks and I’m already thinking about making another! This marks the start of my cracker hunt — must find more recipes.
Cracker recipes, where are you?

This recipe is surprisingly simple to make, it requires very few ingredients and about 10 minutes of your active time with 30 minutes or so to bake. It also lends itself to be modified with other spices and flavors. I’ve only just begun to experiment with these.

The recipe below was found on JoyTheBaker.Com
Joy found it in The Complete Book of Cookies

Sea Salt and Poppy Seed Crackers

makes 20 crackers
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4  teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 Tablespoon butter, cold and cut into 6 small chunks
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
6 Tablespoons half and half
sea salt & additional half and half for the topping (I used kosher salt instead)

Preheat the oven to 300° F. Sift together the flour, salt and sugar.  Add the butter and, using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it is in tiny bits and dispersed throughout the flour mixture.

Stir in the poppy seeds.

Add the half and half and mix to make a stiff dough.  Place on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 8×10-inches.  Cut into 20 squares.

Place the dough squares on an ungreased baking sheet lined with parchment or foil.  Brush sparingly with half and half and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp but still pale.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.

So far the original recipe stands to be the best (of course) but I have started experimenting with adding other flavors which promise to make a nice cracker as well. I will post about them in the future. The additional ingredients in question are crushed red pepper, cumin, and sesame seeds… stay tuned for more cracker fun and dip ideas!

Over the holidays we were gifted some pretty amazing things. There are two new special tools I am specifically referring to right now, a KitchenAid! and a Calphalon Dutch Oven!!! Oh my! Could it get any better?! The year has already started off much much better than last, I couldn’t be happier. Both Joe and I are employed with jobs we like and we’re in good health (crowd cheers) plus, we’re set up to bake anything and everything we want. I’m ready to make 2010 a great year full of fresh bread & happiness. Cheers to all and thanks for taking a moment to look at my little site, a project that I desire to keep growing into something beautiful.  And thank You (M&D and B&R) for gifting tools that will help us grow (up & out;) as well.

Of course we had to break into our new toys immediately to take them for a spin. First stop — rosemary bread. We combed the internet for the recipe we would bake first. We landed on a recipe from ThePioneerWoman.com.

This recipe was adapted from
ThePioneerWoman.com

Rosemary Bread

20 oz. of bread flour (all purpose is okay, too) – about 4 cups.
8 oz. of water (or 1 cup).
4 oz. melted butter with chopped herbs of choice (we used rosemary).
2 teaspoons salt.
1 teaspoon active or instant yeast (if active, it would be best to sprinkle yeast over the water to let it start to work before mixing it in).

In your KitchenAid stand mixer (with dough hook) sprinkle yeast over the water before mixing in the rest of the ingredients.  Mix together on low speed for about 10 minutes or so until you can achieve a windowpane with the dough- this is something I never knew about until I followed their instructions. Achieving a windowpane is when you can pull off a small chunk of the dough you’re kneading and stretch it gently to see if it is somewhat translucent. If you can do this without it tearing, it’s ready.

Once this elasticity has been achieved, allow the dough sit out with plastic wrap over it for 1-4 hours to double in size. After it’s gotten bigger, it should be kneaded for a minute or two so that the yeast can redistribute – Once we kneaded the bread, the dough seemed to return to its original size and become more dense.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut a large ‘X’ into the surface of the bread dough so it can bloom!

Bake inside a covered cast iron pan after coating the rounded dough with olive oil and sprinkling with kosher salt. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove lid to finish it off for another 15 to 30 minutes.

The bread can get brown on the bottom if it’s too close to the heating element; if that happens, just slice it off with a sharp knife.

We baked ours for the 30 minutes covered and an additional 20 without the lid- next time we’ll do the additional 30 minutes because our dough was a little too moist although it was still very delicious.  Our outer crust was beautifully perfect, this was an excellent first experience with both our KitchenAid and cooking with the dutch oven. We can’t stop thinking about mixing up our next batch of bread!

It’s exciting to think about how much easier the bread making process will be, the possibilities just opened up. Looking forward to finding more recipes to try.

Type is becoming blurry, street signs only exist the closer I get, and people with glasses can see better than I… time to get my eyes examined. Aye. In the meantime, I will be eating a lot of this soup, and maybe — just maybe — it will do my little eyes some good; at the very least it will be delicious, inexpensive, and simple to make.

Ingredients used : carrots, ginger, edamame, garlic, pepper powder/cayenne powder, lemon, sour cream, soup stock.

soup for 4

6 cups vegetable stock
4+ cups peeled & chopped carrots
3 cloves chopped garlic
2 tablespoons minced ginger
¼ teaspoon pepper powder or cayenne powder
½ lemon squeezed or juice
1 cup edamame
½ cup sour cream (optional)
olive oil

equipment used : immersion blender or blender & soup pot

Begin with preparing all of the ingredients, peel and mince the garlic & ginger, peel and chop the carrots in to small rounds. Over medium heat in your favorite soup pot splash a little olive oil and include the garlic and ginger.  Saute for a moment until garlic is cooked (don’t burn it), add the carrots and stir.  Pour in the vegetable stock. Turn the heat up and bring to a boil while you add the lemon and pepper/cayenne powder. Return to a simmer and cover until carrots are tender.

When the carrots are fully cooked puree the soup into a smooth consistency with your immersion blender right in the soup pot.  If you don’t have one a regular blender will work fine, however if you are a fan of convenience and/or blended soups & sauces an immersion blender is extremely affordable and totally worth the splurge. By using this tool you avoid having to pour hot liquid into the blender pitcher and back again which also means there is barely a chance for spilling. All good things!

Once your soup is nice and smooth blend in the sour cream, give it a taste and decide if anything needs to be added- for example you may want to add a dash of salt if your base stock wasn’t very salty or flavorful. Last pour in the whole edamame beans, heat soup to the perfect temperature.

Enjoy this soup — practically effortless and super delicous.