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.

I’m continuously on a quest to find ways to prepare squash and pumpkin in a satisfying way. I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t care much for squash mostly because they are most often prepared in a sweet way. However, it is possible to successfully prepare the squash family in a savory way as well. This year we picked our pumpkins mostly for the seeds with no intention to carve.  Unfortunately when we opened our pumpkins we found the most pathetic dilapidated flat seeds I have ever seen ;( — they were completely unusable and severely disappointing to me.  In a moment of panic upon this discovery I feared that we bought and lugged these pumpkins home for no reason… I was peeved. Deep breath, we had to give them purpose — this meant making pumpkin puree!

And with that puree we made bread, muffins, cookies, lasagna, and even gave some away! I would have never had the desire to make my own pumpkin puree if those seeds were any good. I would have happily moved on to roast and devour the seeds without thinking twice about completely wasting the rest of the pumpkin! We made our puree from two pumpkins, which left us with about 16 cups! So of course we had to search for different ways to use it, what the heck could you do with so much puree!? I will forever look at a pumpkin as more than a carve-able surface filled with delicious seeds.

One of the most interesting dishes I discovered was pumpkin lasagna; I have never heard of or thought of it but I was sure ready to try it out.  I got the idea from Food Mayhem, they made it last year as well.  Of course I didn’t follow their exact recipe, I had to cut out anything sweet and add a little more savory to the mix.  It turned out nicely. Lasagna is one of those meals that really doesn’t need many rules. Noodles, sauce, cheese, and anything else baked in layers — that’s basically how it’s done. This is how we made our first pumpkin lasagna! If you’re a sweeter pumpkin eater you should have a look at Food Mayhem’s recipe as well and adjust to your preference.

Ingredients used: pumpkin puree, cayenne powder, cumin powder, ginger, kosher salt, lasagna noodles, fresh ricotta, fresh mozzarella, spinach, tofu, mushrooms.

3 cups plain fresh plain pumpkin puree-
spiced with :
1 tsp pepper powder or cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½+ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh finely minced ginger.

lasagna noodles of choice
15 oz fresh ricotta cheese
8+ oz fresh mozzarella
3 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms
2 cups fresh or frozen spinach
½ block of tofu

Begin by spicing up the pumpkin puree; simmer puree in a sauce pot and add ginger, cumin, cayenne powder/pepper powder, and salt to taste.  Cook over lowest heat while you prepare the rest of the ingredients (cut mushrooms, tofu, and spinach).

Preheat oven to 350°

In a 9 x 13 glass baking dish spread a thin layer of pumpkin puree at the very bottom, place the first layer of lasagna noodles and cover with a thin layer of pumpkin puree. Having a bit of puree on the very bottom will help the noodles cook and avoid it from sticking to the bottom of the pan once cooked.

Add tofu; we sliced ours but crumbling it would also be nice. Add a layer of spinach — we used frozen spinach because that’s what we had, we always have frozen spinach on hand because it’s super cheap and a perfect ingredient to add to any sauce, beans, rice, casseroles, lasagna, etc…

Time for another layer of lasagna noodles & of course a layer of pumpkin puree.

Clump fresh ricotta onto the mix and spread it out into an even layer.

Place the sliced mushrooms in an nice even layer and place your last layer of lasagna noodles.

One last layer of pumpkin puree and top with mozzarella! We accidentally bought a fresh mozzarella filled with cream: Burrata — fresh mozzarella filled with cream. When we first chopped into the surprisingly soft and gooey cheese we worried that we made a mistake.  Of course we used it anyway and it didn’t seem to make a difference at all. Once Baked all of the cheese melted together and was delicious as expected.

Cover with tin foil and bake at 350° for 50 min.  Allow time to cool — cut and serve. Now tell me that doesn’t look delicious! Ha — ok, I know, it’s not exactly a beautiful looking dish. But it’s definitely a nice way to remake a traditional lasagna into a seasonal treat…

Salad is a dish that has infinite possibilities. You can add just about anything you desire and it’s near impossible mess it up (with the exception of adding raw onions).   We are trying to eat salads more often- like everyday.  I don’t know why we don’t do this already because it’s not hard to prepare, it can be a very filling meal, and you never feel gross after eating it.  The freshness is light, leaving you with energy instead of feeling overstuffed and heavy.

I want to share with you the salad we made the other day as inspiration for you to increase your salad intake as well as getting creative with what you add to your own.  The best part about this is that you have control over what you include in your salad, which means you can make it perfectly delicious to your taste.  Plus it can be as laborious or as simple as you want to make it. Here is what we used in ours this time…

Baby spinach, greenish red heirloom tomatoes & cucumbers.

Herbs- rosemary, thyme & sage.  Each chopped up a bit, especially the sage which we only used a tiny amount of.  We still don’t quite know what to do with sage yet but I like the flavor so we try to use it anyway ;).

Portobello mushrooms sauted in olive oil with chili garlic paste & basil. I like a little spice so I easily added a bit of our favorite hot sauce.  Crushed red pepper or black pepper would be a nice and convenient option for heat as well.  I like to saute the portobello slices until almost cooked before i add the Basil. Adding it towards the end wilts it just enough to cling to the mushrooms but still taste fresh.

#1 Best tofu and crumbles.   This salad was delicious and extremely satisfying.  Adding either the tofu or the crumble would be enough crisp for one salad, but adding both is twice as nice.  More salad ideas to come…

Huevos Rancheros can be served in many different forms. It seems as though every restaurant has their own way of preparing essentially the same meal.  This is because there are many ways to make this concept delicious! The staple ingredients of Huevos Rancheros include tortilla, eggs, sauce/salsa, avocado and beans. Joe and I make this meal frequently and have about 4 or 5 different “preferred” ways to do it. This particular style is referred to “huevos rancheros, B-style” or “huevos rancher-B’s”  (soon to come- Huevos Rancher-Joe’s and Eggs Arhar Daal).

B- style rancheros require crispy corn tostadas to be stacked vertically. We use 2 fried eggs, shredded cheese (usually cheddar), homemade salsa, avocado, black beans & spinach.   If you didn’t make your own salsa use another delicious salsa and add some diced tomatoes to freshen it up.

Ingredients : Tostadas, black beans, spinach, 2 eggs, salsa, cheese, avocado,

Begin with preparing your black beans. Drain one can of beans and add frozen or fresh spinach, warm up. Spinach is good for you, add as much as you’d like.  We also like to add a bit of cayenne pepper or black pepper, cumin, and a dash of cinnamon for some extra spice.   Other ingredients to consider are mushrooms, corn, artichoke hearts, and edamame.

Next get your plate ready with one tostada and some cheese on it.   Begin frying your eggs (we fry four at once for two dishes), once eggs are flipped put your first layer of beans & spinach on the tostada.  Place one egg on the first layer of beans.   Add another tostada and repeat with another layer of beans, the 2nd egg and another sprinkle of cheese.  Top it off with some salsa and avocado.  Serve with a glass of orange juice and eat with a fork & knife… or if you’re like me you prefer a Spork for almost everything.