A Mushroom Addiction

Even though we're making lots of food at home lately (and some pretty great things I must say). I've had little time to post anything new.  But tonight is an odd evening, and I thought I'd sneak this in.  We're ordering pizza, but have some mushrooms we need to use.  So as an appetizer before the pizza we are having some homemade, addictive stuffed mushrooms.

Here's the recipe my family stole from a neighbor back in the 70's.  It's simple, vegetarian, and great for serving when you have company coming and want something delicious, unusual and easy.






Stuffed mushrooms (Donna Style)

Button Mushrooms
Italian breadcrumbs
Sweet vermouth
And our addition -- Fresh good grated parmesan cheese


Clean the mushrooms.
Remove the stems and chop off the very edge where it is really tough.
Chop the rest of the stem into small bits.
In a small bowl mix the mushroom stems with italian breadcrumbs (equal amount to the amount of chopped stems you've got.  If you'd like to-- add a little parmesan here - we used about 3 tablespoons or so to about a cup of the mushroom mixture.
Add enough sweet vermouth to moisten the crumbs and hold the mixture together.  Stuff the mushrooms with the mixture.
Broil on low rack and on low broiler setting until mushrooms are soft and the crumb mixture is browned.

There is something oddly addictive about these.  I think its the sweet vermouth.  Anyhow our two year old has eaten four of these so far and would probably eat a full dozen if we let her!
Mushroom addict. :)

Orzo

I was sick all last night and all day today.  I pretty much lived on Ginger Ale, Crackers and one small yogurt.  Then this evening as I was finally feeling a little better and a little hungry I remembered:  I have children.  A family even.  I don't get to be sick.  So I had to find something that could feed them, potentially I could eat it, was made of ingredients we needed to use up right now AND  wouldn't make me gag while cooking it.  Scott and I can rely on each other for days like this-- but neither one of us likes to "stick the other" with all of the family care stuff (and clearly I was not on my deathbed - at least- not by the evening)... so ... after puzzling for a little while- this is what I made:

                                      







Orzo with Zucchini    


Ingredients:
Olive oil -2T

3 small zucchini- diced into chickpea sized pieces                                      
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
italian seasoning
Chickpeas (garbonzo beans)
Orzo (small box or bag)
Feta (1/2 cup)
A squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

Boil water and then start orzo (takes about 8 minutes for al dente pasta)

Toss Zucchini, olive oil, garlic and some italian seasoning in a skillet cook for about 5 minutes over medium high heat.  Then add chickpeas and cook until heated through.
Drain pasta - add Zucchini and Chickpeas then crumble feta and  add it in too.  Squeeze some lemon juice over it.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Simple, easy and stomach tolerant. It was also tolerated by the little people who don't normally eat zucchini, but have a hard time saying no to pasta and cheese.

We actually didn't have enough feta tonight, so i was going to add a good bit of parmesan to each of their plates, until that is, we found our two year old in the dining room eating the block of parm.  Just gnawing away on it... like a little rat...

Thank goodness it was the generic cheaper stuff (still too pricey to be a snack for a two year old!!!)... anyhow... it was good even without a lot of cheese (and it was probably better that I just keep it simple). All of this was served alongside and Icy cold, high quality ginger ale.
I think I'll have another glass right now!