"It's Like a Party in My Mouth!"

Tonight's dinner was a party in our mouths, according to my fiance!  These Indian-inspired stuffed mushrooms were melt in your mouth, and easy to make! 

Stuffed Portobellas (feeds 2)

Ingredients

1/2 c. brown rice
1 1/4 c. vegetable stock (I used Not Beef Bouillon)
1 tbsp butter/olive oil
1 1/2 onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tomato, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 c. frozen peas
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tbsp cumin
dash of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded Colby/Monteray cheese

Procedure (I write too many research papers..)

Bring the broth to a boil.  I used boillon, so I brought water to a boil, and then added the cube.  When you have a pot full of boiling broth, add in the butter (or olive oil, or nothing depending on your commitment to being healthy!) and the rice.  Bring back to a boil and simmer until cooked.  My rice is from target and says it will be cooked in 35-40 minutes.  Target is a bunch of liars (I may also be cursed by the inability to cook rice).  55 minutes later, my rice was mostly cooked. 

While the rice is cooking, heat up the oil over medium heat in a frying pan.  Add the onions and cook until carmelized.  This takes about 10 minutes. 

During this time, de-stem the mushroom caps and chop those up.  Then add the peas, mushroom stems and tomato to the onion pot, after the initial 10 minutes of course.  Add in salt and pepper to taste (my broth had enough sodium to kill me, so I laid off the salt), garam masala, curry, red pepper flakes and cumin.  Cook until peas are un-frozen and tomatos are mushy, about 5-7 minutes.  Enjoy the aromas!

While the onion mixture is cooking, put the mushrooms gill side down on a baking sheet and brush olive oil on them.  After the rice is done, put them under the broiler for 3-4 minutes.  Meanwhile, add the rice to the onion mixture and mix in the cream cheese. Stir for about a minute. 

Take the mushrooms out (leaving the broiler on!), and stuff with the mixture.  If your mushrooms are older, you may need to scrape out the gills before the mixture will fit in!  Top with the colby/monteray jack cheese, and put under the broiler until the cheese melts.  Keep a careful eye on them, so they don't burn!

Enjoy!!

Butterbeer and Tomato-Ginger Bean Salad

Well, almost six months after this blog was created, I decided to be brave enough to post.  Unfortunately, I decided this would be a great idea after I ate the meal I want to post about!  I would also probably not suggesting drinking butterbeer while eating this meal.  I never said I was organized.

Butterbeer!

Butterbeer is the most delicious thing you will ever drink in your life.  It also vaguely makes you feel like you're in Hogwarts. 



Ingredients (serves 1)

1 cup Cream Soda
1 shot Butterscotch Schnapps

Directions

Pour about half of the soda into a glass, and then add the schnapps (you can add more than 1 shot and will not taste any alcohol--I love schnapps!).  Follow with the rest of the soda.  Enjoy!!

Tomato-Ginger Bean Salad (serves 1)



       This recipe is probably best suited for a lunch, but you could always serve it as a side!

Ingredients

1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp honey (you can use another sweetener here if you don't eat honey)
1 clove garlic smashed or finely chopped
1/4 inch ginger, finely chopped
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tomato chopped into 1/4 inch pieces (I used a roma because I had it)
1 can of beans (I used great white northern beans, would taste great with garbanzo beans)
Dash of soy sauce
Sprinkle of red pepper flakes
1 tsp ginger powder
Sea salt to taste (or garlic salt if available)

Preheat a small stir fry pan to medium-high.  Mix the soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, oils and tomatoes together.  Saute for 1-2 minutes, until the mixture boils.  Then cover and simmer for 7 minutes on low heat.

In the mean time, rinse off the beans and mix with a dash of soy sauce, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes(to taste), ginger powder and the salt. 

When the mixture is done, mash the tomatoes a bit (they will not fully mash), and mix in with beans.  If you have big chunks of garlic you may want to strain those out.  Enjoy!