Saturday Night Dinner with Friends

Last night, J & I had our friends M & J over for dinner. M is a vegetarian, so I was excited to be able to try a new recipe out for Mushroom Stuffed Mushrooms. The recipe was very easy and can be prepped up to a couple days ahead if necessary.

I first prepped four portobello mushrooms by washing them, then taking out the stems and gills. Removing the gills really does create a lot of room perfect for stuffing! I then sauteed 6oz of chopped white mushrooms, adding a little onion, fresh-ground white pepper, and rosemary.

When the mushrooms were browned and tender, I added a cup of brown rice/wild rice blend. The recipe called for one cup of cooked wild rice, but I'll be honest, I cheated. "Real" wild rice is very good, but can often take up to an hour to cook. Buying a bag just for this recipe would have been a waste for us. Instead, I used a pantry staple, Minute Rice brown rice & wild rice cups. They are fully cooked and just need microwaved to warm. They're a great side for packed lunches, and less wasteful. They are one-cup servings, so I simply added one of those to the sauteed mushrooms, and stirred until heated.

The final ingredient to the stuffing is one of my favorites--goat cheese! 2 ounces, crumbled. I stirred in the warm mix just until melted and mixed through. This was the moment I thought "OMG these are going to be SO. GOOD."  After stuffing each mushroom cap, I topped with some sliced plum tomatoes. The recipe called for grape tomatoes, but the plum tomatoes at the store looked best, so I went with those.

At this point, I wrapped the tray and put it in the fridge, then started on the pastries. One of my other favorite staples to work with for hors d'oeuvres is the Pillsbury Crescent Creations dough. I rolled it out onto my cutting board and using a pizza slicer, made small squares.

For the filling this time, I opted to use the olive pimento cream cheese from our local bagel chain, Bruegger's.

Then I simply twisted the corners and made a little "purse". You can make it into a roll, a twist, a tube, whatever you like. I placed the purses on a greased cookie sheet, and put those in the fridge as well.

Later, when it was time to get the meal going, I let the mushroom pan come warm up a little to room temperature while I preheated the oven to 425 F. The last step was to add some breadcrumbs on top of the mushrooms--I also added just a touch of grated Parmesan.

Once the mushrooms were in to bake (for 30 minutes), I chopped fresh broccoli and cauliflower, and steamed it using a great stockpot we have with a steamer basket.

The last 10 minutes of baking, I put the tray of crescent purses in. They usually bake about 15 or 20 minutes at 375F, but since the oven was at a higher temperature, I cut the time down. Finally, we were set to go.

The mushrooms were DELICIOUS! This is definitely making it to the recipe box and will become a regular meal, as it was so easy. We paired the deeper taste of the portabello mushroom with Tisdale Shiraz, and J & M brought a Funky Llama Malbec, which also went well with the meal.

After some time for conversation and relaxing, we finished off with a simple and delicious dessert. Another of our several recipes that had been cut out of one of many magazines, Broiled Banana splits. Very easy, something new, and also delicious. I sliced two bananas lengthwise and laid them in a long sheet of tin foil. I melted a tablespoon of butter in a ramekin in the microwave, and brushed it on the bananas. The topping is simple--1 tablespoon of brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon mixed together. After sprinkling the mixture on the bananas, I sealed them up in the foil and broiled the bananas on high for about 5 minutes.

I sliced each half into 2 pieces and laid in the bowl, then topped with a couple small scoops of Starbucks Vanilla Bean Frappucino ice cream. I added a small sprinkle of Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder. Unfortunately, I over-toasted the sliced almonds, so I had to leave those off. However, marshmallow fluff saved the day (as M shares my love of it) as well as some chocolate covered coffee beans!

We finished off our evening with a competitive game of Scrabble! We couldn't have asked for a better evening! We just wish it could have lasted longer!

Try this simple meal for your next dinner--whether just for you or for company--I can guarantee it will be a winner!

Enjoy!