Stuffed mushrooms

I love mushrooms, as long as they're cooked. This is my parents recipe, kind of altered.

Ingredients:

• mushrooms
• breadcrumbs
• shredded cheese (this time I used asiago...sometimes I use parmegian)
• minced garlic or garlic powder
• italian seasonings
• butter or olive oil

Directions:

• wash the mushrooms
• pop the stem out and scrape some of the insides out (put aside in bowl)
• take the stems and chop them up (i use my mini chopper)
• put them in a bowl and add breadcrumbs, garlic, seasonings and cheese.
• in a skillet, put a little butter or olive oil. Do this over medium heat.
  
• put the breadcrumb mixture in skillet and cook until it becomes a little gummy.
• Place the mushroom caps upside down on a cookie sheet and fill with the stuffing.
• Cook at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.
  

Garlic Cheddar Chicken

A fellow knottie (Becky) posted this recipe the other day and it sounded so good. I decided to try it today, and I was correct! It is yummy!!

Ingredients:

• Extra virgin olive oil (or butter)
  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (I used about 6-7)
  
• 3/4 c. dry Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• Various Italian seasonings to taste
  
• 8 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, pounded thin (I used 6)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
  
• Heat olive oil in saucepan over low heat and cook garlic until tender (I sauteed it in the EVOO, but then added about 1/2 cup of I can't believe its not butter spray (just pour it in) to make a garlic butter)
  
• In a shallow bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan and cheddar cheese, and seasonings
• Dip each chicken breast in garlic butter to coat then press into breadcrumb mixture
• Put thin layer of breadcrumb mixture on the bottom of 9" x 13" baking dish, then arrange chicken breasts in dish
• Drizzle with remaining oil and top with any remaining breadcrumb mixture
• Bake 30 mins. or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear
• For the last couple minutes, I sprinkle cheddar and parmesan cheese on to the top of the chicken and then turn on the broiler to make the top of the dish crispy/browned (I didn't broil, I just put it back in to melt the cheese)
  

4 layer dip

No picture, sorry!
A co-worker made this dip lastweek and I couldn't stop eating it...so I asked him how it was made. It can't get much easier than this:

Layer 1: mix together sour cream and a packet of taco seasoning (i used almost 2 large sized reduced fat sour cream containers)
Layer 2: sliced olives. I used to tiny cans....obviously drain them first!
Layer 3: Medium salsa
Layer 4: cheese. I used mexican cheese (the shredded bag of taco type cheese)

And VOILA! you're done! So easy, and soooo addicting....seriously...I'm warning you!

Mac and Cheese Lorraine

This came from the new Rachael Ray cookbook "Just in Time". I really liked it! Of course I changed some things up and will make note.

Ingredients:

• salt
• 1 lb gemelli pasta (or whatever pasta you want)
• 1/2 lb bacon, chopped
• 1 TBL EVOO
• 2 onions, quartered and thinly sliced (I only used 1 onion and chopped it into tiny pieces)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 TBL butter
• 2 TBL all purpose flour
• 1 c. chicken stock
• 1 c. whole milk (I used skim milk)
• black pepper
• 2 cups shredded Gruyere (I used 1 c. Gruyere and 1 c. cheddar)
• nutmeg, to taste (i skipped the nutmeg)
• 1 rounded TBL dijon mustard

Directions

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water, add pasta and cook al dente. Drain
• Cook the bacon in the EVOO in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. When crisp remove to a paper-towel-lined plate. Drain out all but 2-3 TBL of the fat. Add the onions and cook about 10 minutes, or until they begin to caramelize. Add the wine and cook for another minute.
• While the onions cook, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour (when i did this it just kind of lumped together...) Cook for 1 minute, then whisk in the stock and milk and bring to a bubble. Cook for a few minutes to thicken, then season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cheese, then add the nutmeg, mustard, and salt and pepper.
• Toss the pasta with the onions, then stir in the cheese sauce. Top each serving with some of the crispy bacon.
  

Cheeseburger pie

A friend at work gave me this recipe. Jake was very excited to hear about it. I decided to make it tonight and glad I did. It's very tasty! I will write out the recipe as written and note the differences next to the things I changed.


Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 1 4oz can chopped mushrooms, drained (I used fresh mushrooms)
• 1/2 cup snipped parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 packages crescent rolls (8 rolls each)
• 3 eggs
• 6 slices American cheese (I used cheddar)
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

• cook ground beef and onion until meat is brown and onion is tender; drain off fat
• stir in tomato sauce, mushrooms, parsley, salt, oregano, and pepper
• unroll one package of crescent rolls and place them in a lightly greased 9 inch pie plate; pressing edges together to form a pie shell
• Separate one of the eggs; set yolk aside
• Beat egg white with the remaining 2 eggs
• Pour 1/2 the beaten egg over the pie shell
• Spoon meat mixture into shell
• Arrange the cheese on top of meat; spread with remaining beaten egg
• Mix reserved egg yolk with water; lightly brush some over edge of pastry. Reserve remaining yolk mixture.
• Unroll second package of crescent rolls, form a top on the pie.
• Seal edges, cut slits in the top for steam to escape. Brush top with remaining yolk.
• Loosely cover the edge w/ tin foil.
• Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
  
• Cover center of pie loosely with foil.
• Bake for 20 minutes longer.
• Let stand for 10 minutes. (Make sure you let it stand, otherwise its too watery)
  

Cheesy garlicy chicken

Tonights concoction came from allrecipes.com (surprise, surprise). As usual, I changed the recipe around a little. Jake really liked this dish. I was slightly disappointed with it. The cheeses seemed to seep out of it (as you can see in the picture), instead of staying inside the chicken. At any rate, I will make this again. And here is what I did:

• oil, for greasing pan
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 tub of garlic and herb cream cheese spread
  
• 1 block of cheddar cheese; cut into 1/2 inch slices
  
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put a little oil (i used olive oil) on the bottom of the baking pan you will be using.
   
2. Butterfly each breast, cutting almost but not completely through. Smear in a layer of the cream cheese and place a slice of the cheddar in, the close the chicken up.
   
3. Pour milk into a bowl. In another bowl, combine breadcrumbs and Romano cheese. Dip each piece of chicken in the milk, then coat in the breadcrumb mixture. Place in a single layer in the pre-oiled baking pan.
   
4. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in lemon juice and garlic, and drizzle evenly over chicken.
   
5. Bake until chicken is done.

In error, I cooked the chicken and THEN put the butter mixture on afterwards....I thought it was fine that way. I also made mashed potatoes and put the butter mixture on those. mmm.