Spinach Stuffed Italian Portobellos

Holy Cow. 2 recipes in less than 6 months. I'm on a roll, people.

I wanted to put meat in this dish, mixed in with the spinach and cheese, but the pan I wanted to use was washing in the dishwasher. Therefore, because of my extreme laziness, we have a healthier, vegetarian dish :).

I served this as a main dish with my zucchini crisps as a side, but I think this would easily work as a hearty side dish to a steak dinner.

Spinach Stuffed Italian Portobellos

Serves 2

Ingredients

3-4 large portobello mushrooms, washed and gills removed with a spoon

1/4 c olive oil

1 Tbs Italian seasoning

1 can spinach (or better yet, frozen spinach thawed)

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, and a little extra for sprinkling on top

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

2. Mix Italian seasoning and olive oil. Coat both sides of the mushrooms and let them marinate for about 15 minutes.

3. Place mushrooms on baking sheet, gill side down. Bake for 15 minutes, flipping them over halfway through.

4. Meanwhile, mix the spinach, breadcrumbs and Parmesan in a medium sized bowl. Once the mushrooms are done, fill the caps with about 1/2 cup of filling, and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

5. Put back in the 450F oven for about 5 more minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the topping mixture is heated through.

Parmesan Zucchini Crisps

Hey Everyone!

It's been a while. Like, 6 months. I got into a slump. A cooking slump, a life slump, a slumpy slump.

I'm not sure I'm totally out of it, but at least I've recently felt inspired to try cooking new things again. I'm completely out of practice for taking food photos, so I'm going to have ease back into taking good looking photos again.

I recently made these zucchini crisps I found on the EatingWell website (which I highly recommend as a healthy recipe search engine!).

Tony and I both really enjoyed them. They are simple enough to cook on a weeknight, but actually look pretty impressive when served!

Enjoy!

Parmesan Zucchini Crisps

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 medium zucchini, sliced diagonally into1/4" medallions
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Procedure:
1. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat.
2. Add zucchini to skillet, toss in oil and cook for about 20 minutes, flipping the medallions over about half way through. The zucchini should be lightly browned on both sides and soft in the middle.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste, then place a pinch of Parmesan on top of each medallion. Cook on low heat for about 2 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy as a side or even an appetizer!

Candied Sweet Potatoes

So, this post may be a little bit late for "holiday" cooking, but this recipe is good all throughout the winter, and it can successfully impress any guests you have by it's appearance and taste.


Note: Also try out the Cranberry Sauce pictured in the background!

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into french fries

1 Tbs flour

3/4 c sugar

1 Tbs cinnamon

1/2 lemon

1/3 c water

1 stick butter

nutmeg

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F, and grease a large (9"x13") baking dish.

2. Add cut sweet potatoes to dish. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.

3. Slice lemon thinly, twist and place about 4 slices on the potatoes.

4. Add the 1/3 c water (or however much water it takes to cover the bottom of the dish).

5. Slice butter into small pats, and place evenly over all of the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle a small amount of nutmeg over the entire dish (remember, a little goes a long way).

6. Cover with aluminum foil, and place in middle rack in the oven. Bake for 60 minutes, basting the potatoes every 15 minutes with the juice/water mixture in the bottom of the dish.

Breakfast Puffs

Note: This recipe is the exact recipe from BHG's Cookbook, called "Nan's Puffs".

These puffs are so simple.

So delicious.

So...adaptable! I made the bare-bones version at home this morning, but I can imagine so many delicious possibilities: Cheese and chive puffs, cinnamon and nutmeg puffs, custard filled puffs...and the list goes on.

These are a perfect "Sunday" breakfast in my mind: quick to make, only a few staple ingredients, and only 1 pot and 1 muffin tin to clean up! Perfect!

Breakfast Puffs

Makes 12 puffs

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter

1 c milk

3/4 c flour

4 eggs

sugar for sprinkling

honey for topping

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 375F, and grease a 12 cup muffin tin, inside and around the edges.

2. In a 2 quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the milk and carefully (let's not repeat the dreaded TAPIOCA INCIDENT) bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, immediately and quickly stir in all of the flour. The mixture will stick to itself and make a large ball, coming away from the sides of the saucepan. Allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.

4. After cooling, add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition for one minute.

5. Scoop into equal portions in the muffin tin, filling the cups about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle sugar on top of each puff. Bake for 30 minutes at 375F, until puffed up and golden. Be careful not to startle the muffins too much (treat them as gently as you would a souffle, because they will deflate easily.

6. Serve immediately, drizzled with honey for extra sweetness.

Happy Muffin Says ENJOY! :)