Stuffed Mushrooms

If you love mushrooms as much as I do you will love this recipe.

So easy.

So fast.

So good.

So healthy.

I am kidding about the healthy part, but did I mention sooo good?

Here is what you will need:

Three glorious ingredients:

Fresh mushrooms, sausage and cream cheese

First you need to brown your sausage in a skillet.

Then you need to wash your mushrooms.

Wash them good.

I won't begin to tell you what they are grown in.

Just take my word for it...

wash those suckers.

Remove the stems from the middle.

Let the mushroom caps and stems dry.

After your sausage is browned, place the block of cream cheese on top.

Let the cream cheese soften and melt on the hot sausage.

Stir the cream cheese and sausage mixture.

It should look something like this:

Leave the sausage and cream cheese alone for a bit.

Take the stems and chop them finely.

Mix the finely chopped stems in with the sausage and cream cheese.

Grab a mushroom cap.



Next, take a melon baller, scoop out a bit of this delicious mixture and place it on top of your mushroom caps.


Trust me when I insist that you use this utensil.

It will save you time and provide the perfect amount of goodness to top your mushrooms.

Repeat after me..."Always do what Wendi says. Always."

This information will serve you well in the future.

Now, just stuff those babies.


Having fun yet?

You will be in about 25 minutes.

Pop your cookie sheet full of sausage stuffed mushrooms into a 375 degree oven.

Wait until the tops are brown and bubbly before you take them out.

Welcome to mushroom heaven.

Enjoy your stay!

Stuffed Mushrooms

2 packages of fresh mushrooms
1 pound of sausage (hot or mild)
Cream Cheese

Wash mushrooms. Brown sausage. Drain. Lay Cream cheese on hot sausage. Stir. Dice up stems. Mix with cream cheese and sausage mixture. Spoon mixture onto mushroom caps.
Cook at 375 degrees for about 25 mins.

Peach Salsa

A friend dropped off a few bags of peaches the other day.

Fresh peaches.

Delicious peaches.

Over 75 peaches.

What's a girl to do with so many peaches?

Make stuff.

And so I did.

I decided to share with you one of my favorite new found recipes.

It is beyond delish.

Your taste buds will thank you.

And beg for more.

What is this recipe you ask?

Peach Salsa.

Now before you go sticking your nose up and saying yuck...try it.

You will thank me.

Again.

And again.

You will need the following ingredients for your salsa.




2 cups of fresh peaches
1/4 cup of chopped red onion
1/4 cup of chopped red pepper
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped and seeded

Arrange all your ingredients in a bowl so it looks pretty enough to photograph.

Then you will add 2 teaspoons of lime juice and 1/4 tsp. of salt.

Stir.

Hello lover.

Cover and chill.

The only thing that would make this better would be fresh cilantro.

Which I intend to add later.

If I had any left.

You might as well double or triple this recipe.

You are going to kick yourself if you don't.

Not that I would know anything about that.

Happy eating.

Sausage Dip

I like to call this my

"Are you ready for some Football Dip"

You can call it whatever you want, as long as you call me when you make it.

I love, love, love this dip.

I am pretty sure both of my thighs are comprised of it.

Oh yeah....you came here for a recipe.

Here it is.


You will need these three ingredients.

Sausage, cream cheese, and rotel.

That's it.

Brown your sausage in a skillet.

Drain.

Lay your block of cream cheese on the hot sausage.

Stir.

Mix.

Is your wrist tired?

Keep going.

It will be.

After your cream cheese and sausage are mixed together, pour your rotel over the mixture.

Stir.

This is one of the easiest and best tasting dips ever.

Serve it with chips.

I promise you won't have to worry about any left overs.

Chicken Spaghetti

This dish is one of my kids favorites.

They ask for it often.

And I make it often.

Because I am their cooking slave.

And because it is easy.

Let's get started.

What you will need:

3 cups of dry Angel Hair Pasta (broken into 2 inch pieces)
4-6 chicken breasts (or 1 whole Chicken cut up)
2 cups of chicken broth reserved from the pot
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
3 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp. of Lawry's seasoning salt
Salt and pepper to taste

(optional: green pepper, onion, pimentos)

First, fill your pot with water and boil your chicken.






Boil it until done.

I tend to boil my chicken really done.

I am a little scared of salmonella.

Just a little.

Once the chicken is cooked, take each piece out of the pot with tongs and place them in your colander.

Do not drain the water from the pot!

Repeat: Do not drain the water from the pot.

Instead set aside 2 cups of the broth in a measuring cup.

I will let you know when you will need it.




Put the pot of brothy water back on the burner to cook your pasta in.

Break up your pasta into 2 inch pieces.

Stack them neatly and methodically in a measuring cup and be sure you have exactly 3 cups.

Okay the neat and methodical is how I do it, but you can just throw it in there if it makes you happy.




Cook your pasta.

If you are using angel hair, it usually takes about four minutes.

Do not overcook.

While your pasta is cooking, go ahead and chop up your chicken.

You should have about 2 cups of cooked chicken.




When your pasta is done, mix it with the remaining ingredients.

Namely the chicken, the soups, the seasoning salt, and the salt and pepper.

Oh and Hello! The cheese. Just two cups though. Save the third cup for later.

Stir the mixture up and begin adding the reserved chicken broth gradually.

I told you I would tell you when you would need it.

You want the mixture to be moist and creamy, but not soupy.

Spoon the mixture into a greased 9x13 casserole dish.

Top with the last cup of cheese.

Place this dish of delish in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

Skillet Surprise

I am going to share with you yet another recipe from my childhood.

I think this dish is when I discovered my love of vegetables.

Vegetables covered in cheese, but veggies none the less.

Let's get started shall we?

Here is what you will need:

1 lb of Hamburger meat

1/2 cup chopped onion (optional)
6-8 potatoes
4 cups shredded cabbage
Small bag of carrots or 3 medium carrots
1 can of mushrooms
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of Shredded cheddar cheese

1 tsp. of salt

dash of pepper

1 Cup of water

First, brown your hamburger meat.

Try not to start chopping up the veggies and forget about the meat like me.



Ignore those bits of slightly overdone hamburger would ya?



Drain your hamburger of all unnecessary grease.

We are going to add lots of unnecessary cheese later.

We need to conserve calories at this point.

While your hamburger meat is draining, you can begin chopping.

Let's start with the potatoes.

Peel them and slice them like so.

Next, slice your cabbage and carrots.

You can open up your can of mushrooms, drain, and dump those on the cutting board too.

You may dice any of those that are too large for your taste.

I just prefer to pick out the big ones and eat them.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love mushrooms?

I do.





Now that you have all your vegetables chopped and looking pretty on your cutting board, you are ready to start assembling the surprise.

Sprinkle a layer of hamburger meat in the bottom of your pot.

Pour about 1 cup of water over that.

Now add your sliced potatoes.

It should resemble this.





Now begin layering.

Add a layer of cabbage.

A layer of mushrooms.

A layer of carrots.

A layer of life savers.





Okay I just threw that in to make sure you were paying attention.

Everyone awake?

Good.

Just keep layering.

Hamburger, potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, carrots.

Until you run out of ingredients.

Sprinkle the last bit of hamburger on the top.




Pour the Cream of Mushroom Soup over all of it.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cook covered on medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.

Sprinkle cheese over the top.

Cook for five more minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Now take the lid off and enjoy your surprise!!!

Christmas Pretzels

I love making these little delectables during the holidays.

They are so cute and so very tasty.

It is a perfect marriage of sweet and salty.

How do I make these you ask?

It is really easy, but don't tell anyone. M'kay?

What you will need:

*A bag of waffle pretzels
*White chocolate almond bark
*Holiday MnM's

First you melt the white chocolate almond bark.

Just be sure not to overcook the chocolate.

Overcooked chocolate will not work for this.

Be sure it is nice and creamy smooth.

While your chocolate is melting, begin placing your pretzels on a cookie sheet.

Be sure they are in perfect lines and they are spaced evenly.

Okay that is only if you are me...sorry.

Next, you are going to drop a small amount of chocolate on each pretzel.

Like this.

Finally grab your bowl of MnM's and gingerly place one MnM on each chocolate topped pretzel.

Like this.

It is best to work with about ten at the time so the chocolate does not harden before you can slap an MnM on it.

Let cool.

I dare you to eat just one.

Let me know if you do!

CHICKEN CASSEROLE

This is my new favorite chicken casserole recipe. It came from a Southern Living cookbook. (Nuff said) I am not a huge fan of celery or water chestnuts, but trust me when I tell you that they add just the right amount of crunch to the incredible texture in this dish. Make this for your family tonight. They will thank you for it. Mine did.

Ingredients:

3 cups chopped deli roasted chicken

(I used 6 chicken breasts instead which was about 4 cups)

2 cups of finely chopped celery

1 4oz. can of water chestnuts (drained and finely chopped)

1/2 Cup of slivered almonds

1 Cup of grated cheddar cheese

1/2 Cup light sour cream

1/2 Cup light mayo

1 can Cream of Chicken soup

1 1/2 Cup French fried onion rings

Mix together the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir together well with spoon.

(Do NOT mix in the Kitchen aid. It will mess up the consistency of this recipe.)

Spoon into lightly greased 13x9 baking dish.

Bake @ 350 degrees for about 40 mins.

Sprinkle with onion rings and bake 5 more minutes or until bubbly around edges.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6-8 servings.