Mushroom Heaven - Melting Pot Mushrooms

Have I said how much I LOVE mushrooms?  I call these Melting Pot mushrooms not because the recipe is ripped off from the Melting Pot, but because they make your house smell like the Melting Pot. Yum.
I am going to serve these with a nice steak, mashed taters, and snap sugar peas.


Melting Pot Mushrooms

2-8 oz packages of Baby Bella (Crimini) Mushrooms
1 cup of red wine (this time I used a 2005 Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais-Villages)
1 Knorr beef bouillon cube
1/2 stick of butter
2-3 garlic cloves
Freshly ground pepper

Rinse off the mushrooms.

  

Place in a crock pot, add wine.

Crumble the bouillon over the mushrooms, add crushed garlic, butter slices, and freshly ground pepper.



Cover and put on high on low for 7 to 8 hours.  Take the lid off half way to let the liquid condense.

Snowmogeddon 2010

I am in love with the snow.  This is the first blizzard of my adult life (no Becca, in 2003 I lived in York and we did not have a much snow as Maryland).  In 1993 I was in Italy and missed it completely, although my mom and sister had a nice surprise waiting for them at JFK when they got home from visiting me. In 1996 I was in Binghamton and we only got a few inches.  So this is my weekend.

I planned out our menu and headed to Giant.  I love how the grocery store becomes a crazy mess before snow.  It is so interesting to look in people's carts to see what they think is necessary.  I left the store with out milk and bread since we really don't use either.  Our weekend menu is at the end of this post.

I am taking lots of pictures - click here to see more - and here is a quick look at our weekend so far:

Steve shoveling snow off the porch roof (yes, I have the best husband ever!)

 

The back yard during the snow

  

The sun trying to peek out after the storm

Snow piled up on the bell in the yard

Friday
Dinner - homemade pizza
For later this weekend - chili

Saturday
Breakfast - omelets (brie for me, pepperoni and cheese for Steve) and biscuts
Lunch - warmed up Chili
Dinner - going old school meat and taters - strip steak, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and snap peas
Baking - Carmel Apple Pie

Sunday
Breakfast - maybe a crustless quiche or just eggies
Lunch - chili
Dinner - The Dish (black bean and chicken enchiladas)
Baking - something to use up some fresh pineapple
Super Bowl - Crack Dip and Beer

Beefy Goodness in a Crock Pot

This is my version of Kelly Cooks Best Beef Stew Ever - it really is the best and so easy.  My husband LOVES it and it has become an easy go-to recipe at our house. I usually make it before I go to bed and put it in the fridge when I wake up. We warm it up when we want it during busy weeks.  So not foodie but oh so good. 

Beef Stew

• about 2 pounds of beef roast cut into cubes
• 1/2 of a sweet onion
• 1 leek (if you have it, I didn't this time) it adds that lovely leeky smooth flavor
• about 12 little carrots
• 3 or 4 stalks of celery
• 1 red pepper
• quart of small yellow potatoes
• 2 Knorr beef cubes
• 2 cans of Campbell condensed tomato soup
• 1 can of Progresso French Onion soup

Layer the ingredients as listed above in the crock pot, starting with the beef cubes on the bottom.
Next add the onions on top.


Then bring on the carrots and top with some red peppers and celery...

Bring on the taters and top off with crumbled bullion cubes...

Dump the tomato soups on top and then top off with the french onion soup...

 

Put the cover on and cook on low for 8 hours, do not stir...

Patience young crock pot Jedi...

The Sauce

This sauce is a base for lots of things I like to make.  I have not bought jar sauce for years.

2-28 oz. jars of diced tomatoes with puree
1 half of a sweet onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
3 or 4 garlic cloves
8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
olive oil
about 1 tablespoon Penzey pasta sprinkle

In a large, heavy sauce pan saute the onion and garlic in olive oil.  Add the red pepper and mushrooms, cook until the mushrooms are reduced.
Add the tomatoes and pasta sprinkle. Simmer for an hour or so or place in a crock pot on low for 3 to 4 hours.
You can add meat to the sauce such as sausage.

lazy girl lasagna

A few Sundays ago I had a hankering for lasagna but didn't feel like pulling it together so decided to make a baked ziti version.

• The Sauce
• Hot and sweet sausage, about a pound, pound and a half, cooked, cut into bit sized bits
• Box and half of Dreamfields ziti (cooked)
• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• 8 oz mozzarella cheese, grated
  
• 1/4-1/2 cup of grated Romano and Parmesan cheese
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the ricotta, half of the grated mozzarella, Romano/Parmesan, and pepper cheese in a small bowl set aside.

"Dot" cheese mixture over the pasta, cover with the remaining pasta.  Top with the rest of the mozzarella cheese and bake until bubbly (20-30 minutes)

the great meatloaf experiment

I like meatloaf, my darling husband thinks he doesn't.  Since we have been together I have avoided making meatloaf, saving it as a "treat" for myself when we eat out.  Well, today the wait has ended.  There was a package of ground beef in the fridge that needed to be used today (the foodsaver ended up in the storage unit, buried) so I decided today was the day. Two servings later, Steve is a meatloaf convert.

I found this great recipe on Epicurious, it is originally from Gourmet (RIP)

• 1 cup fine crumbs (I used non-fresh bread crumbs and it worked out ok)
• 1/3 cup half and half (the original recipe called for milk, we didn't have any)
  
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (I used a sweet onion)
  
• 3 garlic cloves, minced, plus one for luck
  
• 1 medium celery rib, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
  
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• dash of cinamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 5 slices of bacon
  
• 1/2 cup pitted prunes
• 1  pounds ground beef chuck
• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F
Soak bread crumbs in milk in a large bowl.
I chopped the onion, garlic, celery, and carrot very finely with a food chopper.
Cook onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low, then cook until carrot is tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, spices, salt, and pepper. Add to bread-crumb mixture.

Finely chop bacon and prunes in a food processor, then add to onion mixture along with beef, pork, and eggs  and mix together with your hands.

Pack mixture into a 13- by 9-inch shallow baking dish or pan.

Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of meatloaf registers 155°F, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

my favorite cheese

When I go to the cheese department at Wegmans I just cannot get past Brillat-Savarin. It is the most luscious triple cream brie this cheese naive girl has ever tasted. My entire family is hooked. You can do the fancy fruity nutty brie thing, but in my opinion that is intended to dress up sub par cheap brie. This brie is best slathered on pieces of fresh baggette.Yum.