Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Stuffed Mushroom

If you read my last post (Ice Cream Cake!) then you'll know the 11th was my husband's birthday. And what a birthday he had! Eight hours of MEPS! You see, Matt is the process of changing military branches. After three years in the Army, he (and a couple of the guys from his former unit) is joining the Navy. Unfortunately, the transition from Army to Navy isn't going as smoothly as we'd like. We're in a sort of military limbo where Matt is out of the Army but not yet in the Navy, so we're hanging out in Fayetteville (Fort Bragg) waiting for things to get moving.

After spending his special day at MEPS, a fun-filled day of waking up at 4:30 a.m., stripping in front of lots of strangers, and getting poked, prodded and tested, he then got to drive the hour and a half trek home. Great way to spend a birthday, right? Since he was having such a lousy day, I decided to have a little surprise waiting for him when he got home. The ice cream cake was the first part. Part two was...

The Pin: Stuffed Mushrooms by The Girl Who Ate Everything
Difficulty: 4 (1 = Easy Peasy, 10 = Frickin' Hard)

I figured stuffed mushrooms would be a nice snack when my husband arrived home. Plus, he mentioned a few weeks ago that this was one of the recipes he'd like to try. So away we go!

LOVE stuffed mushrooms!
The recipe calls for white mushrooms. When I was shopping for this cooking adventure, I simply wrote "mushrooms" on my list. At the store, I assumed baby bella mushrooms (the best mushroom of all!) were the ones I was looking for. Well, I was wrong, but I'm guessing the substitution didn't make a huge difference. The recipe also calls for 24 ounces of mushrooms. I used 8 ounces because there were only two of us eating them. For the stuffing, however, I made the full suggested amount because I was worried there wouldn't be enough otherwise.

Saute, mix, stuff, etc. So I was way off. There was more than enough stuffing. I could have cut the stuffing ingredients in half and still have had a bit left over. I tasted the left over mixture, and I was somewhat... hesitant about the outcome of this recipe. I didn't love the flavor, but I was hoping Matt would.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can prep everything, and stick them in the fridge which is exactly what I did. I prepped these bad boys in the morning and popped them in the oven when my husband was about 30 minutes away from home. I was pretty close. They were done about four minutes after he arrived.

Someone ate our mushrooms! Oh wait, that was us.
How were they? Did Matt like them? I think the best way to answer that question is to show you the conversation I just had with my husband.

Me: "Remember those stuffed mushrooms? On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate them?
Matt: "Did you buy stuff for those today? I want those again. Make them for me."

For him, that's a rave review. And I agree, they were really good. When I tasted the mixture prior to baking, I wasn't thrilled. It tasted like warm cream cheese. Baking the mixture and including the mushrooms tamed the cream cheese and brought out the flavor of the sausage and onion. The cream cheese baked gave it a... well, a nice creamy texture. Yumm!

These also reheat well. We couldn't finish them, so we reheated them the next day in the toaster oven. They were just as tasty. Per my husband's request, this is definitely one I'd do again.

Final Rating: 8 (1 = Bad, 10 = Soooo Good!)

2 comments:

  1. BAH! I wish my husband liked mushrooms more. Maybe I'll make this as like a birthday treat for myself in a couple weeks. They look delicious.

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    Replies
    1. But stuffed mushrooms almost don't taste like mushrooms. You should make him try these.

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