Stuffed Mushrooms

Big challenge every night after work and chores – what should I eat for dinner.  I have been doing Weight Watchers since January and am within 6# of my 10% goal.   Certainly don’t want to blow my day of point counting and activity by eating a crummy dinner.  But the fridge tends to be pretty sparse and I’m typically tired.   I would love to just have something quick and easy.

Tonight I contemplated an omelet.  I had sausage, fresh mushrooms and an assortment of shredded cheeses.  With chickens on the property, there are ALWAYS eggs.  Well, almost always – occasionally the friends/ neighbors wipe me out.  But every morning I have microwaved scrambled eggs and it sounded like a bit much to have omelets for dinner.

As I was washing the mushrooms I came up with the idea to make stuffed mushrooms and threw in some fresh cut asparagus from the garden just for some extra greens.   I had 12 over-stuffed mushroom caps for dinner and these were 19 points.   If you wanted to serve these as a side or appetizer – 3 mushrooms would be 5 points.

• 1/2 c shredded cheddar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c ground sausage
• 1/2 c asparagus diced small

Blend the items above together

• Cleaned mushroom tops (I used the little morels that were on sale, 2 cups had 12 tops)

Fill the mushrooms with the blended mixture.  I placed the stuffed mushrooms in my cast iron skillet.  Sprinkle lightly with some sea salt to taste.  Put them in a 350 oven for 25 minutes.

 

Take them out after this and turn on the broiler.  Before putting the mushrooms back in the oven, sprinkle the 1/4 c of shredded mozzarella on top.  I put them under the broiler for 10 minutes.

A Chill

Today it was necessary to go outside and mow the lawn.  Nothing unusual for a Saturday afternoon in Spring.  However, today it was necessary to put a parka and boots on before mowing.  I just want to say that if it is cold enough to have to wear a parka, grass should NOT be growing.

The freshly mowed lawn does look beautiful.  It cracks me up the way the chickens follow around the lawnmower going after the freshly cut grass and insects stirred up from the mower.  Now that the lawn mower is put away, it’s a pleasure to look over the finished work.  Bonus is that my neighbor didn’t get his yard done so mine looks better than his.   Typically he finishes before me and then I have to hustle to do my lawn so it doesn’t look horrible.

Best Friends AND Family

Changes are never ending but there are a few things you can always count on . . . friends and family.   Three weeks ago I got a call at work that my Uncle Wayne was in the hospital.  His daughter told me that they didn’t expect him to make it out.   Thankfully the new boss was very understanding and I went directly to the hospital.

Uncle Wayne and I have spent a lot of time together since I moved to the farm.  We spent most of our holidays together – Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day and Labor Day.  It was wonderful because we both loved to cook and were constantly trying recipes out on each other.  He was best known for his gizzards that I wrote about earlier.  Neither of us had a lot of money so there was never any pressure to do something neither of us couldn’t afford.  But the thing we both liked to do was just hang out and talk.  We never talked about anything very important, just kept up with each others’ lives.

A few times a year Uncle Wayne and I would take the golf cart out to the woods and clear trails.   He laughed as the chicken coop I was building and constantly teased me to use my horse trailer for chicken coop.   When I had electrical problems with my van, he came over and helped me try to figure out where the draw was coming from.

Well, holidays will be on my own again.   Uncle Wayne is no longer in pain from the cancer, but I will miss him immensely.