Stuffed Mushrooms

8 white large mushrooms
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
3 tsp of grated Parmesan cheese
3 tsp of bread crumbs
3 slices of precooked bacon

Preheat Oven to 375
Serves 4

Clean Mushroom Caps with damp paper towel, carefully removing stems and set caps aside.

Carefully dice mushroom stems and place into a pan on medium heat to saute. Add lemon juice and garlic until mushrooms are nicely sauteed. Remove from heat.

In an empty bowl combine, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and bacon (Crumbled). Mix ingredients together. Add mushroom mixture. Mix together, and carefully spoon mixture into mushroom caps.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Remove and serve warm.

2 mushrooms = 1 ww point

Weeknight Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

2 C Cooked, Cubed beef (I brown up ground beef most times)
2 C frozen mixed veggies, thawed and drained
salt
pepper
thyme
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 C half and half (I use milk)
4 TBSP butter, melted
1/2 C parsley (dried)
2 C mashed potatoes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Lightly spray or grease a pie plate. Put beef, seasoned lightly with salt & pepper in. Mix veggies with 1/4 tsp thyme and add to pie plate. Mix together half and half, a little salt, and pepper with egg. Carefully add potatoes. Mix well. Add 1/2 of parsley and mix. Spread over top of pie plate. (you can cover the entire top, or make the "ring" found in traditional variations) Drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are golden and slightly crispy. Serve hot, with hot beef gravy.

As you can see, this is a "leftover" pie. However...I make it with "fresh" ingredients, using instant potatoes, instant gravy, and just brown up the beef, and drain it. One of these nights, I'll make it with actual leftovers...I guess...

Hope you enjoy this, and let me know if you find any yummy variations...you know, with chicken and mashed sweet potatoes or something...

Fresh Apple Crisp

In a pinch for a dessert that is yummy but not requiring crazy ingredients like cream cheese and whipped cream? This is it!

Ingredients:

4 C peeled and sliced tart apples. I prefer Granny Smith, but Gala work well also.
1 1/4 C brown sugar
1 C flour
1 C oatmeal
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2/3 C margarine

Directions:

Heat overn to 375. Grease a square pan (8x8 or 9x9).* Place apple slices in pan. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl, cutting in margarine or butter, and sprinkle over the apples. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the apples are fork-tender.

Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or just plain. You can substitute peaches, or cherries, but may have to adjust the baking time accordingly.

* I did NOT grease my pan, and used a disposable aluminum pan. It worked just fine.

Yummy Chicken & Rice

This is a recipe that my BB found. We tried a little bit last night, that a friend sent home with him.

Ingredients:

1 6 ounce box of Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild Rice Original Flavor
4 - 6 Boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts lightly seasoned with salt & pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup
milk
2 C HOT water

Directions:
Put rice in a 13x9 pan. Pour 2 C HOT water over rice, and mix. Place chicken on top of rice. Seal pan TIGHTLY with foil. Place in a 375 degree oven for 75 minutes. In a small bowl, mix together cream of mushroom soup with about 3/4 of the can filled with milk. Take pan out of oven and carefully remove foil, spread soup mixture over top, reseal, and return to oven for 15 minutes. Remove pan, remove foil, and return pan to oven for another 10 - 15 minutes, or until soup is bubbly.

Enjoy!


If you plan to serve more than 6 people, or more than 4 adults, make a 2nd pan using a 2nd box of rice!


This is fantastic for "taking a meal" to someone, and is really yummy with salad. It is a filling dish without being to "casserole-y" and is nice all year long.

Nutty Apple

I made this today thought it was pretty good. Hubby liked it.

1 granny smith apple peeled, cored and cubed
2 TBS of raisins
2 TBS of chopped walnuts
1 container of yoplait lite (choose your flavor)

Mix above ingredients together in a bowl and serve.

Diabetic Exchanges: 2 fruit, 1 fat, 1 protein

Other Squash Options

I have used Mama F's Squash casserole, and it was amazing! Think mashed potatoes with cheese, and butter and bread crumbs....mmmmmmmmm...only it was yummy squash!

I had, on my kitchen counter, a total of 18, yes 18 crookneck squash (yellow, bumpy guy), ready to be eaten, or I'd have to toss them into my composter...and I did not want to do that...so I baked, pureed, and froze them...first time ever doing that for me...I know, I know...but here's what I did...


Pureed Squash (for use in soups, sauces, cakes)

Ingredients:
Ripe Squash

Directions:
Heat oven to around 350 degrees.
Slice squash in half lengthwise, remove seeds, and place flesh-side down in 13 x 9 baking dish. If you're using a drier squash variety, add about 1/4 C of water to the baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for about 30 minutes, checking to see if uniformly tender. Check each 10 - 15 minutes after that to keep from overcooking. Remove from oven, let cool to touch. Remove from pan, and slice to fit into your food mill, food processor. NOTE - if you do not have something like the Kitchen-Aid, or Oster Kitchen Center, you will need to PEEL the squash prior to running it through your mill/processor. Place into quart-sized freezer bags, lay on a cookie sheet, and freeze. Once frozen, you can then lay them flat on a shelf in a basket in your freezer, OR you can stand them like books on your shelf/in your freezer basket.

I use the quart-sized bags, as that usually equates to a doubled recipe for most things. I think, as they are completely unseasoned, I'm going to try using some of it in carrot cake, and maybe even in a "pumpkin" pie...

This is a great option (I had a friend gift me with her surplus bags of squash she'd done as baby food for her daughter before they knew that she was allergic to squash), as I didn't use it all as baby food, but would toss it into my soups to thicken it, and then got the crazy thought of using it in place of tomato paste in a recipe, and was AMAZED at how it didn't change the taste, consistency, and in fact, my crazy picky nephew who doesn't eat vegetables, actually ate several helpings of the stew, and even more of the spaghetti with the sauce...and he NEVER eats sauce when they have spaghetti at their house...

What to Do With Underripe Squash

Well, as ever, I goofed...but not too badly...I planted Acorn, Butternut, Spaghetti, and Crookneck squash, along with good old zucchini. As is the way with those type of plants in my garden, we have had waaaayyyy more than enough to eat fresh, and honestly, just how much cooked zucchini can you handle? We've had it fried, stir-fried, sauteed, steamed, in bread, in cake, in spaghetti sauce, raw (think cucumber slices with some salt and pepper)...you name it, we've had it that way...I think. Same with the Crookneck squash. When I saw the acorn all glossy green and giant on the vine, I automatically picked it...ooops! I didn't realize that a "winter squash" was supposed to stay on the vine until right after the first frost/freeze of the fall, as that hardens the rind, and changes the sugars inside, creating the delicious flavor of the squash that we know, and some of us love! So, I had about 6 acorns, and 5 spaghetti squash on my dining table, hoping to cure them and be able to keep them whole, in my garage or basement until we were ready to eat them over the winter...

I decided to call my local Garden Center (NOT a Home Depot, but an actual garden/flower store), and talked to one of the growers there. He recommended the following options:

1 - Blanch, peel, seed, and cube the squash, pack it in quart bags/containers, and freeze. You can defrost them during the off-season, stir-fry them, or steam them, and put them into soup etc.

2 - Using the good ol' Interweb, look up a recipe for "Indian Pickle", and voila! You've got a yummy, raw-food option for any underripe produce, that is healthy, easy, and something new!

I recently used the first option, as I didn't want to get the rest of the ingredients that I didn't have for the pickle option, and am now the proud freezer stuffer of 3 gallon-sized containers of spaghetti squash...