Mushrooms and Stuff!

After 4 days of wonderful time with brother and sis-in-law, it is back to square one, back to schedule, until the next time we meet. As ever, after they left, the house seemed a bit empty and to fill up that emptiness [translation: to cheer myself up], I made myself some lovely ginger soy tea and sat on my swing all by myself, recollecting all the good times.......OK, OK--- I am going a bit overboard with this whole mushy stuff, I suppose!

I decided to cook one of those one-pot pasta dinners tonight and as I was looking in my fridge, picking out the veggies for the pasta, I happened to see this box of beautiful, Costco size, white mushrooms hidden behind the roma tomatoes. I took the box out with the idea of throwing some mushrooms into that one-pot pasta dinner. Immediately I could picture my son's grimace--- he hates mushrooms and it is always a struggle to get him to eat 'em. We always end up with a grumpy son and mom duo at the end of the meal. So well, I said to myself, forget it, I don't want any grimaces tonight! And then I thought hmm, how about I stuff those beauties and bake them? That way, everybody is happy! (The rest of us love mushrooms).

I took:

1. 10 fairly big white mushrooms (wiped clean with a wet cloth and stalk removed)
2. Some chipotle jack cheese slices (the choice is really yours)
3. Pinch of salt and pepper
4. Tad bit of oil to drizzle

What I did: 

1. I pre-heated my oven to 400 degrees (when I am unsure of the temperature, my rule of thumb is 375 to 400 degrees.......).

2. While the oven was pre-heating, I took a couple slices of chipotle jack cheese and tore into smaller pieces and just stuffed each mushroom (in the area where the stalk was) with the cheese. Like this:

Cheese nestled in each mushroom

3. I then sprinkled some salt and pepper on the mushrooms and finally drizzled some oil over each mushroom.

4. I put this into into the 400 degree oven for 15 minutes (again, when I am unsure of the baking time, my rule of thumb is 15 to 20 minutes to start off with.

Stuffed mushrooms baking away

5. At the end of 15 minutes, I checked on the mushrooms--- the cheese had definitely melted and the mushrooms were nicely done (look at the delicious juices from the mushrooms on the baking sheet in the above picture!). I wanted the cheese to brown up a bit and so I broiled it all on High for 5 minutes. Perfect!

Stuffed mushrooms ready to be eaten!

The stuffed mushrooms turned out great. The mushrooms were succulent and delicious and the chipotle jack cheese added this wonderful smoky taste to the baked mushrooms. Worked as a delicious starter to the pasta meal. What a treat!

Stuffed Mushrooms- what a treat!

If you love mushrooms, you must make this. You will love it! If you already know how to make this, great, go make some more! And if you are like my son and hate mushrooms, you sure are missing out on some good stuff!

Note: I know that mushrooms are basically fungi, however, I consider them as veggies. Besides, they are pretty nutritious too-- low calories, low sodium, 0 cholesterol and packed with various good minerals-- I read somewhere that they are packed with selenium that is great for the immune system.