There isn’t too much to be said here. Ground meat, or ground fake meat in this case, is one of the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen. In the UK, they call it mince and it is the base for so many delicious recipes. It seems counter-productive to make mince out of already formed patties, but it works! It is far from Impossible!
When it comes to food, Mexican cuisine offers a wide variety of incredible dishes, most of them quite easy to make. However, before learning how to prepare Mexican rice, it is important to distinguish it from the Spanish version.
A debate has been raised over the years, since Spanish rice is considered by many people as the original meal, while others claim it was the Mexicans who invented it. Fact is that knowing the differences will help you make both dishes properly.
So I completely stole this from a fellow blogger I’ve found through hunting food blogs. Her blog is thedomesticatedfeminist, I encourage you to check her stuff out–delicious recipes! The one I most currently stole, are Stuffed Mushrooms. And of course, with any recipe I find, I alter it slightly (not because I’m creative, but because I’m poor and don’t have all the ingredients). My philosophy is that you should cook with what ya got in your kitchen! And it helps with the wallet too.
Okay, so let’s get your ingredients ready! Oh, and I also made garlic bread.
Ingredients (stuffed mushrooms):
Ingredients (garlic bread):
Directions (garlic bread):
Okay! So first, let’s get started on the garlic bread because it needs sometime to bake.
1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees
2. Cut the garlic bread with a good bread knife so that the knife goes almost all the way to the bottom, but you don’t wholly cut through it.
3. Stir up a mixture of butter and garlic (I used two cloves)
Buttery garlic-y goodness
4. Next, you want to use a butter knife and spread the garlic butter through each slice you’ve made (remember, you don’t want the slices to be separated from the loaf)
5. Pop it in the oven! I’d say for around 10-15 minutes (just keep checking it to make sure the bread doesn’t burn)
Directions (stuffed mushrooms)
Ahhh, now the good stuff!
1. Before we stuff ANYTHING, we need to roast up the tomatoes and spinach: put olive oil and garlic into a pan and throw the tomatoes and spinach in
3. Don’t forget pepper&salt!
4. Let that rest while you fix up the mushrooms.
5. Time to clean the mushrooms. Simply hold under cold water and scrub with your hands, inside and out. Also, take out the stems of the mushrooms. Place on pan.
Mushrooms just dying to be stuffed
6. Now we want to make a magical mixture consisting of olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice. Whisk that up. We want enough to fill each mushroom.
7. Pour mixture into mushrooms
7. Now, whatever cheese you have in the house, chop it up! You don’t need many pieces. We had brie and cheddar cheese in our apartment, so that’s what I went with. You want to chop it up into small cubes (or something similar to that)
8. Now, put in the cooked tomatoes and spinach that you roasted beforehand. Try to make them even so you don’t upset your loved ones by being unfair.
Stuffed with goodness
9. Place the pieces of cheese on top. Then sprinkle dried basil over it.
10. Aaaand, pop them in the oven. Remember it’s on 375 degrees. I left them in for around 12 minutes.
And Voila! Some wonderful cooked mushrooms.
Thanks again to thedomesticatedfeminist for her inspiration. I did it my own way, but she sure had a good idea. It is so juicy and wonderful, bursting with flavors like garlic and tomato. Hope you enjoy! Comment if you have any questions or comments!
So, sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Especially when you have half the furniture you need in your new apartment, and it’s spread out all over the tiny “living room.” It’s okay though, because there’s still that nice kitchen, with a big breakfast bar, plenty of cabinets, and a ton of bench space (perhaps a Kiwi term for “counter top” in the U.S.). Perhaps not the best stove (they kind of lean backwards), but at least it works, right?
Even though I wasn’t in the best mood, I had an idea for breakfast. I only buy produce that’s on sale and in season. So we have…mushrooms…eggs (okay, not a seasonal thing really, but always good to have)…and tortillas (sorry I’m from SoCal). Also had some mild salsa to put in as well, and can’t forget sharp (UN-DYED!) cheddar cheese!
First, gotta get those mushrooms cooking. There’s some olive oil in there, garlic (whenever I cook something, you will see garlic), and small bits of rosemary. I grew up having a huge rosemary bush outside our house, so not having fresh was a bit of a downer.
So as my mood immediately skyrocketed (who’s wouldn’t with an aroma of garlic, olive oil, and rosemary everywhere? HEAVEN), I let the mushrooms bathe in oil and garlic and cook to perfection. I moved on to prepare other things that would go along with this concoction. I heated up some MorningStar “Chik’n” and sliced em up. Even for you meat-lovers, these are really good. I suggest also the Buffalo ones for a kick. You can also see I grated just a little cheese on the side. If something needs to be cooked for a little bit, always take the time to prepare your other ingredients so you can have it timed perfectly (like when Chris gets out of the shower)!
Moving on to prepare the yellow corn tortillas. They’re pretty small, but I always prefer corn tortillas over flour, just love the texture and homemade-like flavor. I shove the mushrooms to the side of the pan and let the tortillas heat up and cook for just a minute or so on each side so it’s nice and hot with a firmer structure. Then, lay em out and put salsa over it. After that, I lay the slices of “chik’n” on the base as well.
The mushrooms are cooked to perfection, juicing with garlic and rosemary flavor. Now time to get the eggs in. I use 3 eggs, pop em in the pan, scramble them in there and toss the mushrooms into the eggs while they’re still cooking to make it feel more combined than separate ingredients.
It takes less than three minutes. Good thing I have the tortillas ready. I sprinkle cheese into the egg and mushrooms and it melts almost immediately. The tortillas are ready, with salsa and “chik’n” at the base so I designate the mixture into each of the tacos. It fills up the soft tacos easily, spilling out on the sides. But that’s okay–I have forks too! Easy recipe and very very cheap. After cooking and eating, I was in a great mood. Cooking will always cheer you up! Enjoy.
