Stuffed Mushrooms

Of all the appetizers I made during New Years Eve, the stuffed mushrooms were my favorite. I got them off of my favorite ever, annies eats. Thats really all I can say about this recipe. It’s awesome. The only change I made was I used whole white mushrooms instead of button, and I only had 21 mushrooms.

Stuffed Mushrooms

24 whole fresh button mushrooms

3-4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 tsp. vegetable oil

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

¼ tsp. pepper

¼ tsp. onion powder

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

Bread crumbs and minced fresh herbs, for garnish (optional)

 

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully remove the stems from the mushroom caps, setting the caps aside for later.  Add the stems to the bowl of a food processor.  Add the garlic to the food processor as well, and pulse in brief bursts until them mushroom stems and garlic are finely chopped.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the chopped mushroom stems and garlic and cook until all the moisture has disappeared, about 5-7 minutes.  Lower the heat to medium-low.  Stir in the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and spices.  Stir together until the mixture is smooth and creamy; remove from the heat.  Using a small spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of filling.  Arrange the mushroom caps on the prepared baking sheet.  Top with bread crumbs, if desired.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are hot and liquid starts to form under the caps.  Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with fresh herbs if using and serve immediately.

Lemon and Caper Salmon

This is a recipe that my grandma gave to me, and its really, really good! And I don’t even really like salmon (besides lox and sushi, but like cooked salmon). This is amazing.

Recipe for Lemon and Caper Salmon-

about 2 1/2 lbs. salmon with skin  on one side

mayo

lemon pepper

seasoning salt

2 lemons, cut into thin slices

3 tbsp. capers (plus extra for after cooking)

 

Rub mayo on the skin side of the salmon, then put a lot of lemon pepper and a little seasoning salt. Flip onto tin foil.

Sprinkle lemon pepper and seasoning salt on the other side, then place the lemon and capers on it.

Wrap tightly in foil and grill for 25-30 minutes.

Mini Food Proscessor

I’ve been wanting a food proscessor for a while now, and today we were at Kohls, and my mom asked me what I wanted for the kitchen, and I said I wanted a food proscessor and a stand mixer, so she let me get one (a mini food proscessor, no stand mixer 😦 ) I’m exited to use it for further recipes!

Iron Chef

Today I went to my friend’s house and we played Iron Chef. Yeah. That’s right. Her brother picked out a secret ingredient, Laughing Cow creamy swiss cheese, and we made some stuff out of it. Usually they are really weird, and I would never put up on this blog, but today I made one thing that was really good. Its really easy. Just take two wedges of Laughing Cow creamy swiss cheese, and add a squirt of yellow and dijon mustard, and mix. It’s great with tukey pastrami or a sandwich. Oh, and if you wre wondering who won the Iron Chef, My friend Megan did. But I’ll get revenge.

Pancake Ideas

In yesterdays post, I talked about being mad at my uncle for ruining the pancakes. Well, I decided that I was going to open a pancake shop when I grow up (what resteraunt I want to run chages every week, pretty much…). Here are 2 of my ideas for the pancakes-

Take any regular boxed pancake mix and make one batch. I haven’t tried either of these.

Praline Pancakes- add 1/2 cup chopped pecans and 1 tsp. vanilla extract to the batter, and top the pancakes with caramel sauce.

White Chocolate Macadamia Pancakes- add white chocolate chips, some macadamia nuts, and 1 tsp. vanilla to the batter, and top with whipped cream.

 

Pancake Trouble

Today I am at my uncle’s house. My uncle was going to make pancakes, and I mixed the batter, so I was waiting to help make the pancakes on the griddle. There was fruit set out to put in the pancakes. Blueberries, peaches and bananas. I said that I didn’t like blueberries RIGHT before he rudely dumped them into the batter along with the peaches and bananas, so its not like he didn’t know. I was thinking,’ Well that was really inconsiderate, you could have put them in each pancake as you’re cooking them, and then everyone could get exactly how they want them.” What if someone wanted to only have one or two of the ingredients? Heres the simple solution. You pour the batter on the griddle, then drop each ingredient in that the person wants. Woah! That was really hard, wasn’t it! Plus, for you lazy people, if you drop them in individually, you can make a smiley face :D.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 -Riley

Update

Sorry I didn’t post the last few days. It was my birthday yesterday, after all. I turned 12! But the thing I really wanted to post about was my brother “running away”. He got mad at my parents, and just decided to leave. He walked out the front door, but then turned back and decided to get some clothes. Then my dad said that he had to get a toothbrush (reasonable) and he left again. I didn’t see it, but my mom chased after him, and said she would be too sad without him, and he finally came back. I was cracking up the whole time. But don’t tell him that.

                                                          -Riley

2nd Day at Cooking Camp

Today was my 2nd day at camp at Young Chefs Academy. There weren’t any recipes easy enough for me to memorize, but today was Italian day, and we made homemade rosemary ciabatta bread, fresh pasta with tomato sauce, some kind of chicken, and tiramisu cups (without the coffee) It was all really good. Tomorrow is my last day for this week at the camp, and it will be French. Got to go.

                                              -Riley

1st Day at Cooking Camp

Today was my first day at camp at Young Chefs Academy. The theme for this week was Restaurateur, and and today was Asian food day. We made vegetable fried rice, oven fried chicken with orange sauce, and Chinese tea cakes. When I get the recipes at the end of the camp, I’ll post all of them, but for now I’ll give you the recipe for the oven fried chicken nuggets. It’s super easy.

Put flour in a large ziploc bag and crushed corn flakes in another. wisk together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water and put it in a shallow bowl. Cut 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast into nugget size pieces and put them in the flour bag. Shake to coat. Put them in the egg and toss with a fork to coat. Put them in the corn flake bag and shake again. Place them on a sheet pan and drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

They might not seem like they’ll be that great, but they are! Seriously. Try them.

Everything Sauce

This is a really fast and easy sauce that I half found on a website that I can’t seem to find again and then modified. My brother is obsessed with it. This sauce seriously goes with everything. I’ve had it with steak, pita chips, mushrooms, salmon, grilled vegetable kabobs, etc. Here’s the recipe-

1/2 cup mayo, 1-2 tablespoons vinegar (I like apple cider), 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish, and mustard to taste (about a tablespoon)

Mix together.

You should probably double or triple the recipe if you’re having people over, because it’s sure to go down fast!

Remember, you’re never too young to start cooking.