Recipe: Portobello Mushroom Cap Pizzas

When Scott and I went to Wegmans to do our grocery shopping, we ended up eating before we did the shopping (this helps keep us from going crazy). I had already picked out my food, but I noticed some mushroom cap pizzas that looked DELICIOUS. So we got the fixings so that I could make my own version!  They were SO GOOD, but next time I would change some things- but I'll get to that at the end.

Ingredients:

Portobello Mushroom Caps
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza Sauce
Toppings of choice- I used tomatoes and sweet peppers

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Use tin foil to make circles for your mushroom caps to sit on to help keep the bottoms from getting soggy. Brush a small amount of olive oil onto the caps, season if desired.

3) Spread pizza sauce on the bottom of the mushroom cap, sprinkle with cheese and add the toppings and any additional seasons that you would like.

4) Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese starts to brown.

ENJOY!

Things I would change:

1) I would skip the pizza sauce. I found that the mushroom caps themselves produce enough juice that the sauce ended up making everything soggy.

2) I would cut off the stems. This time I left them on and found that it made the pizzas harder to eat or cut.

3) I would add more seasoning to the mushroom caps. This time I used only a tiny bit of salt, next time I think I'll try to add some cornmeal or garlic or a mixture of the two of them to try coating the mushroom caps.

So there is my Mushroom Cap Pizza Recipe! Enjoy!

From the Hound's Kitchen: Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip

IT'S SUMMER! You may have noticed unless a) you never leave your house or b) you live in the southern hemisphere. To us, summer means parties and cook outs. Parties often mean everyone brings their own dish and everyone gets a little of everything. This dish is Elfie and my go-to dish for parties. Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip. We got it from my parents to put into the family cook book. This is not a dip that your use to dunk chicken wings in; the dip itself is Buffalo wing flavored. IT'S AWESOME. We highly recommend trying it very soon.


Ingredients

2 8oz packages of Cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup pepper sauce, such as Franks Red Hot
1 cup ranch-style salad dressing
2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (unless using crockpot)
2) In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese and hot pepper sauce until well blended.
3) Mix in the ranch dressing, chicken and cheddar cheese

Only do the following if baking:
4) Spread into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish
5) Bake for 30 minutes, if oil collects on top, dab it off with a paper towel.

Serve with tortilla chips and/or celery

Notes: We usually cook ours in a crock pot. We recommend leaving yourself enough time to do it low and slow. It will work on high, but runs a greater risk of burning. We also usually make a double batch and freeze any leftovers. Finally, this dip goes great with the "Homemade" Tortilla Chips we've talked about.

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From the Hound's Kitchen: Lazy "Shepherd's Pie"

Hey Everyone! Dork_Syd here again. After the house upheaval Sunday, I was thoroughly spent. Not to mention that Mondays are the final days in my school week and I have papers due. That adds up to not wanting to cook. So until they come up with that gizmo from Back to the Future II, we have to settle to  just use really easy recipes. I came up with this recipe awhile back on a day where Shepherd's Pie sounded awesome but I was too lazy to put in that much work. Thus, Lazy Shepherds Pie was created. Now, those well versed in Irish cuisine may want to stop reading now. The impending spike in blood pressure may kill you.

By definition, Shepherds pie uses mutton (lamb). Strike 1: we're using ground beef. This is technically Cottage Pie. However, there are few who know what Cottage Pie is. Also we're going to use instant mashed potatoes instead of peeled and boiled potatoes. Strike 2: Finally, rather than baking this for an hour or so, we're cooking everything simultaneously to cut down on time and mixing it as it's served. Strike 3: I'd imagine if we pulled this in Eire we would be "potatoed "to death. It's like stoning but with potatoes. Anyway, hope you enjoy this easy recipe as much as we do.

Lazy "Shepard's Pie"

1 lb ground turkey (or beef or chicken- whatever you have)
2 - 12 oz bags of frozen mixed veggies
3 cups water
1 pkg beef stew mix
3 cups mashed potatoes (we use instant)

1) Cook the ground meat until cooked through. If you need to drain the meat, drain it once cooked. (feel free to leave a little of the excess liquid for extra flavor)

2) Add the two bags of frozen mixed veggies and a cup of water. Cover and cook until vegetables are heated through, stirring occasionally.
3) Mix the beef stew mix in the remaining 2 cups of water. Add to the meat and vegetable mixture. Bring to a boil and leave uncovered to cook down the liquid.
4) Serve over mashed potatoes.

If you are feeling adventurous, you can make your own gravy! Replace the water with stock (beef, vegetable, chicken, etc) While the vegetables are cooking add about three tbsp of flour and stir constantly. The flour will thicken the stock. Add the meat and vegetable mixture and continue to cook uncovered until desired thickness is reached.

From the Hound's Kitchen: "Homemade" Tortilla Chips

Hey everyone, Dork_Syd again. It seems that I will be the one writing when food is involved.

Elfie and I LOOOOVE chips and salsa. So much so that we will often eat enough of them to constitute a full meal. This poses a couple of problems. One of them is nutrition. Store bought chips are fried in oil and covered in way to much salt, not to mention the processed ingredients. For the most part I don't really care about processed ingredients but we have found in many cases we can find cheaper and healthier alternatives if we take the time to look. By making our own chips, we can control what goes into them and how much , and what kind of, salt is used thereby getting better nutrition. The other issue with store bought chips is price. The average 10 oz bag of tortilla chips is about $3 and lasts the 2 of us maybe 4 sittings. We were fortunate to have one of our friends post a "recipe" to make your own tortilla chips. All you need is soft corn tortillas like these and some sea or kosher salt. The tortillas in link made enough chips to nearly fill a 40 cup, 16.5 in x 11.5 in x 5.5 food storage container like this. This poses more than a 50% cost savings over store bought chips.

Please know that this will be the most complicated recipe you will EVER see.

1. Acquire ingredients
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
3. Take a 2-3 inch stack of tortillas and place them on a cutting board.
4. Cut into sixths
5. Place cut pieces on UNGREASED cookie sheet
6. Sprinkle with sea or kosher salt until desired cover is reached*
7. Bake until crispy. I recommend starting at 10 minutes and increasing by 2-3 minutes until desired crispiness is reached.
8. Place on cooling rack
9. Store in airtight food storage container

*Also works with other spices. We recommend a cinnamon sugar mix, fiesta citrus spice blend, and any of the flavored popcorn salts.

These chips work well with any type of salsa. However, one of our favorites is Jake and Amos' Corn Salsa from Pa Dutch Food and Candy Company. Not very spicy but definitely full of flavor. The PA Dutch Food and Candy Company has a wide variety of salsas most of which we have tasted and highly recommend.


Unfortunately, We did not take any pictures with this process so please enjoy this gratuitous picture of our basset.

From the Hound's Kitchen: Easy Chicken and Rice Burritos

Hey everyone, Dork_Syd here again. The boss said she wanted burritos for dinner tonight. I could think of no reason to argue. I was, however, able to come up with 2 good reasons not to argue. 1. Despite not being pregnant, it is still a bad idea to get in Elfie's way when it comes to food. 2. That sounded like a good idea. I, once again ignoring doctors' orders, got to thinking. We still had plenty of taco season left over from PA Dutch Tea and Spice Company and we came up with the idea for Easy Chicken and Rice Burritos. The taco seasoning's product page says to add 1 teaspoon to 8 oz of tomato sauce.We used this method for our burritos. On a side note, the 8 oz bag costs $9.15. This may seem like a lot until you consider the quality of the product and the fact that the average packet from a grocery store costs $1+ and is only about 1/2 oz.

Anyway, that's enough math for one post. In our efforts to save money, Elfie and I have done everything we can to plan meals around items we have in the house and/or to plan the week's meals before shopping so we only purchase what we absolutely need. We had all but three ingredients in the house already, so this was pretty easy to plan. FYI: these taste awesome and are super filling.

Without further ado, here is our recipe for Easy Chicken and Rice Burritos

3 cups cooked rice
1 Chicken Breast, boiled and shredded*
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon  of PA Dutch Taco Seasoning
1/2 large onion, chopped
Burrito tortillas
1 28 oz can of tomato sauce
1 tbsp butter
1 15 oz can of black beans (optional)


*One of the ways we have cut down costs is by eating less meat. You may want to use two or three breasts instead. Also, the recipe also would work with cubed or diced breast.

1) To cook the chicken, place in a saucepan and cover in water, heat on high. Cook for approximately 20 minutes. When chicken breast is fully cooked, use two forks to shred.

2) While the chicken is cooking, heat the butter in a large frying pan. Once melted, add the chopped bell peppers and onions. Cook for 5 minutes.

3) Add tomato sauce, Taco Seasoning, chicken and rice to the pepper and onion mixture. Add the beans to the mixture as well if you desire. Bring to a simmer, let mixture simmer for 10 minutes to cook off excess liquid.

4) Serve on tortillas & enjoy.