This recipe is fabulous for those on a Specific Carbohydrate, vegetarian, gluten-, or dairy-free diet as well as anyone who loves mushrooms. My family is wild about them and they’re a great appetizer to serve for the holidays.
Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
Serves 6, but I cut in half to serve 12 3 T. olive oil 6 large portabella mushrooms, stems removed (finely chop 1/2 cup stems and reserve) 1-2 T. red dry wine 2 med. Onions diced 2 cloves garlic minced 2 T. Chopped fresh rosemary or 2 t. dried 1 med. yellow bell pepper, diced (replace with green bell pepper to make it Christmasy!) 1 med. red bell pepper diced 1 T. wine vinegar salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl mix 2 T. oil and salt and pepper. Rub mushroom caps in mixture. Place on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Set aside. Reduce oven to 300. In a large skillet heat remaining T.’s oil over med-high heat. Add wine onions garlic rosemary. Cook stirring often until onions are soft about 5 mins. Add bell peppers and reserved chopped mushroom stems and cook, stirring often about 5 mins. Stir in vinegar and salt. Reduce heat to low and cook stirring occasionally, 10 mins. Reduce from heat and let cool slightly. Fill mushroom caps with mixture and place on baking sheet. Just before serving bake until heated through about 10 mins.
I have made my own milk when I nursed six babies, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about. I haven't had any kind of milk to drink for seven years. I quit drinking regular milk when I was 17 and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. The doctor advised me to "avoid dairy" so I was drinking soy milk for many years. The Specific Carbohydrate Diet prohibits soy products and none of the commercial almond milks are legal because of the added sugar. So when I got an ad from Digestive Wellness for this SoyQuick milk maker that can be used to make almond milk, I was excited to try it. Yes, you can make homemade almond milk without a fancy gadget, but it is SO quick and easy to make, I feel it's worth it. I now have "cereal" with almond milk on dried mulberries and other dried and fresh fruit. It's wonderful! My son drinks soy milk and I haven't tried making my own soy milk yet. I'm very ambivalent about him drinking soy milk and have wondered if he would be okay switching to lactose-free milk. If I try it, I'm sure I would save a lot of money. A half-gallon of soy milk is over $3. With the price of groceries and the number of food-related health problems going up, it may be time to consider making more of your own food.
It just isn’t fall for me unless I bake one of my apple pies. I am so in love with this recipe that I cannot tolerate less in an apple pie! In fact, I’m a little arrogant about it. My mother, a superb cook, decided to take me on in a pie contest one year. She didn’t use a recipe and I did– the recipe for Apple Crunch Pie I got from Woman’s Day magazine. The contest was officially declared a tie. That tells you how good this is!
Before I give you the recipe, let me explain a few things. If you like apple pie and apple crisp, you’ll love this recipe. The recipe calls for store-bought refrigerated crust–another reason I love it. But if you’re like my mom and prefer to make your own, have at it! There’s simply no reason to make one pie, when you can just as easily make two, so the recipe is already doubled for you. The kids helped me make this. They love using my apple peeler and Pampered Chef stand for it. As I was helping them peel, I remembered my dad peeling apples for hours so mom could put them in the freezer to bake with later. This pie is full of meaning! We’re eating the first pie with Grandpa tonight, but the second goes to our sweeter-than-pie friend, Pastor Blake, who is doing so well. When I asked Deb if he liked apple pie, he said, “Bring it on!” If he can see this, I hope drooling isn’t bad for your heart!
To keep your crust from burning, you can get a pie crust protector like this one from Amazon You can also make your own like I did by cutting the bottom out of a foil pie pan. Now here’s the recipe!
SERVES: 16
2 refrigerated pie crusts
CRUMB TOPPING
1 c. + 4 T. flour
1 c. packed light brown sugar
2/3 c. granulated sugar
2 t. ground cinnamon
2 sticks (1 c.) cold butter or margarine (not spread), cut in small pieces
FILLING
14 med. to lg. apples (about 6.5 lb) such as Granny Smith, Pippins or Greenings
2T. lemon juice
1 c. granulated sugar
6 T. flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1. Have ready two 9-in pie plates and a cookie sheet (or two). Place oven rack in lowest position in oven. Heat oven to 450 F.
2. Line pie plate with pie crust according to package directions. Flute or crimp edge.
3. CRUMB TOPPING: Mix flour, sugars & cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cut in butter (or use fingertips) until mixture forms moist, coarse crumbs that clump together easily.
4: FILLING: Peel, halve & core apples. Cut in 1/8-in. thick slices (may use food processor to slice). Put into a large bowl. Toss with lemon juice to coat. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle over apple slices; toss to coat.
5. Layer apple slices in pie shell, mounding them higher in center. pat topping evenly over apples to form a top crust.
6. Place pie on cookie sheet to catch drips. Bake 15 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 350F and bake 45 mins. longer or until a skewer meets some resistance when center of pie is pierced (apples will continue to cook after removed from oven) and topping is golden brown. If topping is browning too quickly, drape a piece of foil over pie. Cool pie completely on wire rack before serving.
If you’re looking for help in the kitchen and you can’t afford a chef, you’ll love these new websites. My friend, Shari, gave me the link to www.menus4moms.com. I haven’t used her service yet, but here’s what I like. #1 – It’s free! And it’s a system based on the practices I teach in my workshop, "You Can Make Meaningful Meals in Minutes (for Not Much Money)." The only drawback to the menus is they aren’t based on sales in your area and they aren’t diet-specific. If you’re looking for low-carb, for example, you won’t find it there.
A fee-based service ($1.25/week) plans diet-specific meals based on sales at your local grocery: www.e-mealz.com. I don’t shop at the stores listed by e-mealz, but I did find a site that offers meal plans based on my local grocery store’s sales. Do a web search on meal planning in your area and you may find a similar service.
These services are additional helps for figuring out what to make your family. The most important step is to have a plan! If you don’t know what’s for dinner next week, why don’t you look in your cupboards? A quick search of www.allrecipes.com or your recipe software can tell you what you could make with those ingredients. You can automatically add any other necessary ingredients to your shopping list. If you plan well ahead of time, you can buy ingredients at the very best price. For now, let’s just figure out what to eat this week!
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
