~School's out for the sumer! and now that it is, I can get back to cooking! :)

Yesterday my mom and I decided we wanted some of these good stuffed mushrooms. We first had them at a Christmas party at my brother and sister-in-law's house. They're REALLY RICH so if you're going to make them, mind you have people to share with (even though you aren't going to want to share).

Stuffed Mushrooms

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 8-oz package of cream cheese, warmed to room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk
• olive oil (optional)
• 24 large mushrooms, stems removed
• Dry white cooking wine

*The olive oil is for pouring into the pan prior to cooking the mushrooms so they don't stick; we just pour on a little bit of the wine.

PREPARATION:

Saute sausage and oregano in large skillet over medium-high heat until sausage is cooked through and brown, breaking it into small pieces with the back of a fork.

Drain sausage and put in a large bowl to cool.

Once the sausage is cool, add in the Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, cream cheese and egg yolk. Mix well. (This is why the cream cheese needs to be well-softened before you start!!!)

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Pour small amount of wine or olive oil onto the foil and coat the foil to keep the mushrooms from sticking. Then line the mushrooms up on the cookie sheet with the hole side up. Using a basting brush, brush a little bit of wine into each cap, then fill the cap with the filling.

Heat oven to 350. Bake mushrooms uncovered until they are tender and the filling is brown on top. This takes around 20-25 minutes.

Ingredients:

All lined up on the pan and ready to go in the oven. See how overfull they are? You want lots of the yummy stuff on those mushrooms... :)


Ready to eat!!!

It's unprecedented - two posts in one day from me! But our internet/cable went out earlier due to the storming here in middle Tennessee, so I had nothing to do but cook.

Before we begin, don't start this recipe unless you have a lot of time and maybe a masseuse; by the time I was done with this, my back was killing me from standing over the counter. BUT it was worth it - these things are really good. These would make really good finger foods at the next potluck you get stuck going to, or at a Christmas party or something.

Sour Cream Empanadas

PASTRY INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups flour (sifted)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup Crisco
  
• 1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
• 1 egg yolk

FILLING INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 lb ground meat (beef or turkey, thawed)
• 1 large onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp water

You're going to make your pastry first. Now, if you were with me for the fruit cobbler, you already have a pastry blender, a rolling pin and a flour sifter. If you weren't, well, you're going to need one of each.

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, and add the sugar and the 1 tsp of salt. Use the pastry blender to "cut" the Crisco into this mixture, just until it's kind of crumbly. Now, this won't get as crumbly as the pastry we made for the cobbler, so don't freak. Once the Crisco's all blended in, stir in the cup of sour cream and the egg yolk. Stir this all up and form the pastry into a ball (you'll want to make sure all the pastry is mixed up while you're doing this; I did the last of my mixing with my hands). Put the pastry back in the bowl, cover it with Saran wrap or something like that, and stick it in the fridge for at least two hours.

Once you're ready to begin, put your ground meat and onions in a skillet and brown them together. Then drain off the grease and stir in the 1/2 cup of sour cream, the 1/2 tsp of salt and the oregano. Set this to the side. At this point, preheat your oven to 450.

On a floured surface (just like we did for the cobbler) you want to roll out your pastry to about 1/8 inch thick. You don't want it too thin, but you don't want it too thick either. Cut out 3 inch circles from your pastry, scrunch the leftovers together, roll them out, rinse, lather, repeat until you run out of pastry.

Now, here's where things can get sticky if you aren't careful. You only want to do these a few at a time; I learned with my first batch. You're going to take a spoonful of meat and put on a pastry circle, then fold the pastry over to make a little clamshell. Squish the edges together, and use a floured fork to squinch down the edges a little more. Make a note - if you put meat on too many pastries at once, the pastry will get wet and stick to the counter. You don't want that.

Put the folded empanadas on a greased cookie sheet. Take the last egg and the 2 tsp water and beat them together in a bowl, and then, using a basting brush, brush the tops of the pastries with this mixture. Pop them in the oven and bake them for about 12 minutes. These are very good, and also very filling.

Everything laid out to get started


Mixed up nicely with the pastry blender. Not very crumbly, but crumbly enough.


Adding sour cream, egg, etc.


Ball of pastry, ready to go into the fridge.

Laid out on the pastry circles; some of them folded up.


Ready to go in the oven


Finished product!

This one's another favorite at our house, 1) because it tastes really good and 2) because it works really well for leftovers. Mom serves this over rice, but I'm not a huge fan of rice so often I just eat the meatballs by themselves or with whatever side dish.

Mom's closing tonight (she works in a big home improvement box store) so I wasn't planning on cooking anything, but I got bored so I dug out this recipe because it's easy and (on the plus) doesn't require an oven. However, because I hadn't planned on cooking, the ground beef was frozen solid when I got started. Most new microwaves have a defrost setting for meat; if yours doesn't, try this tutorial at wiseGEEK to thaw the meat in the microwave. This should be a last resort; I always suggest that you plan ahead and thaw your meat overnight in the fridge... but if you're like me (lazy!) then the microwave can work well.

Mom's Island Meat Balls

NOTE: This recipe is just about enough for one person. We usually at least double it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
  
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 cup plain water
• 8 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp vinegar (I really recommend regular vinegar for this, not the apple-cider variety, but whatever pops your crank)
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Combine all the above ingredients in a bowl and set them aside.

• 1 lb. ground meat (beef or turkey)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1/2 cup saltine cracker crumbs
• 1/2 tsp pepper (plain table pepper, not that white pepper)
• 1/4 cup milk

PREPARATION:

Combine the second set of ingredients in a large bowl. Mash them up really good with your hands. Form into small balls (about the size of one of those high-bounce balls we used to get out of the quarter machines when we were kids) and brown in canola or vegetable oil. (You can use olive oil, but it's more expensive and Mom doesn't like it; she says it makes the meat taste funny. I can't tell the difference, personally. Also, don't use a lot of oil; you're browning, not deep-frying.)

Once the meatballs are browned, drain off all the oil, then add the sauce and cook over low heat for about 45 minutes or until the sauce gets nice and thick. They taste very sweet, almost like pineapple or something. It's yummy.

Making the sauce


Meatballs cooking in the oil


Cooking in the sauce
A little bit of the finished product! My sauce didn't thicken up quite right, not sure why... Moooooooooooom!!!!!!!


Edit: Mom says the reason my sauce didn't thicken is because I cooked it with a lid on. *facepalm*