This Week: Fall Specialties

The combination of a new chill in the air, autumn smells coming through my apartment window, pumpkin coffee & bagels offered at Starbucks, Dunks & Einstein’s and the 1st football game playing on my TV screen Sunday night certainly kicked off this fall season for me. It’s the perfect time of year to go outside and get moving – hit the pavement for a nice walk, brisk jog or hard run – the weather’s just perfect for it!! Then, come home and fill your kitchen with the aroma of savory fall recipes. I know what you’re thinking…the foods of fall are all unhealthy: baked breads, nuts, pies, poultry dishes loaded with sugars & oils, and of course - ‘football food’ meaning fried finger foods loaded with salt and fat. While that initial assumption holds some truth, this past weekend I experimented in my kitchen and came up with an appetizer and entrée filled with all of the fall flavors we love, less the fat.

This week my blogs will highlight fall specialties that are warm, hearty, rich in fall flavors, AND are NOT filled with ingredients that pollute our bodies. Rather than going for the quick, simple & less expensive recipes, this week I’ll focus on recipes that may take a little longer to prepare, but that will be sure to impress =) Today’s blog features an appetizer and tomorrow’s will feature a main dish.


Vegetarian Stuffed Mushrooms (add ½ pound of cooked shrimp diced into small pieces or a little bit of sausage to your stuffing to make it non-vegetarian)
Ingredients: 1 package of 'Stuffing Mushrooms,' ½ cup of cooked lentils, 2 shallots, 2 – 4 cloves of garlic, fresh parsley (as much as you like…personally, I like a lot of parsley –about ½ a bunch), ½ a package of small diced mushrooms, 3 – 4 tbsp. of olive oil for sautéing, ¾ cup of white wine, approx. ½ cup of bread crumbs, approx. 1 cup vegetable stock, cheese (any type…I used parmesan, but you can use whatever you like best…any kind of shredded cheese or mixture of cheeses would work too…the measurement is up to you), ½ cup of chopped almonds, ground black pepper.


Directions:
1. Cleaning the stuffing mushrooms: De-Stem your mushrooms…cut out the stem and clean out the center so there’s room to stuff. Then, soak mushrooms in bowl of cold water to soak & set aside.
2: Preheat oven to 375
3: The Stuffing:
– Boil lentils
- Mince shallots, garlic & parsley
– Cut up baby diced mushrooms into small pieces
– Sautee shallots, garlic, parsley, mushrooms, lentils and white wine in olive oil for about 5 min.
– Combine sautéed mixture in mixing bowl (add shrimp or sausage if desired), breadcrumbs & vegetable stock **Feel free to continue to add vegetable stock (a thinner) and/or breadcrumbs (a thickener) until the stuffing is the right consistency for you**
– Add cheese, chopped almonds & ground black pepper. Mix well...then, stuff your mushrooms w/a tsp.
4. The cooking: Spray baking dish with 0 cal. cooking spray. Place stuffed mushrooms in baking dish & bake 30 – 40 min. Add cheese on top, if desired.

These vegetarian stuffed mushrooms are a great substitute to other ‘football-watching-finger foods’: they’re hearty, nutritious, filled with fall flavors & taste great with a nice cold beer =)