EASIEST HOLIDAY STUFFED MUSHROOMS

Great for the holidays.  They go fast... as in gobbled up.  A variety of mushrooms are now available in the markets--gone are the days when the only mushroom choice was white and tasteless.

Preparation time: about 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Best Utensil: 9x13 shallow baking dish

12-16 mushrooms

  I favor crimini mushrooms

½ cup bread crumbs

  Whole Foods 365 brand panko

2-3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons fresh Italian flat parsley

  Parsley must be washed, dried and chopped. I learned somewhere, sometime ago to use

   kitchen scissors to perform this chore

olive oil

1. Rinse the mushrooms quickly in cold water.  Pat dry with paper towels.  Remove (pull out) the stems, carefully.  With a basting brush, brush the bottoms of the mushrooms with olive oil, (keeps them from sticking) then  place the mushrooms, hollow-side up in the baking dish.

2. Mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and parsley together.   

3. Moisten with olive oil—2 tablespoons should do it. Should be moist, not wet.    

4. Stuff the mushrooms—with a little mound on the top.

5. Bake in a 375 degree, preheated oven for 20 minutes.