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. 

    

EASIEST BARBECUE BEEF AND SAUCE

For me, bottled bar-b-q sauce is too sweet, and indeed, the first ingredient on the label is usually high-fructose corn syrup, a no-no in my diet, plus modified corn starch and caramel color or flavoring (other names for MSG) along with hydrolyzed anything.

BARBECUE SAUCE (enough for 1-pound ground beef or use as a basting sauce for grilled meats)

one 8-ounce can Muir Glen organic tomato sauce

¼ cup worchestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon Wright's liquid smoke (never seen any other brand)

1/8 teaspoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon organic cane sugar

Mix and voila! As always, taste and tinker, if you like.

FOR THE BEEF

1-pound ground beef

one cup peeled chopped sweet onion

1. There is enough fat in the beef to put the beef and onion in a 10-inch pan, together. Don’t throw the entire pound in at once, instead, pull off  small chunks and add them to the pan.  Use low heat to get the red out of the meat, stirring with a wooden spoon.  Recipes always say “brown the meat” but what one wants to do is get the red out of it.

      2.  Pour in the sauce, reduce the heat to as low as you can.  I also use a “simmer-ring” 

           and tilt the lid of the pan. Cook for 30 minutes, checking and stirring every 10

           minutes.  Meat should be very tender.  If not, cook until it is.

4 servings

 Photos by Carol Guilford

Good on heated buns, nuked for 5 seconds, or with a side of organic, frozen corn heated with ½ tablespoon butter and a pinch of ground cumin. Trader Joe’s sells a can of non-genetically produced corn I like. 

EASIEST THANKSGIVING SWEET POTATO PIE

Photo by Carol Guilford

I am especially thankful this year because I had a freak accident and came through.

I fell off a truck, I kid you not. The truck wasn’t even moving. It was a mammoth Ford,  I slipped from the seat; my head hit the curb hard. So hard, I ended up in the emergency

room and a cat-scan. A week later, I had plastic surgery and a piece of my left eyelid was grafted onto the right one.

My appetite is returning. Gratefully, I share this sweet potato pie.

Preparation and baking time: about 1 hour. It may be prepared the night before, refrigerated and baked the day of the dinner.

Best Utensils: 4-quart pot and 10-inch pie plate

6-8 servings

4 large sweet potatoes

1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

1 large egg

½ cup orange juice (approximately)

marshmallows *

1. Scrub the potatoes, cover with water and boil over medium heat for 30-40 minutes, until they are tender. Drain, cool slightly before handling, then slip off the skins. While warm, mash in a large bowl with a potato masher.
2. Mix in the drained pineapple, egg, and enough orange juice to moisten.
3. Spoon the potato mixture into the pie plate, and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the pie is hot throughout. Top with the marshmallows, (I used 12) return to the oven, and bake until the marshmallows have melted into a crust (about 10 -15 minutes).

• I wasn’t pleased with the first “jet-puffed” marshmallows I bought, but I re-purchased at Whole Foods and the result was satisfactory.  I think those miniature marshmallows will work, too.  Let me know at guilfordcarol@gmail.com

EASIEST TOASTED CHEESE

Sometimes you get lucky.  At my mom and pop market/liquor store, I spied a 6-ounce package of cheddar cheese, labeled, All Natural, 100% Amish Farm Milk, Artificial Growth Hormone free, BGH being bad for the eater, not to mention the cows.

Heini’s (heinis.com) cheddar cheese is special. Check it out. The family owned store sells 50 varieties. 

The recipe is a good one for the single chef.  Use an 8-inch skillet for one sandwich. Two    will fit into a 10-inch skillet. 

For one sandwich

2 slices bread (I used Oroweat, a national brand made with unbleached flour)

2 slices cheese *

1 and ½ tablespoons unsalted butter (BHH free)

1.      Melt the butter over medium heat until it is foaming, and a drop of water sizzles in the pan.  Add the sandwich.  This is a stay-at-the-stove thing because the heat needs to be adjusted to avoid over-browning. 

2.      Grill for 2 minutes on the first side. Turn with a spatula (pancake turner) Grill for 2 minutes on the second side.  You shouldn’t have to add more butter.  If  the cheese had not totally melted, turn off the heat and put a lid on the skillet for  15 seconds.

* If you use chunk style, it looks like this. 

 

and turns into this

Photos by Carol Guilford

Cg note:  For a more substantial repast, especially in winter, I buy and heat up an organic tomato soup.

EASIEST LEMON CHICKEN

Photo by Carol Guilford        Note the meat thermometer.

I have made lemon chicken with fresh garlic (chopped, pressed, whole) and fresh lemon juice, but the ingredients in this version, to me, work better. To make sure, I cooked it for dinner last night.  The chicken needs to be marinated  overnight or at least for 12 hours, before baking.  

Best utensil: 8X8 baking pan

4-6 chicken thighs

    Thighs stay moist and don’t need turning

½ cup bottled pure lemon juice

     Santa Cruz organic.  If you can’t find it, vitacost.com ships. At Amazon, you must order a case.  Lemonade for 50, anyone?  

1 tablespoon garlic powder

kosher salt

low-sodium soy sauce

    I’m a fan of San-J  organic tamari sauce

1.      Rinse the chicken in cool, running water, pat dry.

2.      Mix together the lemon juice and the garlic powder.

3.      Arrange the chicken in the dish, and pour over the marinade, coating the chicken well. Cover with foil. Refrigerate. If you remember, turn the chicken over once or twice as it marinates. 

4.      Bring the chicken to room temperature before baking, about 30 minutes.

5.      Lightly salt both sides of the chicken, then, put it back in the marinade, skin side up.  With a basting brush, paint on just a little soy to aid in browning.

6.      Bake in a preheated 350 degree

oven for 1-hour, basting with the marinade in the dish after ½ hour.

  

Cg note: A medium-sized baking potato (russet, by name) should cook in an hour in the 350 ̊ oven.  For new cooks, here is a short version of how to bake potatoes, from The New Cook’s Cookbook.

Scrub potatoes with a vegetable brush.  Dry. Prick potatoes with the tines of a fork. (One or two stabs will do, allowing the steam to escape.) Put a  piece of foil under the potatoes, or just put them on the rack. When done, a fork will easily pierce them. Slit open, lengthwise from one end of the potato to the other. Press the sides with the fingers (you may need potholders) to fluff up the flesh.  Add butter or crème fraiche. Have salt and pepper available at the table.