Baked Mushroom and Blue Cheese Appetizer

This appetizer is a rich and fulfilling appetizer best used with spreading with your favorite garlic toast or crackers.  The combination of the mushrooms, cream, and bleu cheese enables you, you cannot eat just one.  One important issue to remember, you just have to have fun.  Serve alongside a favorite steak recipe, salad and yes you have got it, a bold wonderful full bodied red wine.  Now we are having fun!

2 ounces of bottom mushrooms, washed stemmed and quartered

2 ounces Shitake mushroom, washed stemmed and quartered
2 ounces Portobello mushrooms, stemmed and cut into ½ inch squares
Salt and ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 cup of Madeira Wine – This can be stressful, looking online there are bottles that start at 19.99 and bottles all the way up to 650.00 and most likely even more than this.  Do not panic, the lower price bottle will work.  Not all of us have a spending budget for a 600.00 dollar bottle of wine.  Always always, just have fun within your budget!

1 cup of heavy cream

5 ounces of a Maytag Blue Cheese
2 tablespoons of minced fresh chives

Roast washed and drained mushrooms with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic on a sided cooked sheet lined with parchment paper.

On the stove in a medium saucepan cook the 1 cup Madeira Wine reducing to 1/3 cup.  Add cream and cook until cream and wine have been reduced to 2/3 cup.  Add mushroom, blue cheese, and serve warm with garlic toast or crackers.

Wonderful!  Enjoy!  Have a lot of fun!

Baked Cauliflower, Onions, and Chick Peas

I love vegetables, and I cook a large amount every week.  Usually I cook my vegetables on the stove, but lately I have enjoyed baking my vegetables.  The flavor and texture are all together different.  I am hooked on baking in the oven.  Until we have our 100+ degree summer, I will keep baking my vegetables in the oven.  Try it, experiment and the main one thing to remember, just have fun!

Place in large bowl

I head of cauliflower, washed and rinsed well. 
Cut the florets in bit size pieces
1onion sliced thinly
1 can of chick peas – well drained

Measure

1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons ground thyme
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon black ground pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder or 6 clove garlic chopped
I also realize there are many of you which do not prefer the taste of curry.  No problem, leave it out, I am most sure the vegetables will be just as awesome to your liking.  But if you do like curry, the thyme and curry are explosive together.

Thoroughly mix the vegetables, olive oil and seasoning until well coated.

Place vegetables on a sided cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for one hour tossing a couple of times to make sure vegetables cook evenly.

Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.    Serve with fish, salmon, chicken or beef.  You will enjoy and do not forget the wine!  Let's Have Some Fun!

Heaman Casserole - Second Edition

If you have purchased my cookbook, you will know the story of the Heaman’s Casserole dating back to 1975!  My husband loves this recipe and we make it just for him during the year to fulfill his craving.  Recently he had his own idea in order to revise and excite an old recipe.  I said go for it, use your imagination, you know what I love to say,  “Just Have Fun, Let’s Have Some Fun”!  In honor of my husband and the love he has for this simple comfort food, enjoy!  

If you have my cookbook compare the different ingredients!  Just a few items changed, makes this a total different recipe.

½ pound of lean hamburger meat

½ pound of Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage – he chose the hot Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage
1 onion chopped

Brown the hamburger meat, breakfast sausage, and chopped onion.  Drain the fat from the meat well pressing with white paper towels until much of the fat has been drained off.

Boil in a large pot of boiling water salted 12 ounces of egg noodles.  Boil 5 minutes until al dente.

1 can of cream style corn, I use Green Giant

1 can tomato soup, I use Campbell’s Soup
2 teaspoons of granulated garlic
1 teaspoon Lawry’s seasoned Salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 can well drained  black pitted olives chopped – definitely optional, I realize there are a lot of you out there which do not prefer olives, in fact you just hate them.  That is okay, this recipe will be great even without  the olives

1 pound of Velveeta Cheese

Mix the cooked meat with onion, cream style corn, tomato soup, egg noodles and seasonings. 

Spray a 9 X 13” pan with non stick coating.  Spread ½ of the mixture, add ½ pound of the Velveeta and ½ can of the chopped black olives.  Spread the other half of the meat and egg noodle on top of the first layer.  Top with the remaining Velveeta and black olives.

 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes until all warm and bubbly.  Let cool 10 to 15 minutes before serving.  A salad with all the fixings, warm garlic buttered French bread and of course a bottle of your favorite red wine are all great accompaniments with this casserole.  The main thing, I know you know, just have fun!!!!

New Items on Ebay to Have More Fun Cooking and Baking with Sandy

http://myworld.ebay.com/slpon2656/

Please follow this web link to many items I have for sale on ebay.  So many items to have more fun cooking and baking with Sandy!

I hope you have as much fun as I have had with all of these items.

Enjoy!