Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms

Ever hear the expression that how good your food is depends on how much someone you love likes them? Well, me neither, but Marc really loved these sausage-stuffed mushrooms that I cooked tonight for dinner. As I talked about before in another post, I just love stuffed mushrooms, so I am always on a lookout for new recipes. The original idea this time was to try and use the ricotta cheese I bought by accident (thinking I needed it for another recipe, but turned out I didn't). I searched the internet for recipes that has ricotta cheese as an ingredient, and found stuffed mushrooms. So I went out and bought mushrooms, went back to the recipe, and decided I didn't like the recipe very much because I already bought some hot Italian sausages while the recipe requires precooked breakfast sausages. Therefore, I searched the internet again for sausage stuffed mushrooms, and came across this one! And it actually turned out perfect because I had 6 oz of open cream cheese left over that I want to use and free up some room in the fridge!

Anyhow, I ramble. I did mess with this recipe quite a bit, because I had 6 slightly smaller mushrooms instead of the 24 large mushrooms the recipe called for. I ended up using 2 sausages instead of 3, slightly less Parmesan cheese, and the rest of my cream cheese. However, it still turned out that I made way too much stuffing, so my mushrooms turned out very fat and chubby. I even had a little more stuffing left to eat for lunch tomorrow! Marc did love these sausage-stuffed mushrooms, and even asked me to share with his mom. I am happy to oblige. The green beans turned out very well too!

Sausage-Stuffed Mushroom Recipe
Serving Size:

Makes 24 stuffed mushrooms

Ingredients:
3 Italian hot sausages, casings removed
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 large egg yolk
Olive oil
24 large (about 2-inch-diameter) mushrooms, stemmed
1/3 cup dry white wine

Directions:

1. Sauté sausage and oregano in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until sausage is cooked through and brown, breaking into small pieces with back of fork, about 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage mixture to large bowl and cool. Mix in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder, then cream cheese. Season filling with salt and pepper; mix in egg yolk.
2. Brush 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish with olive oil to coat. Brush cavity of each mushroom cap with white wine; fill with scant 1 tablespoon filling and sprinkle with some of remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Arrange mushrooms, filling side up, in prepared dish. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)
3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake uncovered until mushrooms are tender and filling is brown on top, about 25 minutes.

Green Beans Almondine Recipe

Serving Size:

Depends on how much you like green beans

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. green beans
4 oz. almonds
2 tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Saute almonds in butter until lightly browned; do not burn. Steam the green beans. Toss with almonds and season with salt and pepper before serving.