French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms

Ho Ho Ho! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Yes, it is Santa and Mrs. Claus there at the North Pole dinner table...

Steve and I hosted a Christmas Murder Mystery Dinner Party for our Sunday School class last night. And it was so much fun! Everyone was assigned a different character and the game played out during the appetizers, dinner, and desserts. The best part about the night was the fact that everyone joined in on the fun and got "in to" character. We loved it!

Our party began at 6:00 and at 3:30 I was frantically trying to figure out what in the world I was going to do for appetizers. I had made PW's stuffed mushroom recipe that included the sausage before, and was prepared to do just that----when I saw THIS. French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms just looked too interesting to pass up, so I made them.

Besides the fact that they were extremely simple to make, they did taste exactly like French Onion soup! So if you are not particularly fond of that soup, you may not like these. But if you do like that soup----these will rock your world.

I have a couple more holiday parties I'm gonna make these for. I made a ton of them and was left with just 3 on a plate. I think they liked them. I tried one of the three that were left. Guessing they taste a lot better WARM!!

Salsa Duo!!

There are many things that got me excited about having Monterey Jack nachos with two different fresh salsas this evening. First of all, it is VERY hot here. Like miserably hot. Like there is no way I want to even think about heating up my stove, grill, or microwave for that matter. Secondly, PW had this recipe posted a few days ago and I could not wait to try it. Thirdly, there was a huge semi load full of Mississippi sweet corn yelling at me to come buy it, so I did. I thought I remembered seeing this recipe for a fresh corn salsa and I was right!





Both of these salsas included fresh cilantro, jalapeno, lime, and red onion for ingredients. So why not make them both? I was buying those ingredients anyway. So after some chopping and a trip to the grocery store for a lime that I forgot, we had our "light" supper. Not sure it can be called "light" when I ate my weight in chips. But darnit, these salsas were good!


Pineapple Mango Salsa was not a huge hit with my kiddos. They have not yet captured the idea of the gloriousness of sweet and savory. But I loved it---fresh pineapple, mango, along with the flavors of spicy jalapeno and cilantro. YUM! Definitely not something I could eat a lot of, but love it for a different twist on salsa. Steve liked it too, but felt the same way I did.

Fresh Corn and Avocado Salsa was a huge hit with my kiddos (and Steve!). In fact, Landon was eating it with a spoon and no chips! The only thing I began questioning is what we would feel like after eating spoonfuls of this salsa that uses fresh uncooked corn....so far, so good. My family loves avocados and that added a lot to this dish. It was sweet enough without the optional tsp. of sugar because that Mississippi sweet corn was SWEET!!


I am envisioning a big Mexican fiesta to celebrate the end of harvest with these salsas plus PW's Restaurant Style Salsa to be center stage alongside her enchiladas. I also have the yummiest fruit salsa recipe with homemade cinnamon/sugar chips that is to die for! Got to go get this fiesta scheduled!!

Panko and a Green Monster

Oh my goodness...summer is in full swing around here! The really scary thing is that this week is a slow week for us. No softball gam.es, bible school, and I'm not really even working besides being on call--and it still feels crazy.

My addiction of PW is still going strong and because it's not enough for me, I have added some other recipes I've been experimenting with...

ENTER: The Green Monster

What I love about these smoothies is the incredible nutrition you get. Although I have been dragging my feet to try them. Something about the almond milk was worrying me. But to my surprise my kiddos and I loved them!!! I have yet to try one out on Steve, but I know he'll like them too. An awesome breakfast and supplement to a meal, it gives you all the benefits of raw spinach, bananas, and fresh fruit--plus the protein and calcium of your mik of choice, and fiber from the flax seed. Yes, the Green Monster movement has hit our household and I am very excited.

Although the smoothie could easily be a meal for some, that would not fly at our house. PW had a yummy looking recipe for fried mozzarella sticks. How did she know that my kids could live off of those???

Very simple to prepare for frying, but the frying is kind of a trick. Some of them turned out really good, and others melted too quickly and spread out all over the pan. That was irritating. But they tasted good and it was fun to make them from scratch! I think I did not flash freeze them long enough and if I had, they wouldn't have melted so quickly. But we were hungry and I needed to get them done!!

The recipe uses Panko bread crumbs which worked great---added a bit of a crunch to them. Due to the significant egg wash dredging required, I did not personally try these. But the kids loved them. Fried cheese? I mean, really...how could you go wrong? Thank goodness for the Green Monster to even out the healthiness of this meal today...

Pioneer Man "Brees"es Thru the Appetizer

After looking through the list of PW's appetizers, I decided to go with the Steak Bites. Really not much to this recipe. Chose a sirloin steak from the freezer, thawed it, trimmed the fat, and followed PW's recipe. Seasoned the cubed steak with Kosher salt and pepper. Made sure the pan and butter were hot, like almost ready to burn hot. The key is to not over cook the meat.
This recipe is easy to make, low prep, and a good meaty appetizer. I would go one step further and recommend a dipping sauce to add variety and help with the bites that may have overcooked. Like BBQ or creamy horseradish. That would be awesome.

Everyone seemed to enjoy Steak Bites. Not a recipe that can be made ahead because the meat is best right off the skillet.

So I did "Brees" through another challenge and came out a hero. Great option for a meaty delight.

Back By Popular Demand

Well, Pioneer Man, a.k.a. my husband, Steve, made a name for himself when I worked a few weekends ago and he posted this.

I am planning to work again this coming Sunday which is of all things...THE SUPER BOWL!!!
I will be gone all day again like I was a few weeks ago. Thankfully, we are not having a party at our house, but will be going to my parent's house to join them and my brother's family. Of course, when talking with my Mom, the first question was: "What are we going to eat?"

Since I won't be home, the Pioneer Man is going to be in charge of whatever we decide to take. This is where the fun begins!! He is going to be choosing an appetizer to make and take. There is only one stipulation, as you might have guessed, that it must come from P-Dub’s Appetizer Recipes. There are quite a few to choose from and he is open t0 suggestions, so let him have it! Is there an appetizer that looks good to you that you'd like him to try out on our critics? Let him know. He will take suggestions in to careful consideration.

So here is the deal...choose one of P-Dub’s Appetizer Recipes and comment and let Steve know what you'd like him to make. Because there have been significant requests to hear from the Pioneer Man again, he will be posting all about the chosen recipe, if the critics liked it, and anything else he would like to tell you. So look for that post after the Super Bowl!!

I'm going to go look at P-Dub’s Appetizer Recipes right now and get my suggestion in!! If he knows what's good for him, I would think he'd choose mine...

Excellentay!

We had such a fun weekend which surprisingly started out by being home on a Friday evening! After a very busy week, we definitely welcomed this change in our schedule. Good thing too, because the rest of the weekend proved to be rather busy, but lots of fun, all the same.


Ever since she posted the recipe for Restaurant Style Salsa I had been dying to try it. We love salsa over here and frequently have Super Nachos on those "bum around home" kind of nights. When I say Super Nachos I just mean that I basically add taco meat to cheesy chips and make it a meal. So her Restaurant Style Salsa recipe was up for deliberation. Restaurant Style Salsa is very similar to a salsa recipe that I normally make, but with a few added ingredients. We all agreed that Restaurant Style Salsa will replace my normal salsa recipe. It was excellent! Now if only I could find tortilla chips that taste like those from Chili's!!


Have to let you all know about one of my favorite kitchen appliances of all time. I use this almost everyday to make smoothies for Landon and I. And it is very handy when making salsa. It is called a Vitamix--ever heard of them? Does anyone have one and do you use it much? Go here to check them out. Awesome, powerful machines, let me tell you!! I love it. We got ours at Sam's Club on a special promotional deal. Just a little tidbit...

Thanks for the TIP on the DIP!!

The coolest thing about this obsession of mine is that many of my friends are trying these recipes left and right and letting me know what they think of her recipes too. I love it! A friend of mine made Southwest Corn Dip last weekend for a party she attended and said that people loved it!

So of course, I decided to try it myself and see how it would go over here at this circus we call home. We all agreed that Southwest Corn Dip is yummo, but it needed just a bit of salt. And once that was added, the critics ate and ate and ate until I said it was finally time to start practicing their piano lessons and doing homework.

I have a wedding shower I am planning and I think Southwest Corn Dip just may be a contender for one of the appetizers...