A Bisel Dis… A Bisel Dat

This is really more of an idea than an actual recipe. I say that, because the amount of each ingredient can’t really be measured. But, it’s an awesome appetizer, snack, or even a meal (if you’re an oddball eater, like me). I swear – I had these for dinner the other night when hubs took the girl to a birthday party. In fact, the preparation of the mushrooms was somewhat documented in this photo of the day:

Ingredients

• Package of white mushrooms
• Olive oil
• Your favorite breadcrumbs – I make mine by smashing Texas Toast Cheese & Garlic Croutons
• Minced garlic
• Fresh shredded parmesan cheese
• Lemon juice (at least a couple teaspoons)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚.
2. Thoroughly wash mushrooms.
3. Remove stems from caps, slicing off the “ground” end.
4. Mince stems and put in bowl.
5. Add breadcrumbs, garlic (to taste), and parmesan to make a mixture that looks like a good filling for the caps (I told you it wasn’t precise) and mix well.
6. Stir in lemon juice and olive oil until mixture is moist (sorry, I know some of you hate that word).
7. Place mushroom caps in a greased baking dish.
8. Fill caps with breadcrumb mixture. It’s ok (and yummy to stealthily eat before cleaning up) if you spill some into the pan.
9. Bake for 30 minutes, or until mushrooms become soft.
10. Serve.

Be careful not to burn your mouth – these suckers are HOT when they first come out of the oven!

For some time now, I’ve been hearing all this buzz about kale chips. How healthy they are. How yummy they are.  How easy they are to make. Until recently, I’ll admit that I didn’t even know what kale looked like, let alone how it tasted. Today, I finally decided to give making them a try. Nothing ever works out perfectly the first time, and I think that I should have made sure the leaves were all a bit drier. I also think that perhaps the girl and I oversalted them (we did this as a project together).

Of course, I had no idea what to do with this, so I turned to google. Every site said pretty much the same thing, so here’s what I did.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of kale
• olive oil
• coarse salt (I used kosher, but any coarse sea salt will do)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Thoroughly wash and dry the leaves. I dried them by using a salad spinner and then patting them with a paper towel as well.
3. Tear the leaves into bite sized pieces, removing the thicker stems as you go.
4. Put the leaves in a large bowl and add olive oil (about 2 tablespoons).
5. Toss to coat.
6. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
7. Spread the leaves out in one layer on the lined cookie sheet.
8. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until leaves become crunchy.

You should eat them when they’re fresh from the oven. I loved them. The girl, not so much. She tried them about three times before giving up. I think that means she really wants to like them, and probably will, eventually.

Looking to limit your sodium intake? I bet these would be amazing if you substituted a little garlic powder for the salt. If you try it, let me know.

**Update**
In subsequent go-rounds, I added a teensy bit of garlic powder to the already salted kale. Yep. Amazeballs.

I rarely let this blog be an outlet for parenting issues (not even sure if I ever have), but this little episode had me laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe (only wheeze), so I had to share it with you.

First, off, discipline has been getting serious these days for a particular only child who needs to learn to respect her parents. The girl was given a choice (ha) of cleaning up, or going to bed a half hour early. She chose neither. She chose tantrum. So, hubs carried her up the stairs, football-style, holding her flailing arms and legs so as to prevent injury (more to him than to her).

I’m not sure exactly what attempts at conversation were transpiring, until I heard this (just before he came back downstairs). “You can’t do this! You can’t do this to me!” What was she going to do? Call the ACLU?

When he came downstairs, I asked him how he managed to keep a straight face when he heard that. His response? “Easy – she was trying to bite me at the time.”

Cue wheezing.