Category Archives: Appetizers

I forget where this recipe originally came from, but I’m sure it got to me by way of my mom. I made this as an appetizer for today’s football game. This recipe originally called for 1 ½ jars of Trader Joe’s Peach Mango Salsa, but they’ve stopped carrying it. Mrs. Renfro’s peach salsa is a good substitute, and that’s what I use.

Ingredients:

• 2 blocks cream cheese
• 1 jar (16 oz) peach salsa
• 8 oz bag shredded cheddar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Soften cream cheese.
3. Spread cream cheese evenly into 10 inch pie plate.
4. Spread peach salsa evenly on top of the cream cheese.
5. Top with shredded cheddar.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
7. Serve with tortilla chips.

Wow. Thank you. Thank you for coming. You seem like a great crowd. I hope you’ll enjoy the show. Oh, wait. This isn’t standup. It’s my blog. Ok then. For my first post, I bestow upon you, my reader, an original recipe. Well, I suppose all recipes are original at some point, but this one is original to moi. I made it up all by myself, with a teensy bit of input (some incorporated, some ignored) from Husband and a couple of friends. So, without further ado, I give you… da da DA! Mushrooms Stuffed With Scallops & Goat Cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 16oz package of white mushrooms
• 20 bay scallops fresh or frozen & thawed (bay scallops are the little ones – think BAYbee scallops vs. the larger sea scallops).
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1 T minced garlic (fresh or from a jar)
• 1 t minced garlic (fresh or from a jar)
• ½ C Italian style breadcrumbs
• 2 t fresh lemon juice (or Minute Maid bottled lemon juice from the freezer section – do NOT use “Real Lemon” lemon juice. I promise it will not taste nearly as good)
• Goat cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Thoroughly wash mushrooms. Pop out and discard stems.
3. Place mushroom caps in a shallow casserole dish.
4. Sautee garlic & scallops (on medium heat) in 1T olive oil, stirring/flipping them frequently).


Sauteeing Scallops & Garlic

5. When scallops are cooked through (they’ll be opaque, about 3-5 minutes), remove from pan and dice.
6. Place diced scallops (and toast-dark garlic) in a bowl and combine with breadcrumbs, lemon juice, and remaining olive oil.
   

   Ready to Stuff

7. Press mixture into mushroom caps.
8. Top each with about ½-¾ tsp of goat cheese.
   

   Ready for the Oven

9. If desired, sprinkle a little bit of extra bread crumbs on top.
10. Bake for 30 minutes.

    

    Mushrooms & Goat Cheese – The Finished Product

• Always follow proper safe food handling practices with raw seafood.
• This dish may be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator (covered so it won’t dry out) for a few hours prior to topping with breadcrumbs (if desired) and baked.
• I initially made this recipe as an appetizer for the Bears game last Sunday (yes, we sometimes get fancy with our football food in this house). I used the scallops in their whole form, but Husband and I agreed (based on the tweaked recipe) that it’s better when they’re diced.
• I encourage you to share and tweak this recipe as you see fit. I only ask that if you repost it somewhere that you give credit where credit is due.

And so, there you have it folks. My first blog post. I hope you’ve enjoyed it – and that you’ll enjoy the mushrooms even more.