Let’s Get “Stuffed!”

Girls > Boys. The girls kicked some cranium butt last night at Friday Night Dinner — spelling, drawing, acting and humming our way to victory. I’m pretty sure it was the wine we consumed that helped us win. I mean, Annie acted out butternut squash and we got it right. That was a weird one.

Anyway… last night’s dinner was all about stuffed foods and let me tell you, it was fantastic. Like, ridiculously delicious. We had stuffed mushrooms and stuffed pasta shells courtesy of Annie, Antonio and Brett, Mary stuffed some peppers and I made homemade mint oreos (Antonio would have eaten all of them if Annie hadn’t told him to stop :))

I recommend that you try out all of these recipes. They were super easy and really, really tasty.

Stuffed Mushrooms:

Via

Ingredients:

18-24 button or cremini mushrooms, scrubbed clean, stems separated from caps (chop up the mushroom stems)
1 tbsp. butter
2 small shallots, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp. chopped walnuts
salt
2 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 tbsp. breadcrumbs
2 tbsp. chicken stock
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Finely chop the mushrooms stems. Heat 1 tbsp. butter in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the chopped mushroom stems and shallots for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic and walnuts and sprinkle with salt. Stir well and sauté for 2 more minutes. Turn off the heat and add the parsley, thyme and breadcrumbs. Pour the chicken broth into a food processor, then the rest of the stuffing. Pulse several times to get a fine mixture, almost like a paste.
Toss the mushroom caps with olive oil. Fill each mushroom with the stuffing. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over each mushroom and bake 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese browns a little. Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so before serving.

Stuffed mushrooms

Stuffed Shells:

Via

Ingredients:

salt
1 lb. spinach, trimmed
1 lb. large pasta shells
2 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 lb. ricotta cheese
4 oz. coarsely grated mozzarella
1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
1 large egg, lightly beaten
freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add salt. Boil spinach until bright green, about 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain. Add shells to boiling water; cook until slightly underdone. Drain. Toss with 1 teaspoon oil. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil and the garlic in a large skillet over medium-low heat until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes; cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened slightly, 20 to 25 minutes.
Squeeze spinach to release excess water; coarsely chop. Stir together with cheeses and egg. Season with salt and pepper.
Stuff each shell with about 2 tablespoons cheese mixture. Spread 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce in a 9-by-13 inch baking dish. Arrange shells in dish; cover with more sauce, reserving some for serving. Bake 25 minutes. Serve with remaining sauce.

Stuffed shells

Stuffed Peppers:

So for this, Mary used a recipe for a mexican quinoa casserole, found here, and used that to stuff the peppers with.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup quinoa
28oz. can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp. tomato paste or ketchup
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. chili powder
salt and pepper
19oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
11oz. can corn kernels, with liquid
6 bell peppers, ready for stuffing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium frying pan (or stove-top-safe 2.8 liter/3 quart casserole dish). Add onion and garlic, and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat; and transfer to oven-safe casserole dish if not already using one.
Add quinoa, diced tomatoes (with juice), water, tomato paste (or ketchup), spices, beans and corn. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Cover and cook in oven for 30 minutes.
Stuff peppers with quinoa mixture and put back in the oven for another 30-35 minutes.

Stuffed Peppers

Pepper

Homemade Chocolate Dipped Mint Oreos:

I got this recipe from Eat, Live, Run, which is one of my favourite food blogs. It’s full of tons of delicious recipes with lots of great pictures and fun stories. The FND group loves this blog so much, we’ve decided at some point we’ll be having an Eat, Live, Run themed dinner so watch out for that. I only dipped half of my oreos in chocolate and they are delicious either way. The minty-chocolate flavour is great.

Ingredients:

Cookie:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg

Oreo filling

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. peppermint extract
2 drops red food colouring (or enough for a bright shade of red)

Chocolate covering:

2 cups chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
To make the cookies, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat well.
Mix together the dry ingredients thoroughly (getting rid of all big lumps of cocoa powder). Add dry ingredients to butter and sugar mixture and beat until just smooth. Roll dough into a large ball and set to chill in the fridge for half an hour.
After the dough has chilled, scoop out very small balls of dough (about a teaspoon’s worth) and flatten gently on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes and then let cool completely on baking sheet. The cookies will harden as they cool.
To make the filling, beat together the shortening and butter. Add the confectioner’s sugar and extracts and continue to beat for about six more minutes until light. Scoop filling into a plastic bag or pastry bag (with a very small tip) and pipe a small amount between cookies. Sandwich cookies together.
Make the chocolate covering by melting together the butter and chocolate over very, very low heat. Drop cookies into chocolate and use spoon to coat thoroughly. Gently pick cookies out of chocolate and freeze on wax paper for half an hour until chocolate is set.