Wednesday, December 16, 2009

It's beginning to look...

a bit like Christmas. Over the weekend, D and I went on an adventure. I had gotten it in my head that I wanted to go to a local tree farm and cut down a Christmas tree. Thank goodness he was willing to humor me, especially since it meant he had to do the cutting and the ground had a good covering of snow/ice. It was a fun adventure. I also now know I should bring work gloves among other things. Here is the leaning tree. It has since been straightened (my geometry gene wasn't working over the weekend). The tree is slowly getting decorated and my ornaments we collected every year when I was younger are on there way here. Thanks Mom! I can't wait to open the box since I only remember one ornament.
Also, D and I made some delicious stuffed mushrooms over the weekend. The stuffing is rather like a hummus. It is quite tasty and so I'll share the stuffing recipe with you. I modified it from a book called Cooking with Pumpkins and Squash by Brian Glover.
Defrost two one lb packages of pureed butternut squash (the recipe tells you to roast the squash, but sometimes that just takes too darn long, so this short cut is perfect for the holidays). Puree one can of garbanzo beans (minus the liquid). Combine these ingredients. Add 1 T olive oil, a small bunch of chopped thyme, 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, 1 chopped garlic clove, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, juice from 1 lemon, 2 T chopped parsley. Salt and pepper to taste. You can just puree the whole lot if you have a large food processor, or you can combine a small amount of the earlier puree with these last ingredients in a smaller food processor. Everything should be well combined and smooth. This is delicious on crackers. It was pretty good in the mushroom caps (add and cook at 375 for 10-20 minutes). And I had it as part of a simple salad tonight. There is a yogurt sauce that goes with it, however, I cannot attest to how good the sauce is, so I won't report the recipe here. See I told you I wish I was a food blogger.