If You're a Vegetarian, You Might Like This (Even if You're Not, Too!)

When I went to Costco today, I sampled a new (for me) item - dried Shitake mushrooms. They sell them in HUGE bags, and all it takes to use them like fresh mushrooms is to cover with a little boiling water for 15 minutes. I already had an 8-ounce package of fresh button mushrooms, and decided to make a mushroom pie. I had only one crust (I buy the ready-made ones), so I turned my recipe from a pie into a rustic tart. With a green salad, this made a great dinner.

Mushroom Pie


3 T butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 lbs. mushrooms, sliced
dash pepper
1/2 t Worcestershire sauce
1 T lemon juice
8 oz. Swiss cheese, grated
2 unbaked pie crusts
1/2 t salt
1 egg yolk
1 T water

Saute onion in butter until golden, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms. Saute until juice has cooked out. Drain. Mix with salt, pepper, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and cheese. Pour into pie crust; top with other pie crust. Trim edges; brush with egg yolk and water mixed together. Bake at 375F for 40 minutes. 6 servings.

When I made the rustic tart pictured above, I reduced everything to 2/3: 2 T butter, 1 lb. mushrooms, etc. I then rolled the crust out with a rolling pin as large as I could make it, piled the mushroom-onion mixture in the middle, and pulled the edges up around the filling. I baked it for only 35 minutes. 4 servings

Earlier in the day, I wanted to use some "Just Apples" that had been sitting in my cupboard for a long time, and found a good recipe on the company's website. I adjusted it the way I alter a lot of my quick bread recipes, substituting some whole wheat flour for white, unsweetened applesauce for the melted butter, and some Splenda for the sugar, and added walnuts. These came out fine. They were a bit dense, due to the whole wheat flour, but that just meant it took only two to be satisfying instead of three or four.

Apple Nut Muffins

Streusel Topping
1/2 c whole wheat flour
3 T brown sugar
2 T butter, room temperature
1/4 t cinnamon

Batter
3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c white whole wheat flour
1/2 c Splenda granular
2 t baking powder
1 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
2 large eggs
1 c sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1 c JUST APPLES, coarsely chopped
1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 375˚. Grease muffin cups or use paper muffin cups. Mix streusel ingredients in mini-chopper until crumbly; set aside. For batter, mix flour, Splenda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and soda in large bowl. Break eggs in separate bowl. Add sour cream and applesauce, and whisk until well blended. Stir in chopped Just Apples and nuts. Pour egg mixture over flour mixture and fold in just until dry ingredients are moistened. Scoop batter into muffin cups. Top each muffin with about 2 teaspoons of streusel mixture. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until browned. Remove from pan and cool. Makes 18 regular muffins.

food & drink