The only problem with making stuffed mushrooms is that they’re so good that you just want to eat them like M&M’s! They’re just the right size too, you know, not too big that you need a fork to cut them and small enough that you can pop them right into your mouth. Pop! Pop!

Besides, if you cut them in half, invariably all the good stuff comes out and you lose all the flavors. I hate when that happens.

I enjoy these babies with sausage. Great flavor! If you’re a vegetarian or keeping that girlish figure, substitute the sausage with eggplant (sautéed) or add more spinach and cheese as filler.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
24 large white button mushrooms, stemmed (finely chop stems and set aside)
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
½ small onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ small jar pimentos, drained and finely chopped
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
½ cup Italian-style bread crumbs
½ cup grated Romano cheese

How to put them together:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large sauté pan add 1 ½ tablespoons of oil to pan over med-high eat. Cook mushrooms with caps down first and cook until golden brown. Flip caps over and brown that side.

Remove caps and set aside (caps down) on a non-stick baking sheet. Wipe pan, add small amount of oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add sausage to pan while breaking it up into small pieces and cook for about 4 minutes.

Add onions, chopped mushroom stems, celery, garlic and pimentos and cook for another 4 minutes. Add spinach and cook for another 2 minutes.

Remove pan from heat, add breadcrumbs and cheese stirring them together.

Scoop mixture with a spoon to fill mushroom caps on baking sheet. Cook stuffed caps in oven for about 7 minutes until mushroom cap is crisp and stuffing is hard. Place on platter.

Serves about 8 – 10.

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