Smoked Mozzarella Stuffed Mushrooms

I made these as an appetizer for our second anniversary dinner.  We celebrated by going to VOLT later in the summer, but on our anniversary we had a nice meal at home.  These I made on the spur of the moment.  I looked at our menu -- steaks, a bottle of red wine, and a panzanella salad and decided it would be nice to have an appetizer to snack on while we did the cooking.  Zach and I love cooking together and had planned to prepare our anniversary meal together; so I wanted these ready for us to snack on while we chopped and prepped.  I found the recipe on CookingLight.com.  It was written with smoked cheddar, but I love smoked mozzarella, so I made that substitution.  I think they turned out very yummy and delicious!  The smokiness of the cheese was a good play off the flavor of the mushrooms and the bread crumbs rounded everything out and held it all together.  

Smoked Mozzarella Stuffed Mushrooms

adapted from CookingLight.com

Ingredients
Cooking spray
1/4 cup minced shallots (about 1 large)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound button mushrooms
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
 4 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon water

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 400°. 
• Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add minced shallots and minced garlic; sauté 2 minutes or until tender. Place shallot mixture in a medium bowl. 
• Remove stems from mushrooms; chop stems. Add chopped mushroom stems, breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and smoked mozzarella cheese to shallot mixture; toss with a fork until blended. Add olive oil and 1 teaspoon water; stir well to combine. 
• Spoon about 1 tablespoon filling into each mushroom cap. Arrange mushrooms, filling side up, on a baking sheet. 
• Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until filling begins to brown and cheese melts. Serve warm.

Greek Panzanella: Barefoot Bloggers

 This was delicious!  I know my last post was also a panzanella, but they are fairly different sets of flavors.  While Alton Brown's recipe focused on bacon and tomatoes (and who can argue with a bacon-centric recipe?) this one is focused on greek flavors -- oregano, olives, feta.  I was quite excited when I saw it was the choice for July since I had just seen the episode a few days ago where Ina makes the salad.  I really loved it and would definitely make it again.  The dressing had a nice acid bite and everything blended together quite well.  Perfect as a side dish or a summer lunch.  

Greek Panzanella
chosen by Tara of Smells Like Home 

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

I found this recipe after getting green tomatoes in our CSA box one week.  I haven't yet cooked with green tomatoes, but I knew we could always fry them up and eat them.  I wanted something a little different though, and went on a search for a recipe.  I found this one in one of my Cooking Light cookbooks, my newest one called Cooking Light: Cooking Through the Seasons.  What I love about Cooking Light is that even though their recipes are lower in fat and calories, they still use real ingredients -- bacon!  This sandwich was a great use for the green tomatoes; we ended up making it several times throughout the summer.  Their acidity is a great balance to the saltiness of the bacon. 

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

serves 4

Ingredients:
8 slices bacon
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
12 (1/4-inch-thick) slices green tomato (about 2 tomatoes)
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
Cooking spray
1/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
8 slices  white bread, toasted (I used sourdough)
8 lettuce leaves

Directions:

• Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings. Set bacon and drippings aside. 
• Combine cornmeal, cheese, and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge tomato slices in cornmeal mixture. 
• Heat 1 teaspoon reserved drippings and 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. 
• Cook 6 tomato slices 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Repeat procedure with remaining 1 teaspoon bacon drippings, remaining 1 teaspoon oil, and 6 tomato slices. 
• Spread 1 tablespoon mayonnaise over each of 4 bread slices. Top each slice with 2 lettuce leaves, 3 tomato slices, and 2 bacon slices. Top with remaining 4 bread slices. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information 
Calories: 380
Fat: 13g   
Fiber: 5.1g
WW Points (per sandwich):  8